Showa 1939-1944

An Internationally-renowned cartoonist and reluctant war vet details Japan''s involvement in World War II

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan continues Eisner award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki''s historical and autobiographical account of Japanese life in the twentieth century. This volume covers the devastation of the Sino-Japanese War and the first few years of the Pacific War¿a chilling reminder of just how harsh life in Japan was during this hostile era. Pivotal events like the attack on Pearl Harbor are reframed as part of a larger context detailing the country''s brutal military expansion into Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Its effects on the otherwise unseen Japanese populace similarly come to the fore.

On a personal level, these years mark a dramatic transformation in Mizuki''s life too. His idyllic youth in the countryside comes to an abrupt halt when he is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army against his will. On the tiny island of Rabau