So Far from the Bamboo Grove -- too much for sixth graders?

From the Boston Globe:

The Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee is grappling with whether to ban an award-winning book from sixth-grade classes after complaints from some parents that the book is racist and sexually explicit.

A review committee that included the middle school librarian and two English teachers unanimously voted to recommend removing "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" from the curriculum after 13 parents complained. Superintendent of Schools Perry Davis backed the recommendation.

Comments

[Lauren Cerand]

That's extremely sad to hear -- we read "So Far..." in school when I was in fourth or fifth grade and it had an extraordinary impact on me in terms of feeling gratitude for my privileged life, and helping me to understand how different things could be (and how easily that could be the case). It's too bad for those kids who are missing out on an important book.

[E_I]

Hmmm...Amazon classified the book as for 4-6 graders. Then again, this is Amazon, where the Beatles are heavy metal and The Three Tenors are jazz.

[Tom]

It's a tough call. 6th graders are 10 and 11 years old at the beginning of the school year. Discussions of rape might be a little tough for this age group. The racism might also be an issue. Imagine a book about a group of white explorers going into Africa and being beaten, raped, etc. by the natives. Even if it is true, it might not be appropriate for 6th graders. I haven't read the book so I don't know how the material is actually presented in the book so I can't really judge. But these parents don't sound like book-burners or nut jobs. They sound concerned.

[Kurt Salinger]

Humanity is humanity. You will be exposed to our shame so get used to it. What age can we destroy innocence. This is Ms watkins life that you're censoring here. are you trying to say that she shouldnt be allowed to feel and express? I'm a student and i've seen some stuff. The books are there so you can read and decide for yourself. if you dont think you can handle it put the book down.

[history buff]

I read the book. I was surprised to see that it was for 10 and up when I read a passage on page 82 "I saw several Korean men dragging girls to the thicket and I saw one man raping a young girl." From the passage I gather that Mrs. Watkins does not like Koreans and she would like us to think the same way. I have several Korean friends that would be hurt by this passage.
I was surprised that the teachers would agree with Mrs. Watkins portrayal of the Japanese during WWII as the victims. We all know that the Japanese brutally attacked us at Pearl Habor.
While I read the book I asked several questions...
What was a Japanese family doing in Korea? Why was her family being hunted by the Russians for her father's job in Manchuria? Why did her father go to prison in Siberia?
So I googled Japanese war crimes. I was surprised to learn about a place called unit 731. They called it the logging mill because the Japanese amputated limbs from live Chinese, Koreans and US POWs.
Why does Mrs. Watkins portray the Japanese as victims of WWII?
Could it be denial? I think the book is a great portrayal of the opposite side. But I'm not that interested in the Nazi's point of view either.

[Leila]

Hello, History Buff. I believe that some of your questions were answered in the preface by Jean Fritz. But it's possible we read different editions.

I didn't interpret the book as rascist -- yes, Koko sees Korean soldiers (from the Communist army) doing awful things, but they aren't the only Koreans in the book -- a Korean family not only saves Yoko's brother's life, but also takes him in as one of their own. They risk their own lives to hide and protect a stranger.

I also don't see the book as a portrayal of the Japanese being "victims" of WWII. But, again, it's probably a matter of personal interpretation of the text.

[call me "chosenjin"]

I would like to thank "dsteacher."

The comments by "dsteacher" are a priceless example of the danger of this book for brainwashing and instilling disinformation on innocent Americans.

You see the perspective on the situation it can give you when "dsteacher," who knows the book better than anyone else commenting here, says teh author's family was being threatened on "their own land."

Hmmm. THEIR..... OWN.... land?

Sure it was "theirs," according to "laws" made by people like her father, who was off in Manchuria (Does Manchuguo ring a bell? Anyone see "Empire of the Sun"?).

What would you call me if I said Jews sometimes sue Germans for paintings and art and gold that is the Germans' "own property"?

Sure, an innocent girl shouldn't feel threatened even if she's on someone else's land, and suing for paintings is not the same thing as violently reclaiming territory. Point is, "dsteacher's" comments show you the perverted perspective you are left with from reading this book.

[call me "chosenjin"]

Correction... Not "Empire of the Sun," but "The Last Emperor," where you'll see a wee bit about Manchuguo, where the author's father helped colonize the Chinese, having already colonized Korea. But see both films when you get the chance.

[antibigot]

Comment by dsteacher does not make sense. He states, "Not one kid has suffered from the teaching of this book in the context of our classrooms." The reason some parents are requesting this book be used at a higher grade level is because some children are being hurt. Korean kids are coming home and asking their parents why Koreans were so awful. Kids have been taunted by other kids. Kids who are eleven years old and have not been exposed to the history of Asia don't have the background information. Obviously dsteacher does not consider the feelings of the Korean or Chinese children whom might be offended to be of any consequence. This is very sad. It is ignorant at best and bigoted at worst. I have two children in the school system and I hope they do not get assigned teachers who are so bigoted they cannot understand why something like this would be offensive to a minority population. As for alternative books, there are hundreds and the, "See Spot Run" suggestion is just plain silly and not productive. We should screen potential teachers more carefully in the future. Note: My family is not of Asian descent. Bigotry against any group is offensive.

[Young Shin]

This book is not only racist against Koreans, it is a complete lie. As a Korean myself, I know that Koreans are not the bad people, but the Japenese were. Even to this day, the Japenese are making up lies about Koreans. I think this book should be banned from schools because it is not the truth. Koreans suffered from the Japenese badly. I think this time is like the Holocaust. The Japenese treated the Koreans like they were dirt under their feet. I was disgusted by this book because it is all a lie.

[Keith Hughes]

Have you guys read the diary of Anne Frank?

Well imagine the situation reversed, with Anne being a Nazi girl and hiding from Jews who are portrayed as raping and killing 'innocent' Nazi civillians.

Now you know why this book is so damn controversial for its content.

Koreans raping and killing Japanese occupiers is no more different than Jews killing and raping Nazi occupiers.

[melonbarmonster]

You people are not understanding the issue here. This isn't about violence or Korean kids being bullied, etc.. This book is akin to a well-written, sypathetic story of an SS officer's daughter and her family fleeing Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland while horridly freed Jewish prisoners and angry Polish civilians are killing Nazi soldiers, Nazi administrators and their families. That should send chills up your spines of all you decent people out there! Manchuria where Yoko's father worked as a high official is where Japan's Unit 731 vivasected on men, women, pregnant women. It's also where Japan developed tested and developed bio weapons to be used on American west coast(as reported by nyt). Yoko's father was complicit (if not directly overseeing) taking away all the harvest of Korean farmers to be shipped to Japan, beheading Korean Christians who refused to bow to the Emperor of the "master race" or speak Korean or not adopt Japanese names etc., forcibly conscripting Koreans to work in death mining camps and factories in Japan, rounding up girls to be raped by the Japanese military, etc.. You can't just keep this about literature and bury our heads to the moral responsibilities we all have as decent human beings. Additionally, the historical "context" that's being thrown around is that modern Japan has taken a "conservative" turn some time ago and revisionism and even outright denial of Japanese war atrocities are openly and freely denied by academics and politicians. In fact, such academics and politicians enjoy immense popularity fueling a resurgence of old-time racism against Koreans and white-washing of Japan's wrongs while glorifying Imperial sentiments that saw Japan as being the "master race". In fact, Kofi Anan sent a UN humanitarian mission to Japan last year which concluded Japan still suffers from "deep and profound" racism! Can you imagine how convoluted and difficult Korea-Japan issues and history is??? There is no way that these historical and political issues can be dealt with in any "balanced" way in middle school. To add icing on the cake, this book is historically inaccurate and twists history in a very self-serving way so that a sympathetic tale could be spun. 1. There are more bamboo groves in Maine than Hamgyeong buk-do North Korea. 2. Korean communists party/army didn't exist until a few years after liberation 3. Vast majority of Japanese civilians repatrioted under heavy military protection since Japanese military didn't withdraw until US forces moved in. 4. Koreans were also killed by Japanese military during their withdrawal for celebrating or just out of retaliation. This should be a no-brainer decision for educated, intelligent people. Let them study this book in college. Making kids read this in JHS is an ignorant move.

