Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies: Selections from the Wartime Diaries of Ordinary Japanese

by Samuel Hideo Yamashita

The fall of Singapore and the brilliant victories achieved since the start of the war mean we are protected, but I don’t know just how grateful I should be. ―Takahashi Aiko, housewife, February 1942

This is my final departure from the home islands. I have paid my respects to those who have helped me. I have no regrets. ―Itabashi Yasuo, navy kamikaze pilot, February 1944

We had rice gruel for lunch again. There was no tofu in it, but there were potatoes.... We went through with the closing ceremony and received our report cards. Everyone was there. From now on, I’ll persevere and not fail. ―Manabe Ichiro, primary school student, July 1944

This collection of diaries gives readers a powerful, firsthand look at the effects of the Pacific War on eight ordinary Japanese. Immediate, vivid, and at times surprisingly frank, the diaries chronicle the last years of the war and its aftermath as experienced by a navy kamikaze pilot, an army straggler on Okinawa, an elderly Kyoto businessman, a Tokyo housewife, a young working woman in Tokyo, a teenage girl mobilized for war work, and two schoolchildren evacuated to the countryside. Samuel Yamashita’s introduction provides a helpful overview of the historiography on wartime Japan and offers valuable insights into the important, everyday issues that concerned Japanese during a different and disastrously difficult time.

Genres: History, Japan, Nonfiction, World War II, Asian Literature

344 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2005

About the author

Samuel Hideo Yamashita is an American historian and Asian studies scholar. His research interests include Confucianism, daily life in wartime Japan, and Japanese cuisine. He is the Henry E. Sheffield Professor of History at Pomona College.

Reviews

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many readers of history (especially those in the United States and the Western world), the Pacific theater of World War II is known almost exclusively from that perspective. The Japanese and wider Asian side of the conflict tends to be overlooked, especially from the point of view of the Japanese civilians. Max Miller of the Tasting History channel on YouTube mentioned this volume as part of his recurring series looking at foods on the home fronts of the conflict, something which opened up to this reader perspectives on the conflict he’d seldom experienced.

Collected by Professor Samuel Hideo Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies collects entries from eight diaries kept during the war. Spread across Japan and even to Okinawa, Yamashita presents a wide range of perspectives of the conflict. Among them are ordinary civilians ranging from school children to housewives and business owners. They offer a view of a country already under military control that slowly but surely slips closer to defeat, reluctant to accept the fact even as ordinary people realize that their leaders have failed them. Shortages of food and medicine, young children evacuated to the countryside from the cities, older ones put to work, all documented here but only sometimes with an eye toward posterity and, in the children’s cases, an awareness that teachers and adults would be reading their words. It’s fascinating to see them discuss overlapping events such as bombing raids and official announcements, each unknowingly commenting on the same events without ever (of course) realizing the fact. It’s something that adds to the richness of perspectives on offer.

Two of the eight are from military perspectives. One comes from a young aviator who is recruited to become part of what the Japanese called “special attack units” but which have become better known as Kamikazes. Reading the young man’s gradual acceptance of what he would one day have to do was tragic to read, though it also provided a valuable insight into what would drive someone to commit such an act of apparent madness (and which is complimented latter in the book by the diary of a woman who acted as something akin to a maid to another group of pilots). The second military perspective is from a young soldier stationed on the island of Okinawa who presents an account of what it was like to be among the men who become the “holdouts” from the war, lingering on after the battle had officially ended and only surrendering after the war had officially concluded. For those who decades on from the war might have difficulty comprehending what drove such men to extreme lengths, these series of entries offers invaluable insights.

Beyond the perspectives, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies contains striking moments of reflection and understanding. Among them is one from Yoshizawa Hisako, who lived through the firebombing of Tokyo. In one entry she wrote of moving forward amid the tragedies and shortages:

“No matter what happens, I'll try to live a life that has not lost any of its optimism. I'm ready to die tomorrow but will try to live today full of hope. I'll do this to ensure the brightness of my surroundings.”

A perspective touching in its humanity and universal in its message. Now preserved in this volume for generations to read. Something to remember a little more than eighty years after it was written down in the midst of the defining war of the 20th century.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of diary entries from various Japanese individuals during the last years of the war (1944-1945). The diarists featured in “Leaves From an Autumn of Emergencies” offer wide-ranging perspectives of day to day life from the views of a Navy pilot committed to sacrificing his life, to an elderly billiards parlor owner living in Kyoto, to evacuated schoolboys/girls, and more.

I read this book over the course of about a year. Due to the format of the book, it’s easy to pick up again after a substantial break in reading as each person’s diary is its own section of the book.

I would say that the book is certainly not a “page turner” unless you are strongly interested in the topic. Each chapter is a series of verbatim diary entries which, in some cases, were not intended to be read by others and are not as engaging to a reader as something like an oral history. For instance, the elderly Kyoto resident’s main interest was food prices and food availability and therefore chronicled that over the course of months. The strong benefit of this book being raw diary entries is that it offers a glimpse into the daily thoughts, concerns, and life events of the writers as they happened. Oral histories and interviews after the war are skewed from revision, hindsight, and different biases than the daily entries included here. Obviously, no subjective and personal account is without bias.

I’d recommend the book to those keenly interested in the Asia-Pacific war and to those seeking a more personalized, less large-scale view of the latter years of the conflict. Emotions range in this collection from gripping, to mundane, to extremely saddening.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographies of a range of Japanese war casualties and survivors, ranging from Kamikaze pilots to children writing journals as school assignments. Sadly, much of this writing was written with the fact of censorship to bear in mind, but a few of the entries (a Kyoto store owner, a brilliant young woman working for a business) are critical and also beautiful in their style and descriptions. What is a better way to access history than through the journals of those living in the historical moment? (Well, besides understanding the social setting and the fact that journals can be deceiving due to the sometimes-skewed perspective of the person writing about themselves and the fear of their writings being discovered and possibly be grounds for punishment. Or, of course, their lack of useful observation or interest in what is going on around them.)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this wasn't exactly the most riveting read about WWII, I wouldn't dismiss it simply on that account. This was a rare (being one of the very few of its kind to be translated into English) and valuable look into what was going on in the lives of the ordinary people in Japan who were just trying to live their lives. I read this for a class, but I think it would be an interesting read for any history buff (although I hesitate to say it's a page-turner because it didn't inspire any real passion when I was reading it, but maybe that's just me).

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a graduate level Japanese history course, and it changed the way I think about history.There’s no more direct way to learn about historical settings than through the written word of the people of the past, and this book was a fascinating look into the worlds of ordinary Japanese people living through WWII.

[Baturay Aydemir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to understand the mindset of the ordinary Japanese during the last years of the WWII. I especially loved the two last chapters that showed the perspective of children.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not exactly an exciting read, this book is a rare English language study of Japanese lives during WWII. Contains diaries of a variety of people including kamakaze pilot, old businessman, Christian housewife, working woman, children. Many contain good reflective narratives as well as everyday life descriptions. Highly informative introduction details Japanese history and culture of the time.

[Amik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse into the diaries of Japanese who lived during WWII amidst the carpet bombing of Tokyo and the atomic destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Kamikaze pilot diaries are particularly interesting as their perspectives shift as the direction of the war changes.