Yamashita Treasures books and Philippines Asia Pacific Books

Sterling and Peggy Seagrave correct these falsehoods and expose the collusion and corruption that have been at the heart of the postwar Japanese economic miracle. And far from being a symbolic reminder of an ancient past, as the Japanese royal family is sometimes portrayed, the authors point out that it has been at the epicenter of venality and cruelty. Prince Chichibu, Emperor Hirohito's brother, turns out to have masterminded Golden Lily, the systematic looting of every country Japan occupied in the prewar years. Prince Yasuhiko was the brains behind the Rape of Nanking. And dear old Hirohito was so hands-on during the war that he could have halted Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the royal family was so comfortably in bed with the zaibatsu, the corporate ruling elite, that it made a fortune out of the war while the rest of the nation starved.

That none of this has come out before is only partly due to Japanese revisionism. We, too, have to share the blame. We had the evidence to try some of the imperial family as war criminals, but we chose not to. The Seagraves' book makes uncomfortable reading for all concerned. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Drawing on recently discovered sources, including imperial diaries, longtime Asian expert Sterling Seagrave (The Soong Dynasty) and his wife and collaborator, Peggy, connect, in this penetrating yet remorselessly bleak account, the personal histories of Japan's emperors, their wives and other members of the imperial family through five generations (from 1868--the year of the Meiji Restoration--to the present) to Japan's political and economic culture. The authors contend that the imperial system, with all its isolation and mystification, was a veil behind which plutocrats and militarists have always exerted unobtrusive control over Japanese society. Even today, they argue, Japan is "a one-class dictatorship by a financial elite evolved from the clan lords of previous centuries" who "rule by manipulation, intimidation and corruption." The Seagraves extensively study the long reign of Emperor Hirohito (who ruled from 1926 to 1989), assigning him and other members of the imperial family a measure of guilt for Japan's military aggression, wartime atrocities and looting of stupendous wealth from all corners of Asia. They criticize U.S. officials, especially MacArthur, for orchestrating a postwar exorcism by which only a handful of Japanese war criminals were punished, while Hirohito and his family were restored to power without having to account for their wartime depredations. The Seagraves see Japan's present as replicating its past, with an economy in ruins, the current imperials marginalized and behind-the-scenes manipulators still resisting reform. This book dramatically brings the imperial family--and those behind it--to life, offering readers an intriguing glimpse behind the long-maintained veil of secrecy. B&w photos, maps

You can tell that the author is an investigative journalist because of the straightforward, detailed account he gives. This book comes at you almost like the author had an ax to grind. I would have liked a bit more on the end - what happened after they left? Overall the book was enjoyable and worth the effort.

This book manages to shed a light on the Marcos Dynasty & what they have done to the Phillippines. Whilst some incidents seemed to be far-fetched, for those who have lived in Asia for a long time, the incidents seem to make sense afterall. Connections & corruptions come hand-in-hand. The book also dented the shiny armour of USA of their involvement in local politics. The book is incomplete on its own. Rather, if we read all the book offerings by Sterling Seagrave such as the Yamato Dynasty, Soong Dynasty, & Marcos Dynasty, we would get a better picture. I suppose the author is running short of space. otherwise, I wouldn't mind knowing the aftermath of the Marcos Dynasty after they have shifted to the States & also the former wife that Ferdinand has left behind. Otherwise, this book is a very good effort, indeed.

