Tojo: The Last Banzai

By Courtney Browne

Book Overview

General, minister of war, prime minister, and unrepentant ultranationalist, Hideki Tojo (1884-1948) was the most powerful leader in the Japanese government during World War II. From October 1941 to July 1944 he held unquestioned control, advocating and setting in motion the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as pushing forward the Japanese offensives in China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The author examines Tojo's life against the backdrop of increasing Japanese militarism--Civil war, political assassinations, and coup d' tats--and uses exclusive interviews with Tojo's wife to illuminate the spartan, single-minded, incorruptible personality of the man who chose war rather than succumb to U.S.-induced economic strangulation. From the initial victories, through the later severe defeats and Tojo's resignation, to his thwarted suicide attempt, trial as a war criminal, and execution, no other book offers such a clear and compelling portrait.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306808447
• ISBN13: 9780306808449
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Tojo lost his mojo and his yo-yo playing the banjo!

A poem called: the last Samurai: Tojo he was warlord, He say: If Japan-Kwo wants war, Japan-Kwo will have war! In the end the the Fat Man and the Thin Man fell on Japan-Kwo... and Tojo swung in autumn breeze, wearing a hemp necktie While cherry trees blossomed...... Confucius he say: Tojo was velly honollabre ah so............. Bit long for a haiku, but it pretty much sums up Tojo's life and achievements. A horrible and destructive nihilist, at least Hitler had some (albeit sick and twisted and detestable) ideals....Tojo,like militant Islamists today, had nothing to offer but death... Apart from that there was nothing, only a void filled with pure hatred. He succeeded in turning many, many other Japanese into fanatical automatons, bent on killing and being killed. Be very afraid, peoples of the Western World: Tojo's ghost and "ideas" live on and manifested itself most spectacularly on the 11th of september 2001. Since then, whether we choose to ignore it or not (and most prefer to do so) we are at war with a bigger threat than the nazis... To think that Iran and Pakistan (where the mullahs soon will rule) control significant nuclear capabilities is a shocking realisation... May God defend the right, which is us, so in your fr*gging faces, bearded, suicide-bombing, wife-beating creeps!! And Tojo, if I ever get to Japan, I'll go to your grave or shrine or whatever the hell it is and p*ss all over it, hell, I might even take a cr*p on it while I'm at it! Two world wars and one world cup, mate, remember that!