The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese

This book tells a important moment in history that needs to be taught to current and future generations. For most of the people who were locked into camps for three and a half years to be starved, die of diseases and not given medical treatment, their only crime was that they just happened to be living in Hong Kong, Shanghai, the Philippines or modern day Indonesia.The reason I rated this book a 4 out of 5 is the punctuation mistakes in the Kindle version.

Japanese atrocities committed against POW and Internee prisoners were brutal, calculated and in violation of Geneva conventions which Japan had signed. The story is hard to read because it is so frankly uncivilized. But it needs to be told because many Japanese deny it happened, something they get away with because the US and England wanted a reliably anti communistt ally. As a result, Japan is left living a lie and committed to the lie to save face. How will they ever learn that saving face is precisely what keeps them trapped.

Great book about a little known subject by the renowned author Mr. Mark Felton…fast shipping too!

Japan’s Racial Atrocity, how they tried to starve to death all westerners and non-Japanese internees they had not already murdered in WWII. Crimes against humanity for which the Japanese have never come terms. The Japanese murdered, raped, beat, starved and abused innocent men, women and children caught in Asian war of conquest that Japan alone was responsible for starting and prosecuting.Grit waning, this story may cause grit in your eyes, followed by tears.

An excellent book telling a hitherto little known and sad story of the treatment of women and family captives, both military and civilian, in the Pacific arena of WWII. Good information about everyday life, abuse, comfort women, starvation and other depravities. The Japanese military didn't just stop their bloodlust with the Rape of Nanjing but carried forward this behavior throughout the war. And it seemed systematic good sport for many soldiers, encouraged by the leadership. The author seems to have a bone to pick about reparations.

The mistreatment suffered by the prisoners and internees by the Japanese army is clearly documented in this work of non fiction. The true stories of abuse are almost unbelievable. That any of the people survived is amazing. Book holds your attention from the first word.

A detailed description of the attrocaties done by the Japanese. Does not state some of the worst ones. Misses the fact that many of the Asian countries subjected to the attrocaties later used them in their own military.

I've read quite a bit about Japan's treatment of POWs, particularly those taken after Bataan fell. This I'd the first account concerning treatment of civilians, which was equally horrifying. Alongside the inhumane treatment by their captors is the stoic nobility and courage of the prisoners, men, women and children. One can only pray that the world will evolve out of this darkness that infects human kind. This book shows you the very face of evil. I am in awe of those who survived to tell the tale.So many of this greatest of generations have passed on. One can only pray they are at peace. A very well done book!

This book gives an account of the treatment of women and children during the World War II conflict in the Far East from 1941-2, when Japanese forces invaded and occupied Borneo, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Java, Sumatra, the Philippines and the Netherlands East Indies, until their liberation by the Allied forces in 1945. It also describes the treatment of women during the Battle of Nanking, China in 1937-8.It describes the horrific brutality of Japanese soldiers towards civilian populations and in focuses in particular the women and children who were interned in prisoner of war camps under horrific and barbaric conditions, where they were raped, subjected to starvation, slave labour, beatings, torture, executions and other horrific punishments. They became ill from a host of tropical diseases, such as malaria, typhus, dysentery, Dengue fever and parasites, as well as vitamin deficency diseases such as beri-beri and pellagra resulting from chronic malnutrition. They were plagued with lice, scabies and bedbugs. Many of these women and children did not survive these terrible conditions, but what is especially heartbreaking is that, having survived over three years in captivity, many died in early 1945, only weeks and months before liberation.After liberation, the prisoners discovered that the Japanese had withheld Red Cross parcels containing food and medicines from the prisoners, as well as letters and postcards from their loved ones - from whom most had heard nothing throughout the duration of their captivity. Furthermore, they discovered there had been no shortage of food outside the camps, because Japanese soldiers had been adequately fed. After the war, the former POWs had to fight for compensation, while Japan has never formally apologised for their appalling treatment.A very well written and thought provoking book, which is both heartbreaking and heartrending.

I found this book rather tedious, to be honest. It is not very well written, and comes across more as a list of atrocities than as an investigative and objective report. That said, there's no denying the shocking scale of the crimes committed in the name of the Emperor. The book does hammer home the fact that these crimes were taking place throughout the Japanese gulag network, and so must have been the product of deliberate policy from Tokyo (and, by extension, Hirohito himself). If, like me, you get irritated by books that aren't written very well you'll probably want to give this one a miss. However, if you're especially interested in this part of history it's worth giving it a go.

A very readable account of an often forgotten dark episode in the chapters of world war 2..The description of the massacre of unarmed soldiers and civilians at St Stephens hospital in Hong Kong is especially hard to read..But all round this is a very good though sometimes very depressing book..highly recommend..

This is a harrowing story. A story everyone should read. No human beings should treat their captives like the Japanese did and get away with it. To this day they have neither acknowledged or atoned for those sins. The Japanese are hated throughout South East Asia and China because of it.

Everyone should read this book, not to dwell on old conflicts, but to make sure one nation cannever cause such suffering again. I thought I knew this history, as my father was in the RoyalArtillery in Burma with Bill Slim for several years, but every page was heart rending. Mark Fentonhas researched this thoroughly. It's a book that I would read again.