P2700 include shipping Anywhere of the 7000+ Islands of the Philippines (Insurance fee are not included)

Lapham, a young reserve lieutenant in the U.S. Army, evaded capture in the Philippines in the spring of 1942 and organized a guerrilla regiment in the Central Plains of the northern island of Luzon. He is a well-educated, literate writer who does not focus on his own exploits or inflate his accomplishments, as many other surviving guerrilla leaders have done. Lapham's account is unique in that he tries to give a complete picture of anti-Japanese operations in Luzon, carefully describing the anti-Japanese, pro-Japanese, civilians, Communist Hucks, patriots, traitors, and those who sat on the fence and just waited. The result is an extremely valuable work that belongs in all World War II collections

On December 8, 1941, the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands, catching American forces unprepared and forcing their eventual surrender. Among the American soldiers who managed to avoid capture was twenty-five-year-old Lieutenant Robert Lapham, who was to play a major role in the resistance to the brutal Japanese occupation. After emerging from the jungles of Bataan and in the face of daunting odds, Lapham built from scratch and commanded a devastating guerrilla force behind enemy lines. His Luzon Guerrilla Armed Forces (LGAF) evolved into an army of thirteen thousand men that eventually controlled the entire northern half of Luzon's great Central Plain, an area of several thousand square miles. This personal account of the Luzon guerrilla operations is woven into the larger context of the war. Lapham and Norling shed light on the clandestine activities of the LGAF and other guerrilla operations, assess the damages of war to the Filipino people, and discuss the United States' postwar treatment of the newly independent Philippine nation. They also offer a fuller understanding of Japan's wartime failures in the Philippines, the Pacific, and elsewhere in Asia, and of America's postwar failure to fully realize opportunities there.

P2700 include shipping Anywhere of the 7000+ Islands of the Philippines (Insurance are not included)
Pacific Loot is a surprisingly good adventure novel in the unusual setting of Rabaul, New Guinea-- one of the world's most beautiful but little-known places. As volume one of Nic Richards' series GOLD OF THE GENERALS, it gets off to a good start by taking us from the familar surroundings of Manila to the volcanic cone of Rabaul, where the Japanese Imperial Army hid weapons and war looted gold in a swiss cheese of caves and tunnels. Richards builds an entertaining and suspenseful plot around a group of odd-ball characters involved in the hunt for 'black gold' in the literary tradition of Alistair McLean's GUNS OF NAVARONNE and WHERE EAGLES DARE. Happily, this is not just another secret agent rip-off. The characters are highly original loose cannons, their dialogue rich with regional accents that Richards captures nicely. And the climax is suitably suspenseful and explosive. STERLING SEAGRAVE author of GOLD WARRIORS and THE YAMATO DYNASTY

In the tradition of Clive Cussler, Tate Holt's "business thriller" builds upon the true history of a legendary treasure to unfold a tale of greed, political corruption, murder, limitless wealth, and the limits of ambition, taking readers from the thatch hut hermitages of the Pacific Islands to the hangouts of Silicon Valley venture capitalists to the corridors of the Philippine government.

Mystery of Yamashita's Map tells the story of Japanese spoils of war that are buried at the end of the Second World War by General Tomoyuki Yamashita The Japanese Officer hid the stolen treasures throughout a network of tunnels in the Philippine Islands. He drew maps and planned to return to collect his treasures but the American forces captured him and he was executed for war crimes a year later. His maps had vanished...or had they?

This is the Romance Novel of the Decade from the Eighties, holding America spellbound for weeks on end, as audiences at home across the country tuned in to see the next intriguing, exciting episode. Here is the 2 Volume Novel, source of the hit tv-movie series, in more detail, more indepth excitement, with a deeper sense of involvement with the characters, especially John Blackthorne {Richard Chamberlain} and his Lady Mariko--a glorious saga of the Far East that proves even better in book form. {Includes a newspaper clipping from the tv series depicting the main characters!]

IMPERIAL TRAGEDY. Japan in World War II. The First Days and the Last by Thomas M. Coffey. Published in New York by World Pub. Co., 1970. The victories and the defeats of the Imperial Japanese forces. Illustrated. 531p.

The GI War against Japan recounts the harrowing experiences of American soldiers in Asia and the Pacific. Based on countless diaries and letters, it sweeps across the battlefields, from the early desperate stand at Guadalcanal to the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis at the War's very end. Amidst the frustration and despair of this war, American soldiers abandoned themselves to an escalating rage that presaged Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The GIs' story is, first and foremost, the story of America's resounding victory over Japan. At the same time, the reader will recognize in the extraordinarily high price paid for this victory chilling forebodings of the West's ultimate defeat in Asia--and America's in Vietnam.

