Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #46

I'm currently reading “The Rising Sun” by John Toland. It covers the last years of the Japanese Empire (1936-1945) and WW2/Second Sino-Japanese war from the point of view of the Nippon government.

!historychads the book was published in 1970 and despite being an American the author looks weirdly sympathetic towards the japs (his wife was Japanese lol). He thinks the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty created resentment in Japan by restricting the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) to 60% of the tonnage of the US and the Royal Navy and believes this planted the seeds of war. He covers the Nanking massacre on 2 pages and there's no mention of what was going off in Korea.

STILL, the book is quite informative showing How dysfunctional the Japanese Government was at the time with fascists young officers assassinating politicians and attempting coups while getting hailed as heroes and treated with kid gloves by the courts and the high command composed by militaristic conservatives whom by the late 30s decided to embrace lots of the latter group demands after quelling a rebellion attempt (2/26 incident). It also delves into Japan's diplomatic maneuvering towards Germany, the Soviet Union and the US before Pearl Harbor (the most radical officers wanted war with the USSR as soon as the late 30s, the sentiment came back after Barbarossa but the high command remained cautious and decided to wait if Germany could actually win while the Foreign Minister was a warmonger instigating to attack the USSR as soon as possible assuring the military that Germany would beat the soviets soon )