One of the issues that keeps bubbling away on the New Mandala stove is the role that foreigners play in the military and political struggles of Karen insurgent groups in Burma. In response to the ongoing discussion, a New Mandala reader here in Canberra showed me a copy of this book (click on the images).
Neither he nor I can read Japanese so we are at something of a disadvantage. His understanding - if I recall correctly - is that the book is about a young Japanese man who fought with the KNLA and was subsequently killed in action.
If any New Mandala readers can cast more light on this, their input would be greatly appreciated.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Yuzo // Jun 17, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Yes, it is ( kind of ) a very famous book on Karen struggle those want to join the Kare(especially KNLA) issues.
I’ve known him long time and he has passed away in 1997 becaue of malaria(not in action)
I posted up all his web data in my website(what he had done andwhat he had thought,then)
http://www.uzo.net/notice/lin/freedom/freedom1/freedomj/index.htm
But all are in Japanse, though….
2 Moe Aung // Jun 18, 2008 at 7:56 am
That helped! Joking apart I would love to read an English translation. Why not give it a try, Yuzo?
I ‘ve read in English a Burman’s account of the Shan struggle he joined in the 70s titled “Burman in the Back” - interesting role reversal on the receiving end as a minority person teaching Burmese and acting as an interpreter.
3 Trevor Wilson // Jun 19, 2008 at 12:02 am
The book blurb on the right is a short bio of the author and says (my rough translation):
Takazumi Nishiyama was born in Kyoto in 1964, did not complete his universitiy studies, but travelled overseas in search of adventure. Based in Thailand he roamed around Indochina, experiencing volunteer activities for about a year, before returning to Japan. A year later he again went overseas, and was in contact with anti-government guerillas in Tahiland, Lasom Cambodia an Vitenam.
From January 1989, joining the democracy movement in Burma, he participated in the anti-government KNU forces. In the KNLA army after giving instruction to the student soldiers of the ABSDF all-Burma students’ front, he fought against the Burmese (Myanmar) military regime’s army at frontlines such as Wankha, Paru, Dagween (spelling not clear). At present he is still active on frontline of the Karen Liberation Army.
[The publication date in not present]
4 Moe Aung // Jun 20, 2008 at 8:31 am
Thanks Trevor. Much appreciated.
5 masao // Jun 20, 2008 at 4:57 pm
There have been numerous Japanese tales in Burma’s periphery. Some Japanese even participated in cross-border activities with ethnic minority armed groups; and a few of them published written accounts. Takazumi Nishiyama was one of them. I have not read this book by him (as it is not easy to get hold of a copy). But I can say here that Nishiyama’s writing available online is very thoughtful, showing that he made the decision to join the Karen army as once-in-a-lifetime commitment. The book is “very famous” among the Japanese who are very interested in the contemporary Karen situation on the border, but outside this rather small circle it is not a widely recognizable title. (It was never re-printed and is out of print today.)
The best-known Japanese cross-border adventure into Burma in English is Hideyuki Takano’s outrageous misadventure to the Wa land. The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma’s Opium Kingdom presents a story of a young Japanese man’s seven-month life in a Wa village (from October 1997 to May 1996). There he grew–and in the end hopelessly addicted to–opium. Despite the grandiose English title, Takano is a humor writer and this book is self-consciously hilarious. Unlike Nishiyama, he was driven not by political commitment but by curiosity. It turns out that Takano is an honest and acute observer and his book gives such a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life in a Wa village.
Of all the Japanese cross-border journeys into Burma’s periphery, however, those by Toshihiro Yoshida are regarded as the most remarkable. And it is very unfortunate that his writing on northern Burma has not been translated into English. This is probably partly because he refuses to be sensational. Yoshida’s prose is very reflective and it is certainly not for a popular glossy magazine.
Yoshida started visiting Shan villages in 1977 when he was a college student. In January 1985 Yoshida crossed the border from Mae Hongson to Burma, and in March he left the KNPP headquarter with KIA troops going back to Kachin. Until October 1998–that is, for three years and seven months–Yoshida stayed with KIA, criss-crossing northern Burma. (Incidentally this is also the time that Bertil Linter was traveling in the same part of the country–a journey resulting in his Land of Jade.)
Upon his return he published four books on northern Burma. (The first and main chronicle of his journey won the majob non-fiction award in Japan.) Yoshida learned to speak Jingpo fluently and in the books he offers exceptionally detailed descriptions of what he saw and heard in parts of Shan and Kachin States. He wrote in detail about remote villages and villagers, houses, clothes, farming methods and tools, food, animals, plants, music, myths and legends, festivals and rituals, language, kinship and trees.
Yoshida writes about acts of atrocity by the Burmese army. He also talks squarely about criminal behavior by the Japanese during WWII. His interest in the end, however, is not so much in military or political affairs. What impressed him most deeply in northern Burma was in fact the forest and swidden farming. (He wrote four books on northern Burma and three of them bear in the title the word “forest.”)
Yoshida found dignity and richness in the lives of trees and humans, and he succeeded in capturing them in beautiful, evocative prose. I hope it will be translated into English. I am sure that it will be translated into Burmese (and hopefully Jingpo) when people there can read freely about their own country.
6 Rambo and the real war in Burma // Jun 20, 2008 at 10:05 pm
[...] Karen National Liberation Army and the men of the tatmadaw. And now it looks like we will have an unexpected Japanese angle to this intriguing story of military ambition, foreign fighters and the continuing quest for a [...]
7 More Japanese tales // Jun 25, 2008 at 10:10 am
[...] groups, and a few of them published written accounts. Takazumi Nishiyama, the author of the book mentioned by Andrew earlier in these pages, was one of them. I have not read his book (as it is not easy to get hold of [...]
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