Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia Hardcover – Deckle Edge, October 17, 2023

This is such an excellent book....an interesting story well told. It is dense, filled with lots of facts/data....but never stops being a compelling read. I commend the author for creating an excellent book and I'm sure that anyone interested in the history of WWII and the Japan Tribunal Trial will love this book.

Bass's study of the Tokyo war trials is deeply researched and informative. It is well worth the time it takes to read this nearly 900-page book. His central thesis is that, unlike the Nuremberg trials, "the Tokyo trial misfired and fizzled" (p. 10). In this, Bass is probably right.But the study is flawed by a few constant tics on the part of the writer.(1) Bass often reaches (overreaches, really) for gratuitouly colorful and thus argumentative verbs (people "bellow" or "lecture", etc.) or adverbs to describe actions: Perhaps he wants to make scenes vivid (even when someone is writing a diary entry); but the repeated reliance on this effect seems amateurish and irksome (so much so that one sometimes groans and feels like tossing the volume aside). If facts are strong and well mustered, they will speak for themselves without authorial elaboration.Occasionally, Bass treats some of the actors with open or thinly veiled contempt. On the vexed question of the use of atomic weapons, even well-informed opinion widely differs (see some of the reactions cited by James Scott in "Black Snow"). Actors of the time, relying on incomplete information and recent experience in Okinawa, feared the cost in Allied and Japanese lives in the event of an invasion of the home islands: They chose the morally doubtful option of atomic weapons as the lesser evil. But Bass will have none of it. In a breathtakingly contemptuous reaction to the view of atomic weapons on the part of Philippine Judge Delfin Jaranilla (who had survived the Bataan Death March), Bass comments "This was bilge" -- a comment worthy of a polemicist or propagandist, not a prudent historian. Right or wrong, Jaranilla earned his opinion at the harsh hands of the Japanese Army -- not in the library or in a Princeton faculty lounge. Atomic weaponry was an FDR-approved program, but somehow New Deal saint escapes the barely contained, implicit condemnation of Harry Truman.(2) The highly charged atmosphere of war inevitably leads to ethnic and racial caricature, much of it pretty hateful. Such behavior characterized both sides. But for Bass, it is a hobbyhorse he has to ride -- especially when he describes American behavior. Yes, the outrage over Pearl Harbor fed racist caricatures about Japan (think of movies like "The Fighting Seabees" or any number of Looney Tunes) and to Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans and the Supreme Court's upholding Presidential actions. But Bass's drumbeat over the topic becomes tedious.There was a time when people discriminated in their vocabulary when discussing race issues. There was a rough continuum from bias to prejudice, from prejudice to discriminatory behavior, from that to national supremacist and racist views, and from there to full blown racist ideology (such as seen in Nazi Germany and South Africa). Bass seems unable to grasp this continuum: To him every slight becomes full blown racism. His one-size (or term) fits all is evident throughout, but especially so at p. 686 et seqq.(3) A sharper editor might have caught the discrepancy about Truman's "fecklessly [there's that argumentative adverb again] weak appointment" of John Higgins to the Tokyo warcrimes tribunal between pages 173 and 200. Higgins resigned a few months after the tribunal's first sitting in 1946. But which Massachusetts court did Higgins come from? On page 173, he is from the Supreme Judicial Court, the appellate court dating back to 1690, or the Superior Court, the trial court? Not a big deal or a large error, but an obvious one, and it makes you wonder how firm the editor's reins were.There is also the curious error about Hitler's single whirlwind visit to conquered and nearly empty Paris in June 1940. "Wehrmacht troops," Bass writes, "paraded down the Champs-Élysées in Paris before a triumphant Hitler." (p. 280) Hitler spent about two and a half hours in Paris. He landed about 12 miles out at Le Bourget shortly after dawn, sped through the nearly empty city with Speer and a few others, making flying stops for photos at the Arc de Triomphe, Trocadéro-Eiffel Tour, Napoleon's tomb, the Pantheon, the Opéra, and a few other places. Insofar as sources available relate, there was no parade. This passage seems like sloppy research that an editor or reader should have caught and corrected.Withal, for all its (sometimes irritating) flaws, the book is well worth your time and effort. An insightful fair review of Bass's book by Rana Mitter appeared in the Times Literary Supplement on 19 April 2024.

Let me ,from the very beginning, tell you that book like this one are very rare. Indeed, most academic authors use a jumbled and hard-to-understand language ,which becomes a burden when reading their books,albeit the fact that they might have done a lot of in-depth research and tapped new sources.However, this book is totally different and stands out immediately and as soon as you read, say, 100 pages, you can know that Professor Bass in not only a superb historian, but a very gifted writer. All this because this work, although extremely long with each page super-packed with a lot of information,reads like a mega thriller .All thisafetr spending 10 years of research and writing this spectacular work.The author examined each and every aspect of the trial, starting from a very broad and comprehensive survey of Japan's history and its relations with the other countries and its horrible crimes which the Japanese have perpetrated against most countries in the Far East. The prosecutors, the defense, the preparations for the trial and its outcome, including the quarrels between the various and respective judges on judicial matters- all are to be found here.I will not write about any spoilers , however , the author dwells on one dissenting judge , the Indian one, whose views remain holy writ for Japan's extreme nationalists to this day.T He didi not even agree there was a Holocaust in Europe. The Japanese claims that they had fought in self-defence were definitely ludicrous.Many people in Europe thought that Emperor Hirohito should have been sent to the gallows as well.This book is a unique and outstanding masterpiece whcih will be unsurpassed for many, many years!!!

Ok, I confess I haven't yet made it past the introduction, but it's already clear to me that an outstanding book to read before this one is Evan Thomas's Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War 2, which covers the period up to Japan's surrender. It's an eye-opening book that may challenge your beliefs about whether America's decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary, but it also sheds light on the dynamics and mind-set of some of the same characters that will appear in this book.

Gary Bass, a Professor of World Politics at Princeton University has written an extensive, incredibly well researched history of the Tokyo War Crimes trial, The book covers then end of the war in the Pacific and the planning for post war life in Japan. Part of the post war plan was holding Japanese officials accountable for the war crimes committed against both enemy troops and civilians. It was lengthy, complex process involving governments from a number of countries. This is truly a masterpiece of writing and scholarship. “Judgement at Tokyo”is the definitive account of the crimes and the trial. It is a must read for any student of WWII.

Documento de um fato desconhecido dos brasileiros, só lembramos de Nuremberg

70 years passed since The Trial. This book eviscerated both the well-known and still-hidden facts of the Japanese atrocities in Asia, which were hidden from Japanese civilians then.Japan, unlike Germany, has yet to own up. It is never too late for Japan to face history, amend, repent, and ask forgiveness from its neighbors instead of passing the buck to the politicians.Where is the conscience of Japan?

Sehr gute Dokumentation

The book is extremely interesting and very well written. I read many books on WWII and this one stands out for its clarity and richness of details in narrating the events. The writing is captivating and manages to make the even complex legal analysis simple to understand and engaging! The author manages to keep balanced perspective and provide nuanced insights into the complex racial and human dimensions of the historical facts. I listened to the Audiobook version and loved every minute of it. Would strongly recommend to anyone interested in the topic.

Do not be daunted by the length of this well researched modern analysis of the Tokyo trials. It is worth persevering and easy to read. I learned a lot, but it was also food for thought in the context of Ukraine currently withstanding an aggressive Russia and the complexities of Hamas, Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023. Congratulations on the author’s effort and to all those whom he acknowledges.