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A Boy Called H
A Childhood in Wartime Japan
Kappa Senoh
Translated by John Bester
Paperback 536 pages
152 x 226mm 970g
ISBN : 978-4-7700-2935-5 / 4-7700-2935-7
Publish : Apr, 2003
Price : $19.95 |
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[ About the Book ]
He might easily have been a perfectly ordinary schoolboy...
If, say, he hadn't happened to be born in Japan, just when that country was embarking on the militaristic course that would lead to its ruin before he was out of his teens.... If his family hadn't been just out-of-the-ordinary enough to make him a nonconformist in an overwhelmingly conformist society... And if, above all, he hadn't had a precociously inquiring mind that would never be fobbed off with an easy answer...
But he was, and he had—and the final result is this personal account of his boyhood, a story so readable and so full of resonances subtly linking past and present that it became a runaway best-seller in Japan and other parts of Asia.
The episodes he describes in fifty short chapters range from humorous scenes of domestic life to the pathetic suicide of an army deserter; from an affectionate picture of country life to the horror of the fire bombs; from the naive celebrations of early victories to the frank bitterness of a war widow; from shock and relief at the Emperor's speech ending the war to the first encounters with the occupation forces; from the author's boyish exploits to the crisis of approaching adulthood that nearly ends his life.
The final effect is of a mosaic. The pieces are multicolored, but they come together to form, not one, but two pictures—of the development under extraordinary conditions of a boy who isn't especially virtuous or charitable and may at times be annoyingly overconfident, but who is basically likable and sensitive; and of a particular nation rushing half-blind into a great conflict that could only end in tragedy.
A rich, immediately accessible, eminently enjoyable double portrait that sheds new light on a turbulent period in history, A Boy Called H surely deserves a similar success in the West as well.
Reviews
"A bestseller in Japan, Senoh's memoir (written effectively if unusually in the third person) of his childhood in wartime Kobe is refreshing in the honesty with which it faces some ugly realities in Japan before and during WWII. Senoh describes in meticulous detail the Orwellian nature of wartime Japan, with its secret police, its press censorship and its suffocating atmosphere of enforced conformity. Senoh and his family were suspected of disloyalty because they were practicing Christians and had friends in the U.S. What's most shocking about Senoh's account, however, is that despite his inner rebellion against the war, he consistently did his 'public duty.' In the book's most revealing episode, Senoh gives a passionate speech to a school admissions board about 'smash[ing] the American and British fiends.' Again and again, Senoh robotically mouths the party line when the situation requires it. He even assists an army officer in capturing a downed American pilot. How does Senoh resolve the breathtaking inconsistency between his doubting private self and his gung-ho public self? He doesn't. Senoh seems more comfortable hinting at, rather than directly confronting, big questions about personal responsibility and collective guilt. Maybe these questions remain too painful, both for himself and the entire Japanese nation, but failing to ask them leaves a gaping hole at the center of this narrative. At times, the book reads more like a detailed historical account and less like a personal story of survival; readers expecting an intimate memoir might be disappointed by Senoh's choice to tell his story from the distance of an emotionally detached third person. Nonetheless, this book is engaging, well-crafted and original."
—Publishers Weekly
"Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that makes you want to put the world on hold. A Boy Called H is such a book. This fictionalized autobiography by a leading Japanese stage designer, essayist, and illustrator re-creates the boyhood years of the eponymous H or Hajime Senoh. The Senohs, a Kobe family of modest means, were distinguished by their Christian faith and their extensive contact with foreigners. (H's father was a tailor.) Precocious, inquisitive, and irreverent, H came of age during the dark years of Japan's descent into the abyss of war and was a middle-school student during the conflict. The 50 vignettes that comprise this book provide an accessible, unforgettable, and intimate introduction to the effects of the war upon Japanese family life, friendships, school, and society. A Boy Called H ranks with a handful of classics about children in wartime. It belongs in multiple copies in all libraries."
—Library Journal
"Add this to all the powerful stories of kids on the homefront during World War II. A runaway best-seller in Japan, and translated here in simple, casual style, Senoh's autobiographical novel is told in 50 episodes, each one complete in itself and always true to the child's viewpoint. The narrative is H's personal story and also a picture of his country at that time. Not that H's family is typical; his mother is an Evangelical Christian, his gentle dad is against the war, and even as H mouths the official propaganda about smashing "the American and British fiends," what he really hates is Japanese militarism. At first the war effort is just a nuisance, and the battlefield is far away from his home in Kobe; then bombs fall on his school and smash his house; and, finally, Hiroshima is destroyed, and the country must cope with failure and defeat. The writing is quiet, almost detached at times, until you come to realize that the young boy is fighting emotional breakdown."
—Booklist
About the author
On leaving school, KAPPA SENOH worked as a graphic designer before making his largely self-taught debut as a stage designer in 1954. Since then his work for the theater, as well as for operas and musicals, has made him one of Japan's leading artists in the field and won him many awards. He is also known as a best-selling essayist and illustrator, especially for his "Kappa Takes a Look at ..." travel book series on various parts of the world, with their uniquely detailed drawings.
A Boy Called H is his first venture into full-length book form.
The translator, JOHN BESTER, an Englishman who has lived most of his life in Japan, is one of the foremost translators of Japanese literature. Among his translations are works by Masuji Ibuse, Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kenji Miyazawa. In 1990 he received the first Noma Translation Award.
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