[i hate yoko]

this book is extremly racist and bad for sixth graders. I am korean, and saw a sixth graders worksheet with damn koreans on it. it hurts, and yokio makes it seem like WE are the evil ones.
imean, um, japenese ppl used us as frigin SEX SLAVES! uh, i am sooo suing her!

[Against Propaganda]

It is quite analogous to Anne Frank's story, but it is totally different context.

It is sad to say this but because it related her personal experience it is not necessarily true story. Her father was allegedely the high ranking General of the notorious 731 unit which conducted live human experiments in the Manchuria. She did not specify her father's job other than he was a high ranking official in the railroad but the fact of the matter is many characters are from the Medical Faculty of the Tokyo University and her father was THE medical doctor conducting the horrendous experiment.

After the WWII a lot of Japanese fleeing Manchuria and Korea were lynched but not all of them. The ones who got lynched were the terrible animals who inflicted terrible pains and instilled so much hates on the local populace.

By narrating her past does not beautify or justify their (Japanese) wrong doing. And this book should be banned from the school if the background of her family as well as what Japanese did in Asia between 1910~1945 is not taught to the children at the same time. The subject matter is not suitable for lower grade students. It maybe suitable for grade 11 or 12, but realistically more suitable for the University history course after all the facts are presented and digested.

This kind of attempt is not proper because the Japanese did not formally accepted the facts and apologized for their crimes during the WWII except in vague terms.

[Isaac]

hello. I just wanted to say that the book is full of lies and it's not even a true stroy. Yoko is a liar; she does not love peace and she definately does not care about the Korean people. I mean, her father was a japanse war criminal who killed thousands of helpless koreans for God sake! Anyway, her book is another way for the Japanese to cover up their dirty past and spread false ideas of Japanese goodness and purity across the world. Yoko and Japan should start teaching correct historical facts and admit to their many, many crimes, towards the East asian peoples from killing millions and oppressing them for half a century.

[Ask Questions]

Bamboo trees can't grow in northen part of Korea, due to cold weather. Now, Bamboo grove in northernmost part of Korea??? American bombers could hardly reach Korean peninsula during WWII. What air-raids is she implying? Russians? Russians entered the war in Aug. 1945, one week before Japanese surrender. And Korean communists party was formed in 1948. Go figure.

[Julia Lee]

This book is not even true!!!
Lots of Korean people are very upset about this book
and protesting to ban this book from American schools.

[lumberjack]

LOL. Bamboo trees in North Korea? It must be kidding. If anyone who knows anything of bamboo and the weather of N.K (Hamgyoung do is the northeren area of North Korea) cant make this kind of stupid story. "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" is a joke.

[Made me sick]

If you have to make your kids to read this book.
Let them see this video first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE0M4AUCII
At least, they will have some balanced view...
Terrible that all those atrocities have been ignored conveniently.
Better yet, japanese goverment has not apologized yet for these crimes.

[roy_jones_is_the_best]

You know what really is amazing is how so many people who disagree with this book or hate Japan (I am assuming that they are all Korean) are so quick and hasty in trashing this book just because of a minor description in the book of a rape by a Korean guerrilla on the author, a Japanese girl. However, I can tell you with 100% confidence that none of these people have even read the book. If they actually did try to make the effort and read the book, they would realize that this facet hardly makes up more than just 1 page out of 200 and is in now way the driving theme of the book. Oh, sorry...I forgot. The Koreans would never want to do that of course because that would actually entail using one's brain. They prefer to take one incident mentioned in the book (which by the way could have happened...no distortion or lie about that unless Koreans think that they are genetically superior beings who can never rape or commit crime) and throw it way out of proportion and claim that the author's purpose is to deny Japanese wrongdoing and blame it on the Koreans. How ridiculous. Using their logic, then the Mark Twain's entire purpose of writing "Huckleberry Finn" was to show how southern whites never did anything wrong to black slaves and that actually slaves were always bad and whites were always kind. Idiotic thinking which shows that these people never even bothered to read the book or their level of reading comprehension and literary genius is so low, even a 7th grader can understand literary themes better than them.

The reason why this type of dismissal is so stupid is because if one were to actually read the book, you would be amazed at what the author actually writes. There are two entire chapters devoted to describing how the two girls were blessed by the kind generosity and protection that an elderly Korean farmer couple offered to the girls as they were retreating. Furthermore, there are so many references about how brutal and domineering the Japanese puppet state rule was in Korea and how this prevented Yoko's mother from calling on for help during the unstable state of Korea after the war.

Gee, criticism of iron fisted rule by the Kempeitai...praise about the bravery and kindness shown by a Korean couple....yet, these Korean "readers" just take the the incident of a Korean soldier raping a girl and say that the book's main theme is about how Japan was a victim of Korea and how Korea is all to blame? Ridiculous.

This idiocy shown by the troll posters is so great that I now realize why no real intelligent people are leaving comments on the boards and it is just the trolls posting the one star ratings and leaving stupid one sentence comments which clearly show that they do not care to read or understand the main purpose of the book which is to tell a sad tale of tragedy..nothing more and nothing less. It seems to me that what is more important to them is not to understand but to find any possible means to demonize Japan and use it as a way to deride and make negative comments about Japanese.

If that is the case, then there is nothing more to be said except that I wonder if these same people would tell Nick Berg's parents that they never be allowed to publish a book or story about their son's tragic beheading at the hands of brutal, murdering Islamic terrorists. After all, Nick was an American and America was wrong in invading Iraq. That means, Nick's murder should never be sympathized. Better yet, these people would probably say that a story about Nick's murder, or that of Kim Sun Il, was a lie and fabrication.

Yeah, I thought so. Double standard.

[tanya]

I know that I am probably going to earn the wrath and ire from fellow KAs as well as natives for voicing my honest opinion but nevertheless I wanted to get this off my chest.

The reason for this is because I see from reading a comment from one of the reviewers above that this discussion is leading down a dangerous slope with regards to the level of credibility for which we KA’s and Koreans will be judged when it comes to any matter that deals with history or national pride. It’s bad enough that now that the internet has made it possible to view not only the “manufactured” marketing campaign for nations but also the ugly sides as well too. In the past, Korea was able to get away with the “luxury” of having been an obvious victim and post-war stellar example of triumph/hard work success story to which nothing bad could be said about the nation. Everyone loved us Koreans and had only good things to say since we were only a third world nation. However, now that Koreans have finally achieved first world-status, it seems as though many of them are surprised and disappointed to find out that being a first world nation is not all about prestige and garnering more respect from others. As a first world nation, it is also necessary to hang one’s dirty laundry and admit that we are not perfect or at least that we are capable of wrong. I think this is what bothers many Koreans in that they wish to have all the good benefits of becoming a first world nation, but they do not want to face the negatives or responsibilities of being criticized and judged.

Thus, it is common to see Koreans often being the culprits of the somewhat comical but at the same time sad practice flooding of internet webboards with nationalistic and anti-foreign-tinged (especially with regards to Japan) posts such as the ones seen here. I actually hope that non-Koreans can take pity on Koreans by realizing that what seems to be a form of childish behavior stems from a deep hurt and feelings/fears of inferiority as a result of our sad past. However, I hope that we Koreans will somehow reach a day where we feel confident and strong enough to where this type of crooning for sympathy will no longer be necessary for Koreans to feel secure about themselves. If so, then such childish behavior as seen on the internet boards will stop.

