Rating: 
Summary: a book with simple words and brevity.
Review: in reading this book, i am afraid of its thickness at first, but as time goes by, i find the authors' sentence making is very superb, they use simple words to make u understand and grasp the essence, unlike most other authors, who like to use long, long sentence and let u forget what's in front finally. another advantage is it describes the situation and both sides of the war impartially. all in all, i like it. and i want to know where it can be available.
Rating: 
Summary: Lucid, accessible, and entertaining
Review: Perhaps "Soldiers of the Sun" would be light reading for a dedicated student of Japanese history, but for someone who finds Japanese culture interesting but has no serious educational or professional exposure to Japan, I found this book enlightening and engrossing. It traces the history of the Imperial Japanese Army from its inception during the Meiji Restoration, its slow decline in the early years of WWII and its inevitable collapse. I find the book to be quite balanced in its treatment of the IJA and her soldiers. It both explores the barbarity of the so-called "Rape of Nanking", the myth of the "Jungle Supermen" and the reality of the Japanese mindset which could drive a soldier to both extremes. Along the way you will also pick up some interesting background on Japanese social & political history of the time, and Japan's relations with foreign powers, particularly the British, German, Russians, and Americans. But make no mistake: its all about the Imperial Japanese Army. At heart it was a lively history book that moved the pace along to keep the narrative flowing while being highly informative at the same time. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating insight into the land of the rising sun
Review: The book opens with a recitation of Japanese life under the rule of feuding clans of Samurai warriors. But, when Admiral Perry and his U.S. fleet steams into Tokyo Bay in 1853, and Japan gets its first glimpse of steam powered ships, its isolationist ways are destined to pass into history. The author's then cite how Japan's leaders, the Tokugawa Shogunate and others, decided to restore the Emperor to the throne, in 1868, in what became known as the Meiji Restoration. They did this in obeisance to the reality that they could no longer expel, nor compete with, foreign invaders possessing superior weaponry. The author's lay out the carefully calculated steps taken by the Japanese leadership in their goal to build an army capable of competing on an international stage. Japan brought in European military advisors to assist in establishing the proper training methods for its growing military machine. Japan made its first international splash as a military power, in 1905, when it defeated the Russian navy in the battle of Tsushima straits. In fact Japan's defeat of the Russian army in the battle of Mukden, in March 1905, was the largest land battle in history before WWI. This defeat of the Tsar also represented a turning point in world history as it emboldened the Bolsheviks. The Tsar's loss of stature as the leader of Russia, seen even then as a preeminent world class military power, made him politically vulnerable. It led directly to his loss of power in the 1917 Russian Revolution. The story proceeds along the path of Japan's continued quest for dominance of what ultimately became known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan, realizing that it could not become a world military power supported by such meager natural resources, set itself upon a course of imperialism borne of the necessity of its dreams. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 in a quest to avail itself of Manchuria's abundant natural resources. As the fighting in China escalated, the Hawks, who had gained control of the political scene in the 1920's, continued to solidify their grip on all aspects of the nations culture. The Samurai code of Bushido aided this quest by underlying the fevered discipline of the Imperial Army, making them a fiercely formidable force. As Japanese imperialism engulfed China, read "the Rape of Nanking" circa 1937, FDR lost patience. As the USA cut back on oil exports to Japan, the Japanese leaders felt it imperative to seize the oilfields in the Dutch East Indies, today known collectively as the archipelago Indonesia. The Japanese felt if they could destroy the US fleet in Pearl Harbor that the US might just internally decide to let them have the Far East. In fact, they felt that because America was a country of many races, and not a pure race like the Japanese, that it might fracture into quarreling factions and just capitulate to Japanese aspirations in there Eastern sphere. As everyone knows, it didn't turn out like that. The Japanese war machine was beaten in a war of attrition they could not win against a determined opponent with the industrially productive capacity of the USA. The paradoxical fact that many Japanese and American lives were saved by the dropping of the atom bomb seems lost on many of the current generation of todays academics. This book is an excellent way for readers to acquaint themselves with the Japanese mindset, then as well as now. It is reminiscent of Stanley Karnow's book, "Vietnam", which was used as a handbook to the documentary "10,000 Day War". The book also reflects how extremist leadership of a country can bring the common man under the thrall of its governing institutions. Such leadership often fails to appraise the imminent doom its extremist military actions can impose on all of its citizens. The same thing occurred in Germany in WWII. A very good rendition of what happened in Japan in the leadup to WWII and thereafter.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating insight into the land of the rising sun
Review: The book opens with a recitation of Japanese life under the rule of feuding clans of Samurai warriors. But, when Admiral Perry and his U.S. fleet steams into Tokyo Bay in 1853, and Japan gets its first glimpse of steam powered ships, its isolationist ways are destined to pass into history. The author's then cite how Japan's leaders, the Tokugawa Shogunate and others, decided to restore the Emperor to the throne, in 1868, in what became known as the Meiji Restoration. They did this in obeisance to the reality that they could no longer expel, nor compete with, foreign invaders possessing superior weaponry. The author's lay out the carefully calculated steps taken by the Japanese leadership in their goal to build an army capable of competing on an international stage. Japan brought in European military advisors to assist in establishing the proper training methods for its growing military machine. Japan made its first international splash as a military power, in 1905, when it defeated the Russian navy in the battle of Tsushima straits. In fact Japan's defeat of the Russian army in the battle of Mukden, in March 1905, was the largest land battle in history before WWI. This defeat of the Tsar also represented a turning point in world history as it emboldened the Bolsheviks. The Tsar's loss of stature as the leader of Russia, seen even then as a preeminent world class military power, made him politically vulnerable. It led directly to his loss of power in the 1917 Russian Revolution. The story proceeds along the path of Japan's continued quest for dominance of what ultimately became known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan, realizing that it could not become a world military power supported by such meager natural resources, set itself upon a course of imperialism borne of the necessity of its dreams. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 in a quest to avail itself of Manchuria's abundant natural resources. As the fighting in China escalated, the Hawks, who had gained control of the political scene in the 1920's, continued to solidify their grip on all aspects of the nations culture. The Samurai code of Bushido aided this quest by underlying the fevered discipline of the Imperial Army, making them a fiercely formidable force. As Japanese imperialism engulfed China, read "the Rape of Nanking" circa 1937, FDR lost patience. As the USA cut back on oil exports to Japan, the Japanese leaders felt it imperative to seize the oilfields in the Dutch East Indies, today known collectively as the archipelago Indonesia. The Japanese felt if they could destroy the US fleet in Pearl Harbor that the US might just internally decide to let them have the Far East. In fact, they felt that because America was a country of many races, and not a pure race like the Japanese, that it might fracture into quarreling factions and just capitulate to Japanese aspirations in there Eastern sphere. As everyone knows, it didn't turn out like that. The Japanese war machine was beaten in a war of attrition they could not win against a determined opponent with the industrially productive capacity of the USA. The paradoxical fact that many Japanese and American lives were saved by the dropping of the atom bomb seems lost on many of the current generation of todays academics. This book is an excellent way for readers to acquaint themselves with the Japanese mindset, then as well as now. It is reminiscent of Stanley Karnow's book, "Vietnam", which was used as a handbook to the documentary "10,000 Day War". The book also reflects how extremist leadership of a country can bring the common man under the thrall of its governing institutions. Such leadership often fails to appraise the imminent doom its extremist military actions can impose on all of its citizens. The same thing occurred in Germany in WWII. A very good rendition of what happened in Japan in the leadup to WWII and thereafter.
Rating:
Summary: An engaging, well-written and researched book
Review: There are very few dedicated treatments of Japan's modern military (circa. Meiji period to WWII), but I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Superficial
Review: This book is readable but rather superficial. The key to understanding the development of the Japanese Army from the 30's on was that most of the resources of the country went into the Navy. The equipment of the army was thus out of date and more that of a First World War force. The army realizing its inferiority in equipment hoped that bravery and "dash" would assist in the defeat of western armies. This worked in the first hundred days of the war but not afterwards. In discussing the issues the book gives a general history but does not look at the nuts and bolts of army training and organization. It also fails to look at the practical problems Japan had in running a war with such a limited industrial capacity. One annoying part of the book is a weakness of many American authors to try to make the Philippines Campaign a glorious part of American military history as opposed to the inglorious defeats of the British in the Malaya Campaign. The book even makes a historical error in suggesting that the loss of the bomber force was due to "bad weather". The reality was that MacArthur refused to let them take off to bomb Taiwan. Give it a break. The Japanese in the Philippines campaign were outnumbered. They won because of the incompetence of the Philippines armed forces. In the Philippines Campaign as in the Malaya Campaign forces opposing the Japanese would retreat for fear of being surrounded. Later in the war it was found that victory could be achieved by holding fast. The Japanese were so poorly supplied that they would simply run out of ammunition. In all a readable but superficial book.
