Photo/Illutration Kazutoshi Hando is seen in his home archive room in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward in 2014. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

In the decisive battles of the Soviet-Japanese border conflict in 1939, known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident, the hitherto invincible Japanese Army was thoroughly defeated by the Soviet forces.

The tragedy was condensed into a narrative titled "Nomonhan no Natsu" (Summer in Nomonhan), by Kazutoshi Hando. When I read it for the first time, I felt my heart skipping a beat.  

Japanese shells and other assault weapons had no effect whatsoever on state-of-the-art Soviet tanks. The two nations were not even close in military strength.

Hando points the finger at the Imperial Japanese Army's top brass who just kept talking big and tough, never bothering to analyze the enemy.

"Who on Earth were they to so grossly underestimate the enemy and keep escalating the war by focusing solely on their aggressive campaign?"

Their total lack of planning, overconfidence and indecisiveness were all carried over into the Pacific War, without ever being critically examined.

Researching Japan's prewar and wartime history with extraordinary thoroughness, Hando wrote using words that are easy to understand.

He died on Jan. 12 at age 90.

When he was a rookie editor of the monthly Bungei Shunju magazine, he was advised by novelist and critic Ango Sakaguchi (1906-1955) that since "history books contain lies," he must consult diverse historical materials and make rational deductions.

After he became a full-time writer, Hando called himself a "history detective."

In his seminal nonfiction "Nihon no Ichiban Nagai Hi" (Japan's longest day), he covered the 24-hour period leading up to the radio broadcast of Emperor Hirohito's declaration of defeat on Aug. 15, 1945. And in "B-men Showa-shi" (B-side history of Showa), he depicted the daily lives of ordinary citizens that were not all doom and gloom.

Without Hando's works, our perception of history may well have remained much more blunted.

Hando was also a man who always viewed history in a contemporary context. Lamenting the growing concentration of power in Japan, he warned in a dialogue: "Fascism exists right beside democracy. The public must remain fully aware of that." 

 --The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 14

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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