Analysis of Harp of Burma Book Authored by Michio Takeyama - Essay Example

Harp of Burma Introduction This book, the Harp of Burma ed by Michio Takeyama considers the involvement of the Japanese soldiers in World War II and the experience they went through during the war. The readers though consider the book differently in terms of its message. Some readers consider the book as a peace initiative while other says it is a justification of the Japanese involvement in the war. The book discusses how Japanese soldered were killed in thousands buy the British soldiers and the final victory of the British in the war, the Japanese soldiers are portrayed as having been disillusioned about war and they confess the need of peace in the world. This position regarding the message of the book is accentuated by the author’s opinion that the war was unjustified and that the Japanese soldiers ought to have absconded the war. This position infers that the tone of the literature discouraged the active involvement of the Japanese soldiers in the war. Published in 1948, the book was later translated from Japanese language to English by Howard Hibbert. The title of the book was not just a convoluted idea, it stems from the fact that the Japanese soldiers engaged in the war were encouraged to sing as a way of boosting their confidence e and morale to emerge victors in the fight. Amidst this was a soldier who use to play Harp for other solders in the same spirit of building confidence and the zeal to vigorously fight. This book is also directed as a film. Message of the Book The central theme discussed and that can be inferred after reading the book is the need to avoid war confrontation and instead opt for peace. The literature in the book recounts how the Japanese soldiers were killed in thousand and the bodies decomposing in the jungle. It shows how Japan’s involvement in the war made any other agenda for the country lag behind in the interest of pursuing war. Japan, Italy, and Germany were skewed on one side forming one axis against the British and her allies on the other side. Japan and the allies in the war were trounced and in this book, the Japanese soldiers captured by the British were told to inform the rest that the war has ended and one of the soldiers who happen to be playing the Harp volunteer to dutifully undertake to the responsibility (Takeyama, 46). He left the rest of the solders to pursue other in the effort to deliver them the message. In the jungle, he is surprised to find most of his colleagues killed in millions that he could not even make arrangements to bury them as he initially wished. The soldier is taken aback by the situation he witnessed and he is discouraged by being a soldier. In the jungle (Burma), the soldier camouflaged his identity in and operated as a monk. In this village, he is taken care of by the members of the society who gives him food and other basic human needs. He decided to remain in Burma and never went to join forces with his former battalion members. Later, following the advances made by group he abandoned for the duty, he is met and denies he is one of them. The group though identified him as one of them who played the Harp (Takeyama, 49). During this time, the Japanese soldiers were under the care of the British soldiers who were making means of ferrying them back to Japan. The solder later confesses to be the one who was playing the Harp for the rest of the solders. This book also depicts how the British easily duped the Japanese soldiers. It leaves considerable speculation of the efficacy of the Japanese to sustain the war given their conduct, participation and there level of believing information from the opponents. This provides the information about the other part of the Japanese soldiers that are not known as far as the World War II is concerned. Japan has been billed to have staged a spirited fight with the opponents only to find that there were lots of intrigues in the battle field that contradicts this position. The book also depicts the significant paradigm shift experienced by the Japanese after the war. Most of the soldiers who survived the war developed a negative attitude about military confrontation. The memory of the war was not something they wanted to remember and in their own self-audit, the found engaging in the war a reckless irresponsibility that otherwise would have been ignored. It dawned on the Japanese according to the book that it is not only military strength that is supposed to be relied upon. Morals and humanity are equally significant virtues that should not be left unattended and unconsidered (Takeyama, 53). Approval by the American Censorship It will take one with a surprise as to why the Americans approved this book published by one of their archrivals in the Second World War. The Japanese had scandalously sank American Ships at Hawaii (Pearl Harbor) and this is the reason that stimulated American to get involved into the European affairs contrary to the doctrines that provided for their not involving in such affairs. As a way of responding to the attack, the Americans used nuclear bombs to attack Japan in the two famous cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This attack is believed to have halted the war in the East. Despite all the development between America and Japan, they still approved the book. This approval was ostensibly because the book was published in a reconciliatory tone, it rationally stipulated the negative sides of the war and called for a new dawn in cherishing peace and tranquility in all the nations. Positive Ramification of the Book The book compliments the call for world peace and prevention of another similar war, it encourages dialogue as a way of overcoming national, and international differences as opposed to war. Indeed, after the Second World War, the world realized the need for peace and that explains why the UN was put into place. Actually, the book provides an immortal message to not only the world but also generation after generation in condemning war as a way of achieving supremacy but providing the alternative means of objective and balance rationalization of divergent needs and ideas. The book helps spread the negative effects of war to help people evaluate and construe the sufferings and destituteness that come with involvement in the war. Negative Ramification of the Book The book tends to discuss the inherent weak nesses of the Japanese soldiers in the battlefield. The in-depth information of the book about the conduct of the Japanese solder and how submissive they were to the British may make one to negatively conclude about the contribution of the Japanese towards the World War II. The information tend to demean the efficacy of the Japanese soldiers as those who are easily duped, uncoordinated, and have no minds of themselves. It casts aspersions on the viability of the Japanese soldiers. In the book, ‘Grave of the Fireflies’, the author’s perception resonates well with that of the Harp of Burma about the Japanese involvement in the World War II. This is anti war publication that demonstrates the suffering of two siblings following the death of their mother in the Bombings instigated by America in the town of Kobe (Takahata, ). The siblings according to the book were orphaned after the death of the mother and suspect that the father is also death following the news that Japan has unconditionally surrendered and no longer participates in the war. Both the sibling died because of malnutrition occasioned by the Japanese engagement in the war. Clearly, this book also confirms the devastating nature of the war to the Japanese. The war resulted into immeasurable suffering of the people and the case of Seita and Setsuko are just a mere examples. Again in ‘No More Words’, the author Reeve Lindbergh describes how making communication to her mother who is suffering from stroke is difficult, the mother could not talk and hardly speak a word in a day. This is contrary to what she uses to be known for since she was also a writer (Lindbergh, 88). The agony, the writer went through is coparable to that experience by those whose parent died in the war, a classical example here is that of Seita and Setsuko. Loss of a loved one is depicted as bringing lots of psychological torture to the people left behind, the similar episode is witnessed in the cases of war. Conclusion It is important that literature materials that discourage war and military action be discouraged. The consequences of the first and Second World War are still fresh in the minds of many and no one would want to either participate or witness the scenes that took place then. It is thus imperative that any materials that communicate anti war information be considered in every word of it. The Harp of Burma is one of such materials. Work Cited Takeyama, Michio. Harp of Burma. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1966. Print. Lindbergh, Reeve. No more words: a journal of my mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Print. Takahata, Isao. Grave of the fireflies. S.l.: Central Park Media, 1988. Print. Read More