Behind the Japanese Mask

Robert Craigie

• Publisher: Eschenburg Press
• Year: 2018
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789125351
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Behind the Japanese Mask tells the story of political events in Japan leading up to and during World War II, as told by the British Ambassador in Japan from 1937-1941 himself, Sir Robert Leslie Craigie.
"THIS BOOK IS IN NO SENSE AN OFFICIAL RECORD. IT IS RATHER AN ATTEMPT, made without reference to official documents and after three years of mature reflection, to disentangle from avoidable detail the sequence of political events in Japan which led up to the war; to record the main developments in Anglo-Japanese relations during that time; and to follow the intricacies of the struggle in Japan between those who favoured this war of aggression and those who worked against it. Interspersed with political matters I have given accounts of our personal experiences, not because I regard them as intrinsically important, but rather in the hope that they may help to give body to the general impressions formed during those five critical years in Japan. The views expressed are purely my own and in no way commit His Majesty's Government.
"'Know thine enemy' is a good precept for those who have been engaged on a life-and-death struggle with a foe who is as inscrutable as he has often shown himself to be unscrupulous. If this book can add but a little to the sum of that knowledge, I shall be more than satisfied."—Sir Robert Leslie Craigie

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• PREFACE
• CHAPTER I-EARLY CONTACTS AND IMPRESSIONS
• CHAPTER II-THE NAVAL QUESTION IN RELATION TO JAPANESE MILITARISM (1987-1937)
• CHAPTER III-THE PROGRESSIVE TWENTIES
• CHAPTER IV-THE RETROGRESSIVE THIRTIES
• CHAPTER V-MURDER AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLICY
• CHAPTER VI-SOME CAUSES OF THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR
• CHAPTER VII-FIRST WEEKS IN JAPAN (1937)
• CHAPTER VIII-FIRST AFTERMATH OF OUTBREAK OF CHINA WAR (1937-38)
• CHAPTER IX-AMENITIES OF LIFE (1938)
• CHAPTER X-PRINCE KONOYE AND HIS FOREIGN MINISTERS (1938)
• CHAPTER XI-CHUZENJI
• CHAPTER XII-INTERPLAY OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLITICS (1938-39)
• CHAPTER XIII-TIENTSIN (1939-1940)
• CHAPTER XIV-TWO MODERATE GOVERNMENTS (AUGUST, 1939-JULY, 1940)
• CHAPTER XV-JAPAN TAKES THE LOW ROAD (JULY, 1940)
• CHAPTER XVI-HAYAMA
• CHAPTER XVII-AMERICAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS
• CHAPTER XVIII-MATSUOKA’S YEAR (JULY, 1940-JULY, 1941)
• CHAPTER XIX-THIRD KONOYE CABINET (JULY-OCTOBER, 1941)
• CHAPTER XX-SOME EFFECTS OF THE GROWING POLITICAL TENSION
• CHAPTER XXI-EVE OF WAR (OCT.-DEC., 1941)
• CHAPTER XXII-WAR (December 8th, 1941)
• CHAPTER XXIII-INTERNMENT (December, 1941-July, 1942)
• CHAPTER XXIV-EVACUATION (JULY-OCTOBER, 1942)
• CHAPTER XXV-RETROSPECT
• CHAPTER XXVI-PROSPECT
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER