Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Beginnings Chapter 3 2. Washington, 1941 Chapter 4 3. Countdown to War Chapter 5 4. Last Hope for Peace Chapter 6 5. Interlude Chapter 7 6. Imperial Servant Chapter 8 7. Purge Survivor Chapter 9 Epilogue: Myth and History
Roger B. Jeans is Elizabeth Lewis Otey Professor of History Emeritus at Washington and Lee University.
Terasaki's career has largely been remembered today because of the
writings of his widow, who wrote a hagiographic biography, Bridge
to the Sun, which became a bestseller and a Hollywood movie. In a
masterful biography based on numerous archival sources including
the Magic transcripts, Roger Jeans provides a far more nuanced
picture, revealing that Terasaki was actually head of Japanese
intelligence and propaganda in the Washington Embassy and
considered Japan's key spy in the Western Hemisphere by the U.S.
government. This study is a must read for those interested in the
diplomatic events leading up to Pearl Harbor as well as those
interested in the American occupation of Japan. It provides new
perspectives on the decision to exempt Emperor Hirohito from the
war crimes tribunal and the writing of his monologue on his war
responsibility.
*Parks M. Coble, University of Nebraska*
By extensive archival research, Roger Jeans gives us a much more
nuanced view of Terasaki Hidenari, a complex and important figure
both before and after the Pacific War. After the Japanese
surrender, the multi-lingual Terasaki became an important link
between the Emperor, who feared war criminal charges, and the
American occupation. Jeans tells Terasaki's personal story in the
context of broader historical forces, including the postwar
mythical uses of his career and marriage as a 'bridge' between
Japan and America. The book is an important contribution to our
understanding of this turbulent wartime era.
*Richard Rice, Asia program at University of Tennessee
Chattanooga*
This book offers a thoroughly researched and carefully crafted
biography of a now almost forgotten Japanese diplomat who played
important roles in U.S.-Japanese relations both immediately before
and immediately after the war. U.S.-educated and married to an
American, Terasaki was at home both in Japan and the United States
and was committed to maintaining a peaceful relationship between
the two countries. But, at the same time, he was suspected both by
U.S. and Japanese authorities, who believed that a person's loyalty
should be just to one nation. This book offers a splendid
opportunity to ponder questions of transnationalism as the reader
follows the fascinating story of a man who developed trans-Pacific
friendships at extremely trying times.
*Akira Iriye, Charles Warren Research Professor of American
History, Harvard University*
This brief but well-organized study features meticulous research
and will be of interest to students and scholars interested in
modern Japan. Recommended.
*CHOICE*
A carefully researched, extraordinarily detailed account of what
Terasaki did during the last eleven pre-Pearl Harbor months and the
first three years of America's postwar occupation of Japan.
*The Journal Of Military History*
Roger Jeans has written a fascinating account of Terasaki Hidenari,
diplomat, patriot, husband, spy. Jeans’ superb historical detective
work uncovers numerous misperceptions about Terasaki and reconciles
the contradictions of a complex personality caught between two
worlds. This even-handed account is a sobering reminder of the
pitfalls of using the past to advance contemporary agendas.
*Edward J. Drea, author of Japan's Imperial Army*
This is a comprehensive and readable account of Terasaki's
life.
*The Journal of Japanese Studies*
Footnoted in detail, this is an informative study....This is a
straightforward, jargon-free biography aimed at teasing out the
details of a complex life in challenging times. Accessible to
undergraduates and the general public it illuminates both the road
to Pearl Harbour and the road to Japan’s postwar system.
*Pacific Affairs*
Was the Japanese diplomat Terasaki Hidenari a master spy and double
agent, or was he a saintly peacemaker who desperately attempted to
avert war between Japan and the United States? Roger B. Jeans sets
out to challenge both of these simplistic views and, instead of
recycling cliche´s and stereotypes, ventures back to the available
sources to painstakingly reconstruct a more complex and
comprehensive image of the man who acted as a ‘bridge’ between two
nations, Japan and the United States, during two national crises:
the outbreak of the Asia Pacific War and the Allied Occupation
of
Japan.
*Japanese Studies*
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