The Pacific War Papers is an annotated collection of extremely rare Japanese primary-source documents, translated into English, that provides an invalu-able resource for historians and students of World War II. These naval and diplomatic documents come from the collection of the late Gordon Prange, the eminent scholar of Pearl Harbor, who obtained them from Japanese naval leaders while working for the Military History Section of the American forces that occupied Japan. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon have assembled this collection so that these important documents are not lost to history. The editors also provide expert commentary to introduce and explain the importance of the materials. This book forms the companion volume to The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans (Brassey’s, Inc., 1993), which Goldstein and Dillon also edited. Most of the documents published here are not available anywhere else, with many translated for the first time.

This edited collection covers three main topics: the Japanese navy before World War II, prewar diplomacy and politics, and Japanese naval operations and policy during the war. The documents include diary extracts and candid, short monographs written by high-ranking Japanese officers immediately after the war. They shed new light on the vast naval buildup before the war, the development of the navy’s operational concepts for war with the United States, the organization and tactics of aircraft carrier forces, and the failure of Japanese submarine operations. No World War II library will be complete without this important volume.

The Pacific War 1939-1945: A Critical Perspective of Japan's Role in World War II by a Leading Japanese Scholar"

My Faraway Home by Mary McKay Maynard - On the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Mary McKay's father was managing a gold mine on the Philippine island of Mindanao. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the McKays fled into the jungle, believing their stay would be brief. But the days turned into two harrowing years of battling heat, hunger, and natural disasters. After the war, in 1947, they went back to the Philippines, where, ironically, more tragedy was waiting...8 years old Miss. Mary McKay's father managed a gold mine on the Philippine island of Mindanao when the war in the Pacific erupted in December 1941. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the McKays quickly gathered what supplies they could and fled into the jungle. They believed that their stay would be brief; General MacArthur himself had reassured Mary's father that the war would be over in a month. The days turned into weeks and the months into two harrowing years, lived in close confinement, with increasing privations as the (often worm-infested) food supply fell and their group swelled with more refugees. Eight months after Pearl Harbor, some chose to surrender to the Japanese and be interned in prison camps, but the McKays moved farther into the jungle, where they were plagued by disease and shortages of essential items. Eventually, a submarine arrived to evacuate American civilians, taking them through torpedo-laden seas to Australia. After the war, in 1947, they went back to the Philippines, where, ironically, more tragedy was waiting. McKay, whose recollections are bolstered by excerpts from her mother's journal, makes the details of life in the refugee camp immediate, from the heat and smells to fears that the Filipino or German nationals in their camp might betray them. With the glut of male-centered WWII chronicles this season, these recollections provide a welcome perspective on a far-flung corner of the war. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW.

Reviews by Readers:
When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in World War II most American soldiers and civilians surrendered. A few took to the hills and spent the war years as guerillas or simply hiding out from the Japanese. The author was an eight year old child during the war, the daughter of an American couple managing a gold mine on the island of Mindanao. They chose to live in the jungle and evade the Japanese. They didn't have any thrilling adventures, but the description of their day-to-day life is vivid and interesting.

The author doesn't pull any punches about her experiences. Neither of her parents are sympathetic people, nor are many of the other characters. She tells us of being sexually molested by an older boy. She gives us a picture of the stress the fugitives were under from the standpoint of a young girl.

One of the interesting aspects of the book was the almost-total separation of foreigner and Filipino before the war. The foreigners, mostly Americans, were unfamiliar even with Filipino food. Western men who married Filipino women were outcasts and the social and cultural separation of the cultures was almost complete. The automatic assumption by Americans and Europeans of the superiority of their cultures has broken down in part over the last half-century -- and that's a good thing.
As a true and true-to-life story of people uprooted by war, this is one of the best you will find.
by Smallchief

Mary McKay Maynard's "My Faraway Home" is an adventure tale written in clear, elegant prose. I read this book three weeks into the current military action in Central Asia; it served as a tonic from an earlier time when issues, and enemies, were much more clearly defined.

