Ying Zu’s Reviews > Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan > Status Update

It is emotionally really hard for me to finish this book. The mystic, exotic, adorable, creative, hardworking, yet brutal, ruthless, belligerent, militaristic multi-faceted Japan never makes any sense to me, until by the time I finished Herbert Pix's book. The answer to all the mysteries surrounding the post-war Japan and its evergrowing ultranationalist attitude toward the war, seem to lie on this diminutive figure.

Now I really begin to wonder, how did the Meijin constitution have this nefarious 'foresight' to so effectively shield the imperial court from the accountabilities of all the war crimes it had inflicted upon other peoples as well as the Japanese. Sigh, Guadalcanal it is now.

excruciating to read. How the China War was planned and executed by the frenzy fascist government led by the all-accountable emperor Hirohito. The sheer amount of disdain of the Chinese people and their will to fight, and the sickening xenophobia of the Japanese, all of those made my brain hurt. Fuck humanity.

the japanese imperial court sits very obscurely inbetween ruling and reigning, but definitely more akin to a pure autocratic power center. The history leading to the 30s' manchuria is really astonishing -- intricate, ridiculous, and extremely saddening.

hey, you can't marry that colorblind girl!

Wow, feel like I just open a chest in the treasure trove, oh boy how mysterious this ancient neighbor of ours has been to me for ages! The major difficulty in all my efforts trying to understand Japan is actually very simple --- I just don't know where to begin with --- it's so different from any oriental or western civilization, just like its language, with a blend of both flavors yet so alien and exotic.