My Father's Dying Wish

My second book was a translation of Kurahashi Ayako’s moving autobiography Kempei datta chichi no nokoshita mono. Kurahashi’s father was in the kempeitai (military police) and left a dying wish for an apology to be put on his gravestone to the people of China. This is a very personal project for me: the book was one of the most important influences on my understanding of Japanese war memories as I wrote Japan’s Contested War Memories. Please order the book by contacting the publisher (Paulownia Press) or me directly.

There is a video about the translation project and ideas on how to use the book as a class text on Hokkaido University Open Courseware.

Read extracts from the book on The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.