McKay writes with an artist's eye, providing many visual details of her family's months in the jungles of the Phillippines, hiding out from Japanese invaders. Her depiction of her parents, two mismatched people who grew closer in their struggles to survive and to nurture their daughter, is both clear-eyed and loving. She also brings to life the other people in her young life, fellow Americans and the native Filipinos who were generous to them. She writes of the tropic foods they ate in order to save her father's "iron rations"---canned goods.

She takes us through a child's growing awareness of social and political realities, of the danger and austerities faced by Americans who were trying to "wait out" the war in Far East. McKay writes without a trace of self-pity, and invokes in us an admiration for the grit of her family and their friends.

The author's picture shows us an attractive woman who still looks remarkably young, with that wonderful Scottish skin that wears so well. by karen sampson hudson, reno nevada usa

Ms Maynard reaches a long way back into her memory to bring us this absorbing tale of a family forced to hide in the jungle on Mindanao when World War II broke out. The Japanese took over the Philippines, leaving nine-year old Mary McKay, her parents and a brother away at boarding school, stranded. With the American Pacific fleet sunk at Pearl Harbor, General McArthurs advice that Americans were in no danger turned out to be very wrong. McArthur was a stockholder in Mindanao Mother Lode, a mining operation where the authors father worked. From a comfortable existence with servants to cook their meals and wash their clothes, this family had to flee to another inactive mining camp well into the interior of the island, where they were further from the Japanese soldiers now swarming over the coastal areas.

Other families in the same situation lived with them at Gomoco, a gold mining camp that consisted of a few rickety buildings with a little stream flowing by. That stream became a river as it flowed to the coast, but boats could not navigate through the shallow water near the camp. Marys father was in charge of the collection of people who came and went over a two year period, and he presided over numerous arguments, often over whether to use more of the canned food or (as Mr. McKay thought) to preserve it for the even tougher times that might come.

In the end, the family is rescued by an American submarine that took them aboard to share the tight quarters with sailors, dodging Japanese ships as they made their way to Darwin, Australia. Marys brother Bob spent the years in internment camps and was rescued from a prison in Manila when the Americans finally came and took back the Philippines. General McArthur kept his promise to come back.

The book includes snatches of Marys mothers diary which she kept during the years of hiding. I suspect this was the main source of information from so long ago, although surely a girl who lived through so much peril and fear would not forget these events. But research and that diary must have supplied many of the details. Mary gives us interesting glimpses into the complicated relationship of her parents -- a father who could not understand his wifes need for comfort and reassurance, and a mother who begged her Filipino suppliers to find lipstick, believing that putting on a good face could hide her fears. The author also is willing to deal with the lopsided relationship between the Americans and the hard-working and loyal Filipinos, who did most of the work of keeping the foreigners fed and safe. That did not keep the Americans from feeling superior or making fun of the pigeon English spoken by the natives. It took many more years of living for the author to see how insensitive and ungrateful were these actions.

I found the story pulled me in as I read, and I wanted to find out what new problems would appear and to learn how this family would finally found their way back home, whatever home had come to mean to them. Once Mindanao fell they had to decide whether to give themselves up (as the Japanese demanded of all Americans) or to continue to try to evade notice. Eventually enough servicemen and civilians who did not surrender themselves were able to put together an organized guerilla action to provide mutual support, harass the Japanese and keep in contact with American military forces fighting the war. That led to the submarine rescue and the end of the book, an interesting story from a time soon to be relegated to history books as memories fade completely and the story tellers are with us no more. This book is a rare opportunity to see the war from a new perspective, through the eyes of a child who experienced the disruption and terror of war up close and personal