[misia]

T_Whitney makes an excellent point. If anything, the obnoxious postings by the Korean supporters in Amazon have only disgusted us non-Asians and shown us how rude, insecure, and hysterically immature Korean internet culture is. I am not sure what the ultimate goal of those Koreans are, but if they continue to spam the online reviews of this book by posting idiotic 2 line comments consistently spewing the same rude comments like “..Japan is bad, Korea is always good” or “…this book is garbage because it is a lie”, etc. then all they are doing is drawing more neutral people such as myself and many others to sympathize more with the book and its author and becoming more turned off with dislike and contempt for anything the Korean contingency wishes to express. It would be one thing if the Koreans could actually come up with an intelligent and mature response which shows objectivity and reason. Instead we are treated with writing that a 4 year old child would write in an attempt to ridicule his older brother to whom he feels jealousy.

Or maybe that basically is what Korean culture is like. If so, I do not find it surprising at all that Korea has such a bad reputation in the world for supplying the most annoying and childish internet spammers/trolls in the world.

[godfrey_diligent]

First of all, I would like to say that I am a middle school teacher who has spent 8 years of my life teaching in both Korea and Japan. Of course althoug this does not qualify me as someone who is a first hand victim of any of the experiences in WWII, but someone who has a fairly high understanding of the difficult relationship between the two countries stemming from this very sad time in history. It is without a doubt that no colonial rule can ever be justified as being done out of benevolence. In that respect, although there are elderly Koreans who probably can look back at this era with some degree of nostalgic aura, it was nonetheless a period of hardship for many others and brutal treatment without a doubt. However, this is not the purpose of this book.

Seeing how so many Korean and kyopo commenters here have vented their anger, frustration, and dare I say “fear of losing their victimhood status” with the release of this book in the somewhat comical flood of caustic comments below, I am somewhat disturbed with exactly what it is about this book that is fueling their anger which seems to be so maniacal in the way a spurned woman would lash out in jealousy against her rival.

I believe that the reason stems from the subconscious feeling among Koreans that no Japanese, regardless of whether or not he/she had anything to do with the Korean occupation, deserves any sympathy for any harm done against them. Although many Koreans might disagree with me on this, I know from having had so many conversations with Koreans after having been shocked and appalled at the attitudes of Koreans (some of them even being the parents of children who I taught) cheering and clapping when they heard that over 5000 people died in the Kobe earthquake in 1995 or expressing that the first thing they wish Kim Jong Il to do is to bomb Japan. When I asked them if they would not feel sorry for anyone, let alone women and little children, who was born after the war, I did not receive a single response from any Korean who said they would be. As one young college-educated student expressed, “more dead Japanese would be a blessing to Korea since it would be one step closer to the dream goal of every “righteous Korean citizen” to wipe out the entire nation of Japan.” Mind you this was a supposedly “college-educated student.” Needless to say, I was speechless beyond horror. What surprised me more is that other than some elderly Koreans who had lived abroad for the most part of their lives, I could not find any other person who found such an attitude to be absolutely repulsive. Even so called professional and educated members of Korean society expressed to me that it would be great if every single Japanese person would die a slow and horrible death to pay for the “crimes of the past.”

The subway drawings made by elementary school students depicting bloody and violent images of Koreans killing Japanese last year that made headlines in many foreign blogs is just the tip of the iceberg. I realize now that the hatred/jealousy that Koreans feel toward Japan goes beyond the normal emotions of anger that we know. I feel that it is more of an issue of Koreans feeling as though they are always getting the “short end of the stick” compared to Japan which has made strides in the world to become the second largest economy and has a history of brutal colonization. Actually, what one Korean told me spoke volumes about what gets them riled up so much. He said that if Korea were able to kill at least 3 million Japanese and surpass them in GDP, then they would not care so much about bringing up the past injustices or even the comfort women. As unsettling as this message was to hear, I felt as if I finally knew what Koreans wanted to achieve. Of course they, like any other people, wish to have justice and see the criminals get what they deserve. When I explained to them that while some of the criminals might have gotten off free with clemency from the US government, Japan suffered and paid a huge price by having two entire cities bombed into oblivion. But what matters more to them than “justice” is revenge. This is the bottom line.

I know that perhaps my opinion might elicit some ire responses from the Korean posters here, but I am certain of my intuition and reason after having spent so many hours and countless discussions with both sides to find out whether or not reconciliation between the two sides is possible. Unfortunately, after seeing the huge flood of the one star rating posts from the Korean spammers who seem to be more concerned with making sure that absolutely no Japanese will ever be deserving of sympathy regardless of whether he/she is a victim or not.

Although, this very extreme emotional retaliation can be understandable if applied to someone who directly affected oneself, the danger of carrying this attitude is that this same attitude can be used to dismiss any potential crime against a Japanese by a Korean. In other words, perhaps there are many more like Yoko who suffered at the hands of Koreans..perhaps even thousands. However, they will never get a chance to voice their story because they will need to first publish a book entitled “Even Though I Was Raped and Mutilated by a Korean Soldier, I Want to Make Sure That All Western Readers Know We Japanese Were More Terrible Than Any Korean” as permission to tell her story.

However, I really do not see why this is necessary as this is not the purpose of the book. Why this single book can rile up so many Korean readers is quite puzzling when you stop to consider that the number of books published which acknowledge Koreans as victims of brutal Japanese rule outnumber books showing Japanese as victims by the thousands. If the Japanese are not complaining about Koreans having their right to vicimhood is so many books, movies ,and TV show, why can’t the Koreans allow Japanese to tell their story as well in this just one book? Or is it more the fact that Koreans just do not want to see Japanese portrayed in a positive light or as possible victims themselves?

I really wonder what Koreans would say to my late father-in-law, an honest and hardworking farmer who did not even lift a finger to anyone in his life who was known for his generosity, big heart and openness to guests from all over the world. I really wonder if Koreans, upon seeing him in his wheelchair and deformed ear suffering from renal disease as a result of excessive radiation incurred in his youth, would say to his face..”You deserve no sympathy. You deserve this miserable body because your country was worse to us.” My father in-law was an atomic bomb survivor from Nagasaki who passed away at the young age of 65 five years ago.

I certainly hope not. I certainly hope that Koreans do not think that before anyone could shed a tear at his funeral, it was necessary for us to make an announcement to everyone at his funeral that Koreans suffered more at the hands of the Japanese and that Japan is such a bad nation compared to Korea.

I pray we move forward.

[melonbarmonster]

It's really disappointing to see feigned objectivity and self-righteousness here. I also find it hard to believe that people are genuinely surprised at being confronted with, and are taking seriously, the immature posts and comments(ch2 anyone???)?. We all know ridiculous hyperbole abounds on all sides…unless you’re new to the internet or new to discussing things like politics or religion, a little good faith please.

And ad hominem attacks and criticizing Koreans for ridiculous claims that no one's ever made on any website concerning So Far from The Bamboo Grove only serves to build strawman arguments. Come on people. It's offensively manipulative and deceitful when you prop up artificial hyperbole as being representative of the "other side" when you really know better.

Looking beyond the smoke and mirrors and cutting away the rhetorical arguments, what we're left with is history. Japan's role in WWII was what it was and war atrocities suffered by Koreans at the hand of Imperial Japan was what it was. This historical setting of Yoko's story can't and shouldn't be avoided. I understand this is a difficult burden but it's only fair. The fact that an innocent Japanese suffered the consequences of his horrid government doesn't change the fact that innocent Koreans were beheaded, tortured and killed for speaking Korean, not worshipping the Emperor, writing in Korean, etc.. It takes some serious moral anemia and selective amnesia to ignore these historical realities behind perspectives of the offender and victim. What's important here is context and Yoko’s narrative ignores and distorts this context.

