Dear Gloria

Toneko was a Japanese girl who lived in the U.S. until she was five and then her and her family moved to Japan and were there before and during the war. The book has letters that she wrote to her best friend in America although most of the letters were never actually sent. We see the difficulties she had adjusting to life in Japan and how her attitude towards the U.S. changed during the war and after.

She had some difficulty adjusting to a life in Japan until the military there found out she could speak English well and she took a job putting out propaganda on the radio.

Families were told to prepare air raid shelters as the bombing in Japan got worse. Many of these did not offer much protection, though.

The book also covers events leading up to World War II such as the Japanese takeover in Manchuria. The attempt coup is discussed.

She discusses the 'luxury prohibition' in Japan where Japanese were told that luxuries were not necessary and every effort should be going to the war. She also talks about the "National Uniform Ordinance," the closing of dance halls and bars, the establishment of neighborhood organizations (whose purpose was to force conformity and obedience on the part of everyone) and also rationing.

Also discussed is how the Japanese military reacted to U.S. demands for them to get out of China. She users the term "concentration camp" for the camps where Japanese Americans were confined during the war.

She discusses the types of difficulties she had when she didn't behave as the native Japanese. Also discussed is how students were basically taken out of the schools and forced to work in factories producing things for the war. She also covers information on the regular bombing of Japanese cities and on the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

In one of her letters she says that they wanted to fight to the last man. This is significant in that in relates to the planned invasion of Japan if the atomic bombs had not been ready. The general populace would have undoubtedly fought with whatever they could have against the Americans and the death toll among them would have been extremely high.



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