by Theresa Welsh - Ferndale Michigan USA

I learned about this book from my high school alumni web page and read it mostly out of curiousity. A fascinating book, a coming-of-age tale of a young girl in wartime. I so appreciated the author's skillful melding of her childish observations and her retrospective adult understanding of this difficult period of her life. She unflinchingly, and often humorously, describes the colonial prejudices of her parents and other Americans in their small community, their condescension toward Filipinos and Filipino-American mestizos, the tensions arising from a basic incompatibility between her parents, their strained relations with other fugitives from the war, and even a sexual assault. What makes the book so special, beyond its extraordinary tale, is the author's mature and sensitive handling of the subject matter. She owns up to her own failings and seeks to understand and forgive those of others, without condoning bad behavior. As an expatriate child in the Philippines (more than 20 years ago), I too felt superior to and made fun of the locals and am now heartily ashamed of it. Just as it took age and distance to fully appreciate my family, I can now admit to my love for the Philippines and her peoples. Our situations were so different, nevertheless McKay's words resonated strongly for me and inspire me to seek to develop even a fraction of her graciousness. I highly recommend this book. by Baliktad of St. Louis MO

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read about this experience through the eyes of a child and then have a her mother's jounal quoted, so that you also had the mother's view. My heart went out to the whole family, because they didn't know where thier oldest child was, or if he was even alive and they still had to fight to keep themselves together in order to survive this ordeal. The father at first I thought of as very hard and uncaring person, but after reading the book I realized that he really had the best interest of all in mind. The experience from living in a nice home to living in the jungle with almost none of what we call bare essentials is amazing. How they learn to survive just made me respect them so much. I couldn't put the book down it was such an exciting read. The only thing better would be is to have it made into a movie.
by hranholm of Westport CT USA

This involving book has a wonderful story line told compellingly through a young girls eyes, of World War II and how innocent people get caught in a war and had their lives changed forever.

The author, I think, tells a deeper story, counter-pointing ego versus humility. American ego - represented by McArthur and her father lulled America into a false belief that Japan, as a small island nation was not a serious threat. This misguided ego sends the girl and her family off on a two-year jungle odyssey. The story is both idyllic, for a young girl but suspenseful as they live and struggle on the brink of capture and death.

The counterpoint to ego is the relationship of her family with the Filipinos who are humble, resourceful and help them survive and avoid capture. The escape march and the courage of the sailors who come to rescue them are not only suspenseful but for me defines the true heroes of war. These heroes are not the Generals but small, real people like the Filipinos, sailors and the family who do what ever it takes to survive while doing their duty.

Its great book and I expect, will be an exciting movie some day. by Bob of Seattle

Abandoned on Bataan by Oliver "Red" Allen - Abandoned on Bataan: One Man's Story of Survival is a remarkable and enduring tale from a living survivor of the Bataan Death March, one of the most horrifying events of World War II. The story by Oliver 'Red' Allen is dedicated to his two sons on the 60th anniversary of the event.

Reviews by Readers:
"Abandoned on Bataan" is the detailed memoirs of Oliver Allen, one of may American soldiers left behind on the Bataan peninsula during World War II. Most people with even a basic knowledge of the history of the war in the Pacific know of the Bataan death march and the condition of the people when they were rescued from camps in China and Japan. What we generally don't know much about is what happened between those events. Oliver Allen's story fills in that detail with his personal experiences. He details the treatment received (including the rare instances of kindness shown by individual soldiers), the daily life in the camp, the work details, the health conditions, and the eventual liberation. It is a story of strength in the darkest hours of human travesty, it is a story of surviving, and it is a story of winning against all odds. For those with an interest in history and in particular an interest in Bataan or the war in the Pacific in general it is a highly recommended read.
by Harold Mcfarland of Florida

One man's story of survival, as told to Mildred Allen. A teenage American GI recounts his years (1941-1945) of starvation, torture & germ warfare as a prisoner of war of the Japanese Empire in the Philippines & Manchuria.

ABANDONED ON BATAAN isn't about great generals or mighty battles, it is much, much more important, for it is about the survival of human dignity, compassion & hope against all odds. Yes, Red Allen ponders on the differences between cultures. Yes, his perspective of his captors is all-American, his point-of-view, however, is both prosaic & honest.

Yearning to become a pilot, teenager Oliver Allen answers the call to duty as the storms of war rumble over Europe & China. Unable to attain his dream of flying planes, he enlists anyway & is immediately shipped to the West Coast, on to Hawaii & then across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands into the maw of the Japanese advance.

That Red Allen survives is due as much to the simplicity & hardscrabble of his Texas childhood during the Great Depression as to the ebullience of his youth, not to mention pure damn luck!

Embedded in this memoir is history as well as a mystery. What were the reasons the world went to war in Europe & in Asia, & what were the feathers the POWs found in their Red Cross packages & parcels from home?

ABANDONED ON BATAAN is an astonishing read. Profoundly modest, detailed & authentic. Time & time again, this prototypical survivor has the opportunity to dwell on self-pity & whine about horrific injustices visited upon him & his fellow POWs, however, he rarely does so, to his credit. It's the story that counts & the Allens have written a riveting memoir.

By Rebecca Brown - Clallam Bay.Washington State

Lest we forget the horror that is war.

Standing, as we are, on the cusp of what historians will call the Second Gulf War, the world is confronted once again with the terrors and brutality that warfare stirs in the human psyche. Each of our living generations carries distinct and vivid imagery of what those horrors are. The further back in time our collective memories stretch, the more brutal warfare becomes. Tragically, as our technology has advanced, our ability to wage a lightning war -- an antiseptic Blitzkrieg if you will -- has become so profound that the youngest of our generations have forgotten, or never learned, just how terrible war can be. In a world where our most recent conflicts have seen more friendly fire casualties than deaths attributable to combat, to be captured, tortured, and deprived of basic human necessities is now something of an anachronism to Americans in the 21st century.

To counter our fading memories, Oliver Craig Allen, with the help of his wife Mildred Faye Allen, has given us one man's perspective of the grim realities faced by thousands of American prisoners of war during World War II ' many of whom never returned home alive. The Allen's do not attempt to tell the sweeping and rich history of American combat in the Pacific during the war, nor have they put together a comprehensive history of Bataan, the Death March or even of the unit in which Red Allen served. Rather, this is a story of survival in the face of almost unimaginable brutality at the hands of Japanese captors. Throughout the story, the reader is met head-on with Allen's completely honest assessment of himself, not as a hero or otherwise notable figure but as a simple young man who ended up in a terrible situation from which there was little hope of escape. Allen's gritty determination and tenacious will to survive is perhaps the most salient feature in this work which traces Red Allen from the years prior to his enlistment through his freedom from captivity and to his return to life as a civilian deeply affected by his experiences in combat and captivity.

Among the many prominent facets of this work is Allen's depiction of the ever-present fog of confusion and chaos that surrounded the battle for the Philippines and life as a captive of the Japanese. This story does an exceptional job in painting a clear picture of the fall of the Philippines and the abandonment of our armed forces thereafter. As a stand-alone memoir, Abandoned on Bataan is a good read about a terrible time. It is also valuable as a component in the larger story of the hell that was life as a prisoner of war under a Japanese captor with only the vaguest regard for individual dignity and human life.

by Timothy Mcmahon of Lincoln RI USA

Avenging Bataan by B. David Mann - When General MacArthur and the United States suffered a devastating defeat by surrendering the Bataan Peninsula to the Japanese in 1942, it was only worsened by learning of the brutal treatment of the American POWs. Outraged by this news, the entire country and particularly the Army vowed to avenge the defeat and the infamous Bataan Death March.

"Avenging Bataan: The Battle of Zigzag Pass" is a well-researched and detailed historical account of the struggle to liberate Bataan in 1945 by opening the highway through Zigzag Pass. Featuring coverage of both the American and Japanese forces, this account provides insight into the day by day life and death struggle of battle. The story is told through interviews, letters, and reports by men - from both sides - who fought the battle .