The damage is even greater when you realize that this book is taught to unprepared students by unprepared teachers. I'm sure that KKK grand dragon's children have narratives that are sympathetic. An SS officer's families probably had to endure and survive hardships after Nazi Germany lost the war. But making middle school students read these sympathetic perspectives out of context when the teachers, school administrators are uninformed about the historical context of atrocities committed by Imperial Japan against Koreans is inexcusable, hurtful and plays(albeit wo intention) into the hands of Japanese revisionism.

And middle school isn't the appropriate venue for exploring these issues. This is college and above level material. It only serves biased agenda to force this on middle school children. I've had educated, grown, professional Japanese in NYC tell me they "didn't know" about Japanese war atrocities. This book inflicts this sad phenomenon on innocent American children whose teachers, school admins are totally uninformed and uneducated of the relevant issues.

And here's some more context for you, prominent Japanese politicians and academics outright deny Japanese war atrocities. Such academics and politicians enjoy immense popularity fueling a resurgence of old-time racism against Koreans while glorifying Imperial sentiments that saw Japan as being the "master race". Kofi Anan sent a UN humanitarian mission to Japan last year which concluded Japan still suffers from "deep and profound" racism. Ghosts of Japan's past still haunt the Japanese psyche, agitating old wounds and inflicting new ones.

If you want to bring in Imperial Japan and WWII into middle schools, you have to deal with these insidious issues. And I'm sorry to say that's not an unfair burden given the historical realities.

And excuse me if I don’t particularly sympathize with complaints about Japan’s burden of having to deal with its own past atrocities. It's fine to acknowledge the suffering of everyone involved but some perspective is direly in need of order.

[roderick kim]

I would like to say one thing..
bravo to all of te people who have helped in saying that this book is full of lies.
I my self am a korean , and the very thought of the book make me sick.

the damn book should be erased from the face of the earth.
i was shocked by the fact that it was beiong used as a textbook in the US, has the educational community gone insane?

yes .. it is a changed world, and we should forget the past..]

but what must be said must be said, and done be done.

how would you feel if you knew hundreds and thousands of women from your own country were raped just for the pleasure of japanese soldiers, and every day, you hear the criminals denying it, while the survivors cry in sorrow and pain.
how would you feel if you know your distant relatives were treated as labrats by a f***ing empire's soldiers.
how would you feel to have a whole half century of the modern history of your country, wiped from existance because of a so called, 'uniting act'
how would you feel, when you know your country was raped by the demons who now deny every single action, and through books like this, change the whole view of it, making other nations actually believe it/

[roderick kim]

I would like to say one thing..
bravo to all of te people who have helped in saying that this book is full of lies.
I my self am a korean , and the very thought of the book make me sick.

the damn book should be erased from the face of the earth.
i was shocked by the fact that it was beiong used as a textbook in the US, has the educational community gone insane?

yes .. it is a changed world, and we should forget the past..]

but what must be said must be said, and done be done.

how would you feel if you knew hundreds and thousands of women from your own country were raped just for the pleasure of japanese soldiers, and every day, you hear the criminals denying it, while the survivors cry in sorrow and pain.
how would you feel if you know your distant relatives were treated as labrats by a f***ing empire's soldiers.
how would you feel to have a whole half century of the modern history of your country, wiped from existance because of a so called, 'uniting act'
how would you feel, when you know your country was raped by the demons who now deny every single action, and through books like this, change the whole view of it, making other nations actually believe it/

[roy_jones_is_the_best]

Seeing the comments by roderick kim, it seems as though the Korean trolls have grown bored of having completely destroyed the comments section at the site for the Amazon review of the book and have now opted to take their infantile battle here. Sigh...very predictable creatures they are.

melonbarmonster, while I totally disagree with you in your opinion, I would like to commend you for being one of the very few Korean internet posters who amazingly are not predisposed to using profanity, bad-grammar laced with racist and offensive language, or other childish tactics common among Korean internet groups such as the spamming and flooding an entry with language as I described above.

However, I find it very hard to believe your comment about "...educated, grown, professional Japanese in NYC tell me they "didn't know" about Japanese war atrocities" as it is all too common a very convenient lie that Koreans will use to somehow prove their moral superiority when in fact, there is hardly anyone in Japan who does not know of the atrocities that Japan afflicted in the early part of the century. Why do you think I know? I have spent almost the past 8 years teaching in Japan's public school system and have seen history class after history class first hand and how it has been taught. Please tell me, how many years or months have you spent in a Japanese history class? Better yet, do you speak/read Japanese or have you read a Japanese history text book that is used in schools?

Or perhaps, just like how most of the Korean posters here have not even read "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" but feel as though they have the right to comment on a book which they have no idea of the content, you probably feel the same way about the textbooks used in Japan?

Sure, Japan presents perhaps a lop-sided emphasis on the victim status of the war, but believe me, there is nothing that can be classified as a "distortion" when so much introspective analysis about Japan's war guilt is published without any condemnation in the media and school system. Of course, there are books supporting the other view as well too as it should in any normal healthy democracy where there is always a balanced makeup of opinion unlike in Korea where the government pretty much decides for you what is or what is not the correct line of thinking. If you disagree in normal first world countries like the US, Japan or Europe, you are free to voice your opinion and this encourages healthy debate. However, if you disagree or have an opposing view in Korea, you receive death threats from the public or are jailed and banned by the government. No wonder Koreans cannot even comprehend the concept of objectivity since they are brainwashed from birth that their country is always right and can do no wrong. There is only one line of thinking in Korea and to go against pretty much means you will be wangtta'd forever in the eyes of Koreans...and Koreans hypocritically criticize Japanese society of "bullying"? Compared to Korea, Japan is like a hippie commune in that regard.

Seriously though, if you want to really taste true distortion of facts and fabricated lies, there is no finer example than a Korean history book. After all, whereas the schools in Japan can choose whatever they want from a selection of 10 which are published by PRIVATE companies, the only history book that is used in Korean schools is one that is published by the Korean government, and that's it. And you can bet that since Koreans cannot comprehend the concept of why self-criticism is healthy, Korean textbooks never talk about the atrocities committed by Korean soldiers against the Vietnamese populace during their mercenary involvment in the Vietnam War. Instead, you will hear such "facts" as how Korea defeated single-handedly defeated Japan in WWII and how N.Korea was an innocent nation who did not bother anyone until the big bad USA started the Korean War. Some of the better topics I have seen in Korean textbooks tell how Koreans, and not the Chinese, are the originators of almost everything in Sino culture, even their writing style.

I guess being descended from a bear-god does that to people's thinking.

[roy_jones_is_the_best]

"It's really disappointing to see feigned objectivity and self-righteousness here. I also find it hard to believe that people are genuinely surprised at being confronted with, and are taking seriously, the immature posts and comments(ch2 anyone???)?. We all know ridiculous hyperbole abounds on all sides…unless you’re new to the internet or new to discussing things like politics or religion, a little good faith please.
And ad hominem attacks and criticizing Koreans for ridiculous claims that no one's ever made on any website concerning So Far from The Bamboo Grove only serves to build strawman arguments. Come on people. It's offensively manipulative and deceitful when you prop up artificial hyperbole as being representative of the "other side" when you really know better."

I see. Let me show you some of the more intelligent and classy comments made by Koreans on Amazon and here.

- "the damn book should be erased from the face of the earth. i was shocked by the fact that it was beiong used as a textbook in the US, has the educational community gone insane?"

- ""So Far from the Bamboo Grove" is a joke."

- "japenese ppl used us as frigin SEX SLAVES! uh, i am sooo suing her!"

- "As a Korean myself, I know that Koreans are not the bad people, but the Japenese were. Even to this day, the Japenese are making up lies about Koreans." (you can see this quote right here above..that is if you are not afraid to admit it. If you are, then you can continue to deny the truth about the behavior of your exemplary countrymen)

- "Let them see this video first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE0M4AUCII"

(Hmm...interesting. I never knew that Nanjing is a major focus of this book, but somehow Koreans think it is. Great. Remind me next time to always mention Korean atrocities in Vietnam and the Korean 1988 Olympic Boxing bribery incident whenever Korea is being praised for something in the media. After all, it seems as though the Korean mind thinks like this: It is totally acceptable to mention any event, however unrelated to the topic being discussed at hand, as long as it can be used to ridicule, humiliate, and detract from the reputation of a person or people receiving accolade.

Yes, real intelligent dialogs posted by Koreans. You sure have convinced me.

[melonbarmonster]

Good grief.

[Roy Jones is the best has to see this]

The problem I see is that the Author is going around publicly saying that this is true story.

If this was fiction, then we should talk about values in the literature.
However, if you say true to what is not, we have to correct it.

No?

[JoongAng Ilbo]

JoongAng Ilbo is a newspaper published in Seoul, Korea. It is one of the "big three newspapers" in S,Korea, also publishes an English edition,

This novel is not anti-Korean, it's anti-war
It's time for us to be mature enough in our nationalism to overlook a book that might make us uncomfortable.
"Yoko Story" is the title of the Korean edition of the "So Far from the Bamboo Grove," written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. The scene in the novel in which Korean men sexually assaulted Japanese women who were returning to Japan after its defeat in the war provoked the anger of some Korean readers. I went through those lines as soon as I got hold of the book, but I could not find any clue as to why Korean readers were angry until I finished reading the last page. I was rather moved and felt sad reading the story. Without reason, I started to feel sorry for myself. I was supposed to get angry, but I wasn't. Why?
"Yoko Story" is non-fiction literature about the war devastation witnessed by a 12-year-old Japanese girl who lived in the northern part of Korea during Japanese rule.
The story starts with Yoko's exodus from Cheongjin, North Hamgyeong province in Korea, together with her mother and elder sister on July 29, 1945.
The first half of the novel describes the tension and horror that Yoko, her mother and sister, experienced until they arrived at Busan via Seoul, after narrowly managing to get on a refugee train. The latter half of the book describes how they endured and overcame the disregard and contemptuous treatment from their Japanese compatriots after they returned to Japan.
The scenes of sexual assault only occurred in a few places and the descriptions of the scenes are rather short and indirect.
They are written in a manner like this, "Several Korean men dragged women to the woods, and they were screaming ¡®help' in Japanese." It is my frank opinion that if someone, after reading this passage, got angry because it distorted history and insulted Korean people, that is an overreaction because of the feeling Koreans were victimized by the Japanese.
They are, rather, descriptions of the chaos and violence that were brought about by the war, as well as the horror that women had to endure. At that time, Korean women might have experienced the same horror, too.
The novel is not anti-Korean, but anti-war. The theme of the novel is the pain of survival caused by the war, such as throwing of the corpse of a child out a train window; the wearing of dead soldiers' military uniforms because it was so cold, and searching for food in a garbage can.
Because of its strong criticism against the Japanese government, that provoked the war, the Japanese publishing companies refused to release the book in Japan. Yoko's mother declared to her brother, who wanted to join the army, "There is nothing that can justify Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to provoke a war . . . I think it is better to see Japan defeated in the war than losing my husband and son."
Yoko Kawashima Watkins' classmates at Sagano Girls' School, who teased her as a "tattered doll," left unforgivable wounds in her mind. By comparison, the writer's affection toward Koreans is revealed here and there in the book. Her appreciation toward a Korean family who saved the life of her brother and treated him as their real son when he was left behind on the family's way back to Japan is overflowing in the book.
The epicenter of the sensation this time is in the United States. Although the book conveys anti-war messages, it seems problematic that the novel has been adopted as a middle school textbook in the United States.
For the American students who do not know about Asia's colonial history, there's a chance that the book will portray Japan as a victim of the war.
There is a reason, therefore, for Korean-Americans to react against the book.
There is no reason, however, that the book should not be published in Korea. We know too well about Japan, don't we?
Rather, it is about time for us to be liberated from the collective sorcery of nationalism that equates Japan as the offender and Korea as the victim.
Why must we always win over Japan in soccer games? Why should we have stomach pains whenever things go well with Japan?
The problem does not lie with "Yoko Story," but in the perception of a "nation" that has become an ideology. In the cold winds of modern history, it was certainly strong nationalism that made us survive.
However, the task we now face is not the safeguarding of the notion of the nation that did not exist before the 19th century, but co-existing with other Asian countries and trying to upgrade ourselves to be strong citizens of the global community.
For that, we should become mature enough to generously overlook this novel, even if there is something in the book that makes us feel uncomfortable.
*The writer is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
by Lee Hoon-beom

[roy_jones_is_the_best]

"...we should become mature enough to generously overlook this novel, even if there is something in the book that makes us feel uncomfortable."

Does anyone honestly think that Koreans are capable of doing that???? First of all, I don't think they could ever reach the "mature" part seeing that even 40 year old males in Korea display the same jealousy-fueled temper tantrums (just look at any internet comment board frequented by Koreans) that most normal girls grow out of by age 10. Yeah right...I think a snowstorm in Hawaii is more probable than that.

[Sharon]

"...we should become mature enough to generously overlook this novel, even if there is something in the book that makes us feel uncomfortable."

Does anyone honestly think that Koreans are capable of doing that???? First of all, I don't think they could ever reach the "mature" part seeing that even 40 year old males in Korea display the same jealousy-fueled temper tantrums (just look at any internet comment board frequented by Koreans) that most normal girls grow out of by age 10. Yeah right...I think a snowstorm in Hawaii is more probable than that.

-Roy JOnes is the best

i think roy jones should be the first one to become mature
how old are you anyway? Do you think that this is a joke and that we're doing this just to have an online war? Maybe its because your ethinicity isn't the same as ours. The whole point of this is to DISCUSS a book- not to insult other races.

First of all think about this:
your people(including you) are living under a cruel leader. After several years of tormenting, the leader is finally losing control. At this point, your people start to fight back in revenge. The leader tries to escape your country with his family. Several years later, the leader's daughter decides to write a book about how hard it was to escape the country. She then speaks to all the schools around her home about the book and the book becomes part of the school curriculum. As you can see, the writer is obviously missing the whole point.

i am not writing this to insult the japanese. my purpose is to say that the book is kindling racism in the minds of small kids.

[ohmynews.com]

There has been a controversy over a novel titled "So Far From The Bamboo Grove." According to reports, it is used as an English class textbook in many U.S. middle schools. It was written by a Japanese writer, Yoko Kawashima Watkins, who says that the novel is based on her own tragic experience in Korea and Japan after the end of the Second World War. In the novel, Koreans are depicted as brutal perpetrators using indiscriminate violence including rape against retreating Japanese. The novel was translated into Korean as "Yoko's Story."

This novel is an artistic work that usually invites diverse critiques and even heated discussions. But in this case, there seems to be just one criticism, at least in Korea. Most Koreans say that the novel distorts historical events and the writer created a fiction. It misleads readers who do not have much understanding of Korean history relating to Japanese colonialism in the early 20th century and to Japan's denial of historical wrongdoings at present.

According to Korean newspapers, it is hard to say that the novel is based on a true story because a memoir written by a Japanese woman named Harumi speaks of a totally different situation. She is the daughter of the founder of the Unit 731 of the Japanese military which performed experiments on living people during the war. She writes about the same historical event based on her own experience, and depicts the Koreans' attitude towards retreating Japanese as very compassionate. The newspapers also raise questions about the writer's father, who might have been one of high-ranking officers working at Unit 731.

As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to prove that the novel is not based on a true story as long as the writer insists that it is based on her own experience. On the other hand, it may not be logical to say that every Korean might have been nice enough to show a humanitarian attitude to the Japanese who had been merciless towards Koreans. It is also possible to imagine that some Koreans were very furious and tempted to retaliate in terrible ways, including rape, as the writer describes in the novel.

What, then, is the problem? There are two major problems with the controversial novel. In fact, many Japanese also have these problems in terms of understanding Japan's wrongdoings in the past and dealing with them now.

The first problem comes from the ignorance of the historical context and the personalization of history. Many Japanese do not have much understanding of what Japan did wrong in the past. It seems that they do not want to know it at all. They interpret Japan's history in relation to personal events many ordinary soldiers and citizens had to endure. They deny seeing the big picture of history and Japan's role as a brutal colonial power. As a result, they lose insights into the true history and opportunities to reconcile with citizens from other countries that were victimized by Japan's wrongdoings in the past.

This ignorance of and the personalization of history are also the writer's main problem. She singles out one historical event she experienced but ignores the historical context the event was embedded in. She distorts it by emphasizing personal experience, emotion, and suffering, although the personal experience itself is highly controversial and suspicious, according to many reports.

The second problem is an effort to neutralize all historical events whether they are of perpetrators or victims.

If the story is really true, it seems that the writer tries to neutralize the history by bringing out Japan's victim-side story and emphasizing that the Japanese were also victimized. She argues that like Japanese--it is not known though if she admits Japan's historical wrongdoings against Koreans and innocent citizens in other countries--Koreans were perpetrators at one point and both Koreans and Japanese were victims and perpetrators in history.

This unjust effort to neutralize history happens in the broader context as well. The most tragic event in history for Japan was the dropping of the atomic bomb that ended the war. The Japanese are very aware of the inhumane historical event and nobody in the world can deny that it was wrong. The international community remembers the historical event together with the Japanese and uses the occasion as an opportunity for peace education.

But unfortunately many Japanese manipulate this historical event--whether or not they do it with intention--to emphasize Japan's victimization and ignore its status as perpetrator in history. They advocate Japan's tragic history, bringing out many victim stories, but ignore how many people in Asia and the Pacific were victimized before that event.

It is not fair to say that the perpetrator's story based on one tragic event has the same meaning as a victim's whole history of suffering. It is not fair to say that personal stories embedded in historical events can be always legitimized regardless of historical context. All these cannot be justified especially when the perpetrator has not made any serious efforts to repent and reconcile with the victim. There must be a clear line between perpetrator's and victim's histories until there is a true repentance from the perpetrator, forgiveness by the victim and reconciliation between the two sides.

Jujin Chung (jujinchung)

[kim]

if this book is to be kept in the reading curriculum, this book shouldn't be taught without indepth asian history and another book from a korean's point of view(ie 'willow tree shade: the susan ahn cuddy story')as a suppliment with it. this way the students will have a better idea of the events of the book's setting. and this'll give the students the ability to come up with questions of the whys and hows to ask the teacher. of course the teachers who choose to teach this book should do their homework too and read up on asian history as well. Not a quick cursery learning, but indepth.

when i was in junior/high school there was no asian history, only 'world history' and that covered mainly western history, very little asian history. being asian i found this very disappointing and left me wondering why asian history isn't covered more? asian history wasn't available to me until college. students shouldn't have to wait until college to learn about asia.

i've been wondering; this book has been read in schools for how many years, 13? and no complaints 'till now? my question is how diverse were the schools, neighborhoods, towns, etc. when this book first came out?(1986?) has the korean population grown in those areas since then and now there's more of a collective voice? that would probably explain why there's more protest now, and why people can't understand why 'suddenly' it's a problem.

[D]

The book is wrong check out the korean history

[Haven't read the book myself]

I haven't read book myself and just saw newspaper articles and other postings. But based on what I've seen and read so far, for those of you who said and made such comments like "do you speak Japanese? Have you read their history textbook in Japanese?" is a moot point since Japanese History Textbooks are always in question for hiding the truth. So those of you who aren't Korean or Japanese it might be a good idea to compare the facts that's written in the book (since the book is apprently non ficition) and compare with actual world/korean history. That way you won't get biased opinion.

What's I've read from comments/articles are 1) air raid made by US military against major Japanese Facilities in North Korea (I believe US was busy with Pilliphines at the time and couldn't divert the force), Korean Communist Red Army killing Japanese citizens in 1945 (There were communist supporters but again I also believe that communist Red Army wasn't established back in 1945 and most communists were busy fightingting Japanese Militia in Manchuria or getting hunted down by Japanese police).

Again, this is just my opinion so it really doesn't matter what others think. But when I was majoring Asian Studies/ with minor in Japanese, one of my friend just said "Why can't you Koreans let by gones be by gone? Suck it up already" For 3rd person/racial/nation that sounds like great idea. But think about this... Both Nazi Germany and Facist Japan commited herrendous war crimes like Holocaust, sex slaves, biological experiments on people and etc.... But why is Japan hated by most Asian countries to these days while Germany is forgiven?

Since I'm not Jews so I don't know if they still have grudges against current German administration or not (Israel as a whole I mean) but from what I've seen/heard from news and other such things are that Germany have accepted and apologized for their crimes in the past while Japan has not.

One might say that Japanese people aren't at the fault, and I agree. It was Japanese Military who caused war and experimented and did other horrible things. But it doesn't mean they are free of the guilt and blameless for what their ancestors have caused. You don't need to live in shame forever, but until the government acknowledge for their crimes in the past and reconcile with the nations that they have sinned against, Japanese People need to carry the shame of what their ancestors caused.

Again this is my opinion and I'm a Korean not a Korean troll. For those of you who claims to be intelligent and have lot to say, 8 years teaching in Japan doesn't really give you enough time to understand what Koreans have gone through.

[baedol]

I'm a Korean, living in Seoul, and I've received mostly negative information about this book through the media (which disparages it as Japanese propaganda and a bundle of lies). From the various reviews of the book that I've read in English, however,'So Far from the Bamboo Grove' seems to be a well-written, mature book (perhaps a little too mature for elementary schoolers, but that's a different matter) that describes the writer's experiences during WWII. What Koreans are wary about is that the book's content may be perceived without any context; that is, that elementary school students read this book without any knowledge of the Japanese occupation and the exact historical background of the book. Albeit, the part about the Koreans raping Japanese girls is only a small part of the book, and not all Koreans are portrayed in a negative light, but one cannot help feeling hurt and angry when American school kids receive the wrong impression about Korea. I'm sure that these kids' parents would feel much more comfortable if their children are given both Korean and Japanese views of the period. I think it will be a valuable lesson that perspective is a large part of history, and that it is important to acquire an unbiased, fair perception in evaluating it.

That said, I would like to question some of the inconsistencies within the book's content. Bamboo groves in North Korea? Nonexistent. They can't grow in North Korean climate. Um, North Korean militia in 1945? Highly unlikely, since the North Korean militia was formed in 1948.

[sunoo]

some of you compare this book to Diary of Anne Frank, but these two are totally different. you will never know what the did to korean. Raping the girls? That was nothing to japanese. You don't know any facts between Korea and Japaense. There are so many stories that prove how japanese were cruel. Many people criticize the Koreans, but " so far from the Bamboo grove" has so many fake information. Ask to Korean friends,if you have,about stories that are about the situations when Japanese controlled korea.

[sunoo]

some of you compare this book to Diary of Anne Frank, but these two are totally different. you will never know what the did to korean. Raping the girls? That was nothing to japanese. You don't know any facts between Korea and Japaense. There are so many stories that prove how japanese were cruel. Many people criticize the Koreans, but " so far from the Bamboo grove" has so many fake information. Ask to Korean friends,if you have,about stories that are about the situations when Japanese controlled korea.

[Koba76]

We all should move on, but who has the responsibility for making the first step?

Answer: The Japanese

I feel deeply moved by Godfrey Diligent's insight that Koreans want a "REVENGE"

Yes, having read his take on Koreans' attitude to Japan. I feel that he is right...we want a "revenge"

Why?

Because Japan even today deny every goddamn thing they did.

When you are denied justice, you become wanting "revenge".

Some Koreans would indeed go to the extreme and say " I hope the whole islands called Japan would sink to the bottom of the sea with one massive earthquake and every bloody Japanese on them as well"

Why?

Because like the Jews, we were brutally repressed and we want either "justice" which bloody Japanese and the rest of the world will not give or "revenge" which we shall take ourselves.

Well, that would be the only response I could think of to Godfrey anyway.

Well, I personally do feel the same extreme degree of hatred towards Japan as some of my compatriots do and sincerely wish both Korea and Japan could move on in the more peaceful and perhaps Christian fashion from the terrible and monsterous past.

But perhaps even he would be able to accept that the first step should be made by the perpetrator of all the horror, Japan.

Are Koreans ready to forgive when Japan makes its proper apologies for its crimes? Let's have another discussion then when it has actually happened. Then you have all the right and licence to rubbish this bogoted, stupid and uncivilised Korean idiots.

[Mark]

I remember this book in Junior school when a English teacher recommended it (It wasn't required reading she was talking about it for some reason). Since it was an english class their was no historical background info presented. I am a product of the US public school system, so even in my world history class the subject of Japanese invasions or war crimes were never really covered. We did have a section on pearl harbor and Nazi concentration camps. But most of the world history were incidents relating to the US. Korea doesn't really come up until the Korean war starts. Even then the background history on Japanese invasion of Asia was a footnote or a paragraph. This book seems to be presented in english class not history class so the historical background is not covered very well. Most english teachers may not know enough about world history. I don't think Rape is a proper subject matter for 6th graders or Junior High kids. Also, it needs to be presented in the correct context, you will be forced to bring up subject matters such as Unit 731 and Comfort Women. These children are too young for such subject matters. It wasn't until college that I started learning about this material on war crimes. In my East Asian studies course we covered the various informal apologies by the Japanese, and how the apologies were later retracted at home, confusing the international communities. The last thing I remember on apologies was PM Koizumi making a generic apology for an unfortunate past and the Japanese cabinet ministers visiting the Yasukuni Shrine the same time the apology was being given. This caused confusion about the sincerity of the apology again, just as in the past apologies. The treaties to normalize relations with other countries were not formal apologies to the victims but bureaucratic government to government normalizations of relations. In any case, rape is not appropriate for 6th graders and this book should not be used.

[Jay Chun]

Dear Korean/Japaness/Korean American/Japaness American,

I read the book recently and it reminds me of various things. The reason for enormous anger from Koreans about the book is coming from historical facts.

500 years ago, Japan invaded Korea killing 3 million innocent people. At that time, they took most of korean treasures/books/useful peoples.

90 years ago, Japan colonized Korea/part of China (manchuria). Numerous innocent peoples were killed by Japaness. Even they made experiment with live human being( called unit 731).

Based on this sad history, Korean and Chiness did not like Japaness/Japan.

The difference between german and Japan is that german governmant/people regret their wrong doings and appolgized with heart but on the other hands, Japan did not even they try to hide their wrong doings. That makes Korean/Chiness angry.

Back to the book,

In my view, if I am not biased to any side or just American who did no know the long hatered history, I will say the book is Ok to read and give some space for thought like good book.

If we know the history and the background of that time, we might think the contents of the book is absurd enough to throw it to the garbage can.

That is big difference.

As a reader,

The only problem we can pinpoint is the accuracy of her description for the claim of autobiography such as the bamboo groves at that coldest area, air-raid of american plane.....

As a american korean who knows the sad history, we should be systematic/organized/cool to reason the innocent readers not to read the book and expel the book from the shelf, especially from the list of recommended books from middle schooler.

Being emotional about this issue would not help anything.

Last but not least, if his father was a member of unit 731( in the book, there are some indication of that.), we should find that evidence.

Let's show our unified voice.

Jay

[ahmad ghorbanpour]

i am an iranian student .i read this story when i was 13 years old add it impressed on me terribly and i never forget this sad and beautiful story. thank you

[mean]

seriously, what is the big deal? the book may not contain the entire truth, but truth enough for a young girl running for her life out of a largely hostile nation bent on their revenge. it reminds all readers the horrible consequences of a war. the author, writing from her personal perspective, did nothing wrong.

so what went wrong? damn ignorant americans. that's what's wrong! americans with too much sympathy to spare and nowhere to spare it. americans with no clue nor do they care whatever happened in the past for other peoples of the world. "what's past has passed," they would tell you.

oh you wish you can say that, when you have a dying grandmother who still cannot talk about her past as a sex slave for the very people that killed her husband, or a great uncle who lost his tongue because he wanted to speak his own language...

what is the point of reading the japanese girl's tale of survival, if we do not learn anything from it? perhaps, we could suggest to the japanese, that they should tear down a shrine that still honors the war criminals? or perhaps help them build an even greater shrine for all the victims who are murdered in a war their fathers started?

maybe, just maybe, those war-mongering koreans can start doing a bit of healing themselves.

[Marli]

I am a sophmore at freedom high school and i believe every child should read this book. If they dont understand our nations history and why we wennt to war with Japan they will never understand. I believe this book is appropriate for all ages no matter age, ethnic group and sex. I think we should learn to get over our fears of telling our children and tell them before its too late.....

[Marli]

I am a sophmore at freedom high school and i believe every child should read this book. If they dont understand our nations history and why we went to war with Japan they will never understand. I believe this book is appropriate for all ages no matter age, ethnic group and sex. I think we should learn to get over our fears of telling our children and tell them before its too late.....

[Melonbarmonster]

Ignorance, racism and hate are evils that go hand in hand. Comments here makes me realize how normal, decent people can be so blind to evil.

[sam]

OK, look. Nazis did bad things too, but they apologized, and have been making a great efforts to be a more friendly nation. Japan? No way. They never apologized for the crimes they commited to those Korean women they raped and sexually abused. They refuse to apologize even to this day. Americans won't understand. Japan has robbed Korea of so many things, not to mention our land, history, culture, etc. Even to this day they are looking to dominate Korea, and trying to have everything their way. US is a strong nation. From a strong nation's point of view, it is hard to understand things from a victim nation's point of view. It just isnt fair for Japanese to commercialize and advertise their "innocence" when they refuse to apologize to those victims. Ever been to UN headquarters in NY? Those Japanese have pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombs dropped. They mention how much they suffered, not a SINGLE thing about what they had done to cause all that. US trusts Japan too much. Japanese are building military again using North Korea's missile as an excuse to strengthened their defense. It's all a lie.

[Al Yang]

I feel sorry for the families of those towns and schools that have recommended this book for their children. It is like suggesting their kids to read a sad story about how Germen escaped Paris or Japanese survived Hiroshima without the context of “How World War II started”. The personal experience in this book and historical facts vastly contradict each other. Fortunately, students today are smart enough to use internet to find materials for writing the book essay. An embarrassment to those schools !

[apologize and move on]

SImple solution. Let Japan finally admit to their crimes and everyone moves on. Japan still calls systematic rape victims prostitutes.

How would you feel if your neighbor rapes your sister, leaving her with 20 bucks saying she was a prostitute? Would you not demand justice over this?

How about this neighbor is now wring a autobiography talking about your sister as a cheap whore? would you not raise your hand and ask for justice?

It took 60 years for Korea to finally have US and Europe 'recommending' Japan for its war crimes. JUSTICE ONLY DONE IN 2007!!!! What a world...

[Joey]

her father being Unit 731's official, she shouldn't have attempted to publish this book.
In a recent interview, she was extremely ambiguous about the "raping" part of the story. She said "in my belief, a woman was being raped by a man." uh... in my belief, she made the whole thing up. Her story is one that is "based" on true story, not a non-fiction. My grandfather's brother was one of more than 300,000 innocent koreans drafted to Japanese army against their will. My grandmother's sister got married when she was 15years old, just to prevent being drafted to "comforting corp," where 20,000 korean women younger than 18 years of age got raped by japanese soldiers all day long. i am so angry with this book. This book tries to teach false belief that japanese are the victims of WWII. why can't those Japanese people just admit their crimes?

