Burial in the Clouds by Hiroyuki Agawa

Burial in the Clouds Reviews

• 
  David

  Adorable twentysomethings take a (very permanent) break from their humanities degrees to do something rather illogical but very dramatic for their Emperor. Some are more reluctant than others.
  
  It makes for a very cute story, with me crying at the end. Just don't ask too many questions. Such as: If the Japanese military were always so adorable, how did this war get started?
  
  The closest anyone gets to a war crime in "Burial in the Clouds":
  "I experienced sexual urges practically for the first time since joining the navy. I was in some kind of trance, clasping a woman's hand in mine, and listening to a melody on the thirteen-stringed koto. (This all happened in a dream.) The woman wasn't anyone I knew, and I couldn't see her face. It was just a woman's warm, meltingly supple hand. A fat goldfish swam leisurely around our two clasped hands, trailing algae behind it. As for the tune I heard on the koto, 'The Dance of the Cherry Blossoms': that turned up in the dream because the Yokosuka military band came yesterday and performed it. I don't feel like saying anything more. It was a wet dream."
  
  This made me laugh:
  "After we were dismissed, Wakatsuki, a guy in my outfit from Takushoku University, was happily chanting a Chinese poem, eyes cast down toward the drill ground, when a deck officer accosted him. 'Stop pining for the outside world!' the officer quipped, and struck him twice. Wakatsuki returned to the barracks wearing a stupefied look. He had thought he had been displaying his true Japanese spirit."
  
  Koch-ken:
  "...the enemy had been sighted offshore at Cape Muroto..."
  
• 
  Books on Asia

  I enjoyed this book and anyone who is interested in the subject and all the details, like what kind of planes the pilots steered, what kind of fuel they used, what kinds of training they received etc. then I recommend the book. I've read a bit on this subject already, so it was not all new to me. The book is a novel that charts the course of three friends who enter the Imperial Japanese navy a year or so before the end of WWII. The letters and diaries created to give insight to the characters' thoughts is a nice format. Just be aware that as a result of this, there is very little individual character development and I found myself sometimes a bit confused as to who was narrating/writing and had to look back to the beginning to reorient.
• 
  Hani Mahdiyanti

  I can't believe I actually burst into tears at some parts T.T
  [This is special reading on the occasion of November 10th "Indonesian Heroes Commemoration Day / Hari Pahlawan" in Indonesia]
  
  This is a sweet, heart-warming, yet heart-breaking story about Navy pilot of Japan in WW II.
  
  Four college students in literature became soldiers in order to serve their nation. They all in navy, but three of them end up in the same place and becoming pilots.
  
  "You guys come in from the air, I will come in on the water, and A. will creep in over the earth. Let's keep up the work." - Kashima's letter to Yoshino -
  
  The writing mainly in the form of journal or diary writing of Yoshino, but it also contained correspondence letters of those four. Because they are students of literature department, it also contained beautiful poems in some parts.
  
  Some people thought the war will only bring misfortune, pain, and sadness, but in this story, I can also see war as their way to serve their country and nation even though their country only ask them to die. They can only think to die honorably. But still, I despise any form of war in this world :(
  
  "Now, the fate of the nation entirely depends on how we die..." - Yoshino's writing in his diary -
  
  Their friendship, their thoughts, their fought, their sacrifice, their love to parents, family, friends, and their loved ones, are just.. sweet.. T.T
• 
  Jodi

  This is a book to read in August. Rather poignant knowing the protagonists are facing a hopeless situation. The book allows the reader to understand a little the experience of wartime Japan from the viewpoint of ordinary people.
• 
  Michael O'Donnell

  A student of poetry conscripted into a world of Naval aviation. The flow of thought processes and events lead a man to commit his life for his country no matter how futile. Beautiful detail and prose.