Complete with the historical background of events leading up to and surrounding the Battle of Zigzag Pass, the author’s research includes strategic information along with personal accounts. A gripping portrayal of both the Americans and Japanesse at war, "Avenging Bataan" helps preserve the legacy of World War II for future generations.

Manny Lawton was a twenty-three-year-old Army captain on April 8, 1942, when orders came to surrender to the Japanese forces invading the Philippine Islands. The next day, he and his fellow American and Filipino prisoners set out on the infamous Bataan Death March--a forced six-day, sixty-mile trek under a broiling tropical sun during which approximately eleven thousand men died or were bayoneted, clubbed, or shot to death by the Japanese. Yet terrible as the Death March was, for Manny Lawton and his comrades it was only the beginning. When the war ended in August 1945, it is estimated that some 57 percent of the American troops who had surrendered on Bataan had perished. But this is not a chronicle of despair. It is, instead, the story of how men can suffer even the most desperate conditions and, in their will to retain their humanity, triumph over appalling adversity. An epic of quiet heroism, Some Survived is a harrowing, poignant, and inspiring tale that lifts the heart.

On December 14, 1944, Japanese soldiers massacred 139 of 150 American POWs. This biography tells the story of Glenn ("Mac") McDole, one of eleven young men who escaped and the last man out of Palawan Prison Camp 10A. Beginning on December 8, 1941, at the U.S. Navy Yard barracks at Cavite, the story of this young Iowa marine continues through the fighting on Corregidor, the capture and imprisonment by the Japanese Imperial Army in May 1942, Mac’s entry into the Palawan prison camp in the Philippines on August 12, 1942, the terrible conditions he and his comrades endured in the camps, and the terrible day when 139 young soldiers were slaughtered. The work details the escapes of the few survivors as they dug into refuse piles, hid in coral caves, and slogged through swamp and jungle to get to supportive Filipinos. It also contains an account and verdicts of the war crimes trials of the Japanese guards, follow-ups on the various places and people referred to in the text, with descriptions of their present situations, and a roster of the names and hometowns of the victims of the Palawan massacre.

Reviews by Readers:

This book should be required reading for every high school student in America - most people have no idea what many ordinary young men endured as prisoners during World War II, how they behaved under the unbelievable burden of watching their friends die and how they overcame the horror of being POWs of the Japanese in the Philippines - this book is extremely well-written, simple and concise without self promotion concerning one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare - it's an easy although uncomfortable read - it'll make you proud to call McDole and other POWs fellow Americans

by A. McDonald "Local History Buff" (Oklahoma USA)

One of the good stories to come out of World War II was the rescue of over 500 American prisoners at the CABANATUAN MILITARY PRISON CAMP. If you are not familiar with the story, 123 members of the 6th Rangers sneaked through enemy lines to the prison camp, killed all the guards and got the men out. It was not common for such break outs to be attempted. And the reason for the rescue at Cabanatuan was the massacre at Palawan. Palawan was an offshoot of Cabanatuan, some 150 prisoners from Cabanatuan had been sent to Palawan as slave workers. They spent two and a half years working on the air strip. Then on December 15, 1944 the Americans landed on Mindoro. So the Japanese decided to execute the 150 prisoners. They missed eleven who managed to escape. This is the story of one young marine. From all the people in the USMC he bacame one of the 7,000 Americans captured at Corregidor, and one of the eleven to survive Palawan. As I read this book, my first thought was to damn the Japanese. Their culture of Bushido created an environment where such events happened. Then I thought of the Islamic terrorists, or cult or whatever you'd call it in Iraq who yesterday beheaded someone just to get it in the news. And that lead me to the events in the prison in Iraq where we Americans didn't exactly act with honor. This is a book, not only excellently written, but tells of a side of the war not often reported. And forces you to think of other places, other incidents. Highly recommended.

