What do you think?
Rate this book
The Shadow Warriors of Nakano: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School
In the history of the twentieth century, the role of the military intelligence services in the competition among nations is still murky. Among the world's foremost intelligence services, those of Imperial Japan remain the least known. Few stories are as compelling as those surrounding the Japanese Army's Nakano School.
From 1938 to 1945, the Nakano School trained more than 2,000 men in intelligence gathering, propaganda, and irregular warfare. Working in the shadows, these dedicated warriors executed a range of missions, from gathering intelligence in Latin America to leading commando raids against American lines in Papua New Guinea, in the Philippines, and on Okinawa. They played major roles in operations to subvert British rule in India, and they organized Japanese civilians into guerrilla units that would have made the invasion of Japan a bloodbath. One graduate used his Nakano commando training to elude U.S. and Philippine military patrols until emerging from the jungle nearly thirty years after the war's end. In the decades after World War II, graduates of the school worked to obtain from the United States and Russia the release of imprisoned war criminals and the recovery of lost territory, including Okinawa.
Based on archival research and the memoirs of Japanese veterans, "The Shadow Warriors of Nakano" shines a much-needed light into the shadows of World War II and postwar Japanese affairs.
From 1938 to 1945, the Nakano School trained more than 2,000 men in intelligence gathering, propaganda, and irregular warfare. Working in the shadows, these dedicated warriors executed a range of missions, from gathering intelligence in Latin America to leading commando raids against American lines in Papua New Guinea, in the Philippines, and on Okinawa. They played major roles in operations to subvert British rule in India, and they organized Japanese civilians into guerrilla units that would have made the invasion of Japan a bloodbath. One graduate used his Nakano commando training to elude U.S. and Philippine military patrols until emerging from the jungle nearly thirty years after the war's end. In the decades after World War II, graduates of the school worked to obtain from the United States and Russia the release of imprisoned war criminals and the recovery of lost territory, including Okinawa.
Based on archival research and the memoirs of Japanese veterans, "The Shadow Warriors of Nakano" shines a much-needed light into the shadows of World War II and postwar Japanese affairs.
358 pages, Paperback
First published March 17, 2003
6 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2025
Providing insightful coverage of a subject little addressed elsewhere, Mercado largely relies on telling the tales of those who founded, taught at, or graduated from Nakano training programs. The approach is largely an effective one though on occasion the reader might thirst for greater detail regarding the planning and conduct of specific operations, training procedures, or insights into the motivations of those involved during their behind-the-scenes activities. The last of this trio hints at the most significant shortfall in the author's analysis: a soft-pedaling of the more unsavory of these individuals' actions during the war.
February 1, 2016
This is a very interesting book about Japan's Intelligence School to train spies and saboteurs for war. It covers the time from the start of the school on through the end of the war and afterwards. I'll note a few of the most interesting things.
Even though Japan lost WWII, many of the countries of Asia did benefit somewhat from their actions, as growing independence movements helped free many countries from the “ownership” by Western nations like England, the Netherlands, etc.
One of the purposes of the Nakano school was to help control any domestic opposition to the war. Japan was at the time under very, very strict censorship, and almost everything the public had available as far as information goes was controlled by the government which gave the civilians only what they wanted to give them as far as information went. Those who choose to speak out against the government were dealt with harshly, if not permanently.
Some of the things the students at the school studied were ideology, propaganda and intelligence theory. They also studied the activities of Lawrence of Arabia. Other subjects included pharmacology, psychology, aviation and marine navigation.
They were also taught how to use bacteria to poison the wells of a city.
A lot of people in Latin America were happy when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
One early idea was to present Japan's efforts in other countries as helping to free them from Western colonialism.
Trying to get enemy troops to surrender and broadcasting false information were two other things the school graduates did.
There were plans for an actual invasion by Japan of northeast India.
The book talks about how things changed over time, and how the school graduates were to help Japan make its last stand, assuming the U.S. actually invaded Japan itself. They helped prepare civilians for attacking U.S. troops.
The book tells how young girls and boys were prepared for aiding the war effort. Other preparations for war are discussed.
Atrocities against American fliers are discussed.
The book also has a whole lot more in it.
Even though Japan lost WWII, many of the countries of Asia did benefit somewhat from their actions, as growing independence movements helped free many countries from the “ownership” by Western nations like England, the Netherlands, etc.
One of the purposes of the Nakano school was to help control any domestic opposition to the war. Japan was at the time under very, very strict censorship, and almost everything the public had available as far as information goes was controlled by the government which gave the civilians only what they wanted to give them as far as information went. Those who choose to speak out against the government were dealt with harshly, if not permanently.
Some of the things the students at the school studied were ideology, propaganda and intelligence theory. They also studied the activities of Lawrence of Arabia. Other subjects included pharmacology, psychology, aviation and marine navigation.
They were also taught how to use bacteria to poison the wells of a city.
A lot of people in Latin America were happy when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
One early idea was to present Japan's efforts in other countries as helping to free them from Western colonialism.
Trying to get enemy troops to surrender and broadcasting false information were two other things the school graduates did.
There were plans for an actual invasion by Japan of northeast India.
The book talks about how things changed over time, and how the school graduates were to help Japan make its last stand, assuming the U.S. actually invaded Japan itself. They helped prepare civilians for attacking U.S. troops.
The book tells how young girls and boys were prepared for aiding the war effort. Other preparations for war are discussed.
Atrocities against American fliers are discussed.
The book also has a whole lot more in it.
January 17, 2015
An excellent history of Japan’s espionage school and service. What is ironic in the extreme is that although they fought in the service of empire, they were a faction within the Japanese military government that truly did have a goal of liberating Asia from European colonialists, and – they essentially did. The author concludes that had they also succeeded in taking a leading rather than subsidiary role vis a vis the “operations” branch of the army, Japan may never have gone to war at all, and surely, in that event, would have behaved more as liberators themselves, rather than as brutal colonialists in turn.
September 27, 2014
An extremely well sourced examination of a young but extremely influential intelligence service school in late Imperial Japan. The best parts of it are actually about the lingering postwar influence the school had on the Cold War, East Asia, and even US intelligence.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews