On the subject of the Japanese military in Burma during World War II, a wonderful set of 62 brief stories by regular troops is brought together in Tales by Japanese Soldiers, edited by Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley, and published in 2000. The most basic fact about this collective experience is conveyed in a single sentence on the back jacket: “Over 305,000 Japanese soldiers fought in Burma between 1942 and 1945; 180,000 of them died.” The arc the narrative can be expected to take is therefore clear from the outset – open euphoria at the start giving way to utter despair at the finish. But the interest of the book lies in the detail it sheds on life in the Imperial Japanese Army in the Burmese theatre. By far the most poignant parts come at the end as ordinary soldiers face up to retreat and, ultimately, defeat. I’ll cite just one wrenching passage from “Those forsaken by God” (tale 56), the testimony of Staff Sergeant Yasumasa Nishiji:

“We called the road the ‘Human Remains Highway’. What happened here was beyond the bounds of acceptable human behaviour. It was a vision of hell.

Those struggling along this road were almost all in their twenties yet they stooped like old men. The sight was one of total misery. Nobody could have believed that these men had once possessed the strength to survive a series of intense battles.

Many enemy soldiers were deterred from pursuing us on this road; they did not want to witness such an atrocious scene; they made a detour instead.”