by John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV)

Takashi Sorimachi stars as Satoru Tachibana, an advertising firm employee slaving away under a younger boss for a meager salary. With a pachinko habit, no savings, and no prospects of romance since his divorce, Tachibana is left wondering what the future holds for him. One day, he desperately enters a lottery, trying to make enough money to pay for his child support, but his sense of self-disgust kicks in. However, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he later discovers that the ticket is a winner, turning him into a millionaire overnight. --Tokyograph

After graduating from college, Yuuji lands the job of his dreams at the company that manufactures his favorite running shoes. The complete sincerity and selflessness that Yuuji shows everyone he meets causes many to dismiss him as naive or simply stupid. But when his good deeds start paying off, his co-workers begin to come around to the idea that nice guys don't have to finish last.

Shomuni (ショムニ) is a comedic TV drama serial based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Gumi Yasuda (安田弘之 Yasuda Gumi).

The stories revolve around the Office Ladies of General Affairs department 2 (Shomu ni, or GA-2) in a large multinational company called Manpan Corporation.

GA-2 is called "the graveyard for female office ladies", simply because it is the place where female employees are dumped should they mess up big time elsewhere. Jobs include replacing used toilet rolls, changing light-bulbs, organizing company outings among other menial stuff. As an added incentive, their department is located in the nether regions of the company - in the basement, and is in fact a disused store room.

Sugata Kentaro is a former professional player of a Japanese chess-like board game known as shogi. (The manga's title comes from the 81 squares on a shogi board.) After leaving the pro circuit, Sugata enters the world of "Shinkenshi" ("true sword-masters"), or players who gamble on shogi and other board games like go and mah-jong. He meets his match in Nakashizu Soyo, a female Shinkenshi who happens to be a part-time maid in Akihabara.

Kohei Moriyama quit his job as a doctor 8 years ago and now works at the city hall. Since becoming a public official, he has become cheerful and optimistic. He is loved by everyone around him. However, his emotional wound from the past is not yet healed. He does not trust anyone but himself when it comes to important matters. One day, he meets a dedicated nurse, Aiko Tanaka. This encounter triggers his decision to reestablish a hospital. This is when he realizes... “Losing is not the end. Giving up is what ends everything.”

M/Sgt. Jorge G. Herrera, Jr. discovered just what kind of a soldier he was when the Imperial Japanese Forces invaded Negros Islands in the Philippines during World War II. His heroic tale can now finally be told in an exiciting new book, "Dare & Live".

M/Sgt. Herrera Jr. vowed he would never surrender; so he gathered 3 Filipinos and they started the recruitment and training of other Guerrilla Soldiers. He established a Bivouac at the mountain sides of Negros Islands and equipped his hideout with telephone communication for fast intelligence. He staged many ambushes against the Japanese soldiers and was the only Filipino Guerrilla Leader who captured, alive, 21 Japanese soldiers in an ambush encounter.

To try to capture him, the Japanese army even hired a Filipina Spy and sent her on a secret mission to entrap M/Sgt. Herrera, but he soon discovered the plot before it could unfold.

Honorable Ramon Nolan, Former Philippines Ambassador to the United States said of M/Sgt. Herrera, "Your war achievements might have been duplicated, they could never have been excelled by any other soldier".

DARE & LIVE is a story of how raw courage can win in the face of overwhelming odds. It is an uplifting story for Readers of all ages.

BONUS: FREE CD of Negros Islands Guerrilla Serenades comes with every purchase of a copy of Dare & Live. "From Up The Mountain" and "You Told Us To Surrender" are patriotic songs of defiance against the Japanese Army.

Hatachi no Koibito tells the story of Inoue Keisuke, a married salaryman. At the age of 50, he begins thinking about his purpose in life. By chance, he encounters Sawada Yuri, a 20-year-old graphic design student full of hopes and dreams for the future. Because of her resemblance to his girlfriend from long ago, he finds his heart unexpectedly beating faster...

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