What an emotional roller coaster..... Indelible; this is one of the very few books to bring tears to my eyes. Do you think you've had it rough as a kid? Think again.
Tomiko at age 7, for several weeks - dodged bullets and explosives, avoided being murdered by a crazed military person of the same nationality, woke up to her dead brother after spending a night in the mud with the hell of war surrounding her. By some miracle and a headstrong determination, she survived.
This is a small, yet devastating glimpse into the horrors of war. Surprisingly (to me), at the time Tomiko came out of hiding with the white sheet on stick, there were still several more months of WWII before the official end. See rough timeline below.
I was particularly interested in Tomiko's descriptions of how Japanese locals viewed Americans. They were fed propaganda and lead to believe Americans were brutish, evil, thugs. When she encountered US forces, she's surprised to see just the opposite.
World War II - Relative Timeline
1941 Dec 7th - Japan attack on Pearl Harbor
1945 April 1st - Battle for Okinawa starts
1945 May - Tomiko left home to travel south w/ sisters and brother after bombs start falling and father goes missing
1945 June (early) - Tomiko loses her siblings (brother killed). Attempts to find refuge, but gets lost and circles around heading into the battles by mistake.
1945 June 25th - Tomiko brings stick w/ white cloth out to US troops to signify peace. US photographer captures famous shot of Tomiko which became the book cover.
1945 August 6th/9th - atomic bomb on Hiroshima / atomic bomb on Nagasaki
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_timeline_1945.htm
https://liuchiuan.com/2015/04/07/the-romantic-view-of-okinawans-as-pacifists/
https://ihatov.wordpress.com/tag/tomiko-higa/
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/10/world-war-ii-the-fall-of-imperial-japan/100175/
Related Japanese media:
Grave of the Fireflies
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grave_of_the_fireflies (WWII firebombing of Kobe, Japan)
In This Corner of the World
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_this_corner_of_the_world (WWII bombing of Hiroshima/ Kure, Japan)