Rating:
Summary: Superficial
Review: This book is readable but rather superficial. The key to understanding the development of the Japanese Army from the 30's on was that most of the resources of the country went into the Navy. The equipment of the army was thus out of date and more that of a First World War force. The army realizing its inferiority in equipment hoped that bravery and "dash" would assist in the defeat of western armies. This worked in the first hundred days of the war but not afterwards. In discussing the issues the book gives a general history but does not look at the nuts and bolts of army training and organization. It also fails to look at the practical problems Japan had in running a war with such a limited industrial capacity. One annoying part of the book is a weakness of many American authors to try to make the Philippines Campaign a glorious part of American military history as opposed to the inglorious defeats of the British in the Malaya Campaign. The book even makes a historical error in suggesting that the loss of the bomber force was due to "bad weather". The reality was that MacArthur refused to let them take off to bomb Taiwan. Give it a break. The Japanese in the Philippines campaign were outnumbered. They won because of the incompetence of the Philippines armed forces. In the Philippines Campaign as in the Malaya Campaign forces opposing the Japanese would retreat for fear of being surrounded. Later in the war it was found that victory could be achieved by holding fast. The Japanese were so poorly supplied that they would simply run out of ammunition. In all a readable but superficial book.
Rating:
Summary: compliments Bergamini's book...
Review: This book is very easy (but very detailed) reading. I found it to be an excellent comparison source for Bergamini's tome, "JAPAN'S IMPERIAL CONSPIRACY", and compimentary as well. For example, much of the early career details for Field Marshall (General) Yamagata missing in Bergamini's book is covered in great detail here. You will clearly understand why and how Yamagata got to the heights he achieved in both his Political and Military Career with the insights provided by the Harries's. I found the same situation regarding Saigo of Satsuma. When I was in Japan, noone there could give me a straight story of the details behind Saigo and why he merited a statue in Kyushu. Now I know. The content is great. I highly recommend getting a copy....
Rating: 
Summary: Passable popular history
Review: This British husband-wife history-writing team have produced a serviceable popular narrative history of the Japanese Army (which, as they do not note, only became "Imperial" after 1930). It's a field in which there is no great competition and their work has the merit of being fairly comprehensive and quite readable. Most of it comes from rehashing of well-known (and often not very strong) secondary sources, but they seem to have mined British War Office papers pretty thoroughly, resulting in some interesting tidbits. They mention having journeyed to Japan and consulted Japanese sources, but these don't seem to have played a very prominent role. There are a number of errors regarding well-known facts, and no significant analysis. A brief, sound, readable summary of Japanese army history is provided by Alvin Coox in his article "The Japanese Army Experience," from Russell Weigley (ed.), _New Dimensions in Military History_ (Presidio, 1975). For a comprehensive work in English on the Japanese Army in World War II, see _Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War_, by Saburo Hayashi and Alvin Coox. (It is out of print and hard to find, but a text file is available on the Web.) Virtually anything written by Alvin Coox on the subject is well worth reading, and particularly his article "The Pacific War" in Vol. 6 of _The Cambridge History of Japan_. Coox's _Year of the Tiger_, (unfortunately also out of print) is valuable for the army in the China Incident, and his _Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939_ (available from Amazon) is a masterful study not only of this critical campaign but of the entire Japanese Army experience in Manchuria. For an understanding of the Japanese Army as an institution, see Leonard Humphreys, _The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920's_ (available from Amazon) as well as Shin'ichi Kitaoka, "The Army as a Bureaucracy: Japanese Militarism Revisited," _J. Mil. Hist._, 57/5: 67-86; James B. Crowley, "From Closed Door to Empire: The Formation of the Meji Miltary System," in Bernard S. Silberman and H. D. Harootunian (eds.), _Modern Japanese Leadership: Transition and Change_ (U. Arizona Press, 1966); and Roger F. Hackett, "The Military: A. Japan," in Robt. E. Ward & Dankwart A. Rustow (eds.) in _Political Modernization in Japan and Turkey_ (Princeton U. P., 1964). Will O'Neil
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and detailed account of the Japanese Army
Review: This is a fine one volume account of the Imperial Japanese Army. The book covers its creation in 1868 until its final defeat in 1945. If you want to know why the Japanese Army could accomplish the things it did and why the Japanese soldier could do the brutal things that he did this book goes a long way to help you understand. At the same time it provides a insight into the dealings between the Army and the Navy, the Army and the Politicians and the Army and the people. A well researched and very interesting book.
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