From Library Journal
In February and March 1945, soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army massacred several thousand Filipino citizens in southern Luzon in the name of guerrilla subjugation. Ishida, a Japanese World War II veteran, provides interviews with both Filipino survivors and Japanese participants in the killings. Although the types of questions Ishida posed, the size of his cohorts, and the sophistication of his analysis would fail any professional sociologist's standards, he captures the unvarnished horror of that slaughter as experienced and subsequently subsumed into the lives of those who witnessed it. If this narrative of death and destruction varies little from others of the violent 20th century, its great value rests in the range of feelings expressed 50 years later, from Japanese remorse to complete denial and from Filipino hatred to forgiveness. Despite some editing and translation lapses, this work offers a simple, humble, and haunting examination of a tragedy as remembered and assimilated by the human spirit. Recommended for all libraries. John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
The Remains of War is an eye-opening collection of reminiscences about the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army soldiers during World War II, including a series of bloody massacres. It is a sequel of sorts to the author's first book, Walang Hiya (Without Shame), which, in 1990, was the first book to examine and acknowledge this dark era in Japan's past.
Through extensive research, Mr. Ishida became sympathetic to the plight of the Filipino victims. He collaborated with other World War II veterans in order get firsthand accounts both from Japanese assailants and their Filipino victims, and to expose the harsh truth of these horrible war crimes heretofore gone grossly unacknowledged by the Japanese government and its military leaders.
Ishida strongly believes that the present Japanese political leadership, once confronted with the overwhelming evidence of his book, should take full responsibility for the horrible acts committed against the Filipino people during World War II, and that they should offer an official and public apology, expressed through compensation. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen. However, with The Remains of War, it is clear that at least one Japanese citizen and veteran has taken a significant step toward acknowledging and rectifying the shame of his nation's past. (5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 336 pages, b&w photos)