[Linda]

People are CRAAAAAAAZY. Point is the author is not denying shit about what happened in history or what not. this is an INDIVIDUAL STORY!!!! not all whites are good not all mexicans are good, not all chinese are good, not all koreans are good, not all japanese people are good. Evil exists in all race. Stop over analyzing the god damn story. how can you say such mean things about the author when these things happened to her. this story is meant to explain what happened to HER and HER FAMILY. take it as it is, it seems like people are just irrational and crazy, they can't even think like what if i was in her shoes.

[why...why]

How is this racist...sure it made it seem koreans are terrible people but it made then seem nice too if you have read this story you would have know that Hideyo was takin in by Koreans, nursed to his health and later left for Japan...this book isn't saying that if you are a Korean than you are evil....i think that yoko was saying that if the Koreans had not helped Hideyo he would have died...
so i really don't see what everyone else see against this book...i think half of the people writing comments don't know what they are talking about...most havn't even read the whole book. this is just stupid anyway...she was expressing what her family went through to live and what see saw and had to do to survive

[:)]

idiots, cant you just deal with it if you were in that position you would think that the one raping was the bad one

[Koreans are hypocrites]

In most civilized countries..even in Japan, you will find that society allows people to have a variety of opinions. You can find people in Japan who support Korea's claim to Dokdo as well as the opposite. This is a sign of a true, modern, civilized nation.

However, in Korea, if a person expresses an opinion that Dokdo is Japanese, the government, society and media will issue a death threat against that person. This is how barbaric, 3rd world, backwards thinking nations in the Middle East behave. Korea is exactly the same.

Well, you see in Japan, America and Europe, ultranationalist/xenophobic racist groups are a fringe minority who are looked upon by the majority with disdain, ridicule and contempt. The majority of people in America, Germany and Japan regard the KKK, Neo Nazis and Uyoku as lunatic idiots.

However, in Korea, ultranationalist/xenophobic racist groups are the majority. The average Korean elementary school student has received more racist/nationalistic brainwashing by the age of 10 than a Neo Nazi or Grand Wizard has by age 40. Also, where as nationalist xenophobia is looked down upon by the majority of people in Japan, America and Europe, Koreans actually praise and worship those who scream about how Koreans are the superior divine race and yell insults about other nations. That's the huge difference between Korea and first world nations

[melonbarmonster]

This book is moral sewage.

Yoko Watkins gives us a fictionalized account of her family's escape from North Korea at the end of World War II. However, she narrowly limits the historical setting and plot and avoids the moral issues surrounding her family's presence in Korea in the first place. Her family was in Korea as part of the Japanese imperial drive to conquer of Korea, China, the Pacific and even the western US. They were driven by a race based state religion that saw the Japanese Emperor as being a god and the Japanese as being a superior race destined to rule the world. We may never know the exact extent of Yoko's family's direct or indirect involvement in Japanese war atrocities but this context of history and morality must not be ignored.

Living in North Korea, Yoko's father worked to enforce Japanese imperialist plans of carrying out cultural genocide (http://www.cgs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/workshops_e/w_2004_02_23_e.html) through attempted eradication of Korean language, history, and forced adoption ofJapanese names, etc.. According to R.J. Rummel's “Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1990”, 5.4 million Koreans were conscripted into forced labor and shipped all over Russia, China, Japan. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died under murderous working conditions and untold millions were never repatriated. Their descendants still live in remote areas of Russia, China and constitute the largest minority population in Japan living through what the UN Human Rights Rapporteur described as "deep and profound racism" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4671687.stm). The Japanese also conscripted an estimated 100,00 to 200,000 teenage girls and women into forced sexual slavery for its military (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/06/news/06iht-book_4.html?scp=9&sq=comfort%20women&st=cse).

Manchuria, where Yoko's father worked, was the location of Unit 731 where innocent Korean and Chinese civilians were used to conduct medical experiments. Vivasections were performed on pregnant women and men without anesthesia. Biological weapons were tested on human subjects. These weapons were even used on the US (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/world/japanese-veteran-testifies-in-war-atrocity-lawsuit.html?scp=5&sq=unit%20731&st=nyt&pagewanted=all, http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/18/opinion/the-crimes-of-unit-731.html?pagewanted=1).

While Yoko herself may be a victim of history, a retelling of her story that sidesteps these historical and moral issues is a distortion of historical reality and morally irresponsible. We cannot be lulled into false naivety by being enamored by just the well-written narrative. This book is morally analogous to an escape story of a Nazi administrator's family living in Birkenow-Auschwitz trying to return to Germany while freed Jews and Poles exact cruel revenge on innocent Nazi families.

If a hypothetical book told this story from a Nazi family's perspective in a sympathetic and compelling way, should it be taught to middle school children? Such a proposal would only be imaginable if there were grave, serious deliberations about all relevant social, historical, moral issues surrounding the book and a clear driving educational purpose. The suggestion should be rejected outright if the historical and moral context of Nazi atrocities was simply ignored, poorly known or even whitewashed.

Similar considerations MUST be had with Yoko Watkins' book! Teaching such material to our children without proper awareness, let alone a deep and profound understanding, is a distortion of history and inexcusable moral irresponsibility. The fact that Yoko Watkins' book is being taught as a heroic escape narrative is born out of a lack of requisite understanding of East Asian history. Giving the author the honor of speaking to our children where this historical distortion and moral irresponsibility is perpetuated only furthers the travesty.

There are no bamboo groves in the region of Korea where Yoko Watkins lived. There were no communist soldiers in North Korea. Repatriation of Japanese families occurred under military protection (http://web.archive.org/web/20070214033854/http://issue.media.daum.net/yokostory/200701/18/yonhap/v15423403.html). If there's anything to be salvaged from the tragedies of wars is for humanity to learn its past mistakes. This book can only portray Yoko and her family in a protagonist light by side stepping the history and morality behind her story. These are very things that should not be ignored from history.

If the full truth and proper treatment of Yoko Watkins' real story cannot be properly conveyed to middle school children, teaching of her book should also be reconsidered. There are far richer and valuable books out there that can be taught in place of Yoko Watkins' book. There is no reason to tread on morally questionable grounds and create the possibility of hurting Korean-American families.

[girl of the wise]

Guess what people!!!! This book is called a "myth". if u have ever heard of 1 u can shut up already u whiney koreans!!! i am reading this book in my myth class in college & it is just written like so to show a lessen! Yoko kawashima just wrote it for a tail, making her the main character.. you all need to stop complaining because it's not racist! and 6th graders shuold be able to read it beasue i read it in 5th GRADE! and none of the parents complained. parents these days are too protective! when i was a kid i read more vivid books then this dang thing! you all go catch up to 2011 and stop playing in the sand...

[Mimi Dawson]

Because Korean kids are being hurt of hearing some Korean men raped Japanese girls after WWII?
It is strange to hear from Koreans because they are demanding public schools in CA to teach kids that Japanese were rapists.

A lot of Japanese women fled from Korean peninsula were pregnant as the result of raping.
Some of the women committed suicide when they arrived at Hakata port.

Abortion was illegal at the time but doctors wanted to prevent the women to kill themselves so they set up an abortion clinic called "Futsukaichi Hoyojo".
There was no anesthesia because of lack of supplies but the operation was continued until late 1947.
If you want to see actual photos of the clinic, visit here http://create21.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/2664387/

Testimonies

Mass raping of Japanese refugees in Korea after... 投稿者 pccnt

It is Koreans who can't face bad side of the history.
"Lai Daihan" as well.