The Eastern Edge

Link: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/iwojima-movies/

...is the original title of Letters from Iwo Jima, the Clint Eastwood movie based on the book Letters from Iwo Jima about General Tadamichi Kuribayashi.
I haven't read the book yet, but I plan to after seeing the movie. Honestly, it'll take me a little time to get through it cause the level of Japanese is well above what I can normally read without looking up a lot of words and asking people about nuances and stuff.

Anyway, if you don't know already, General Kuribayashi led the Japanese force there without air or naval support - because, well, there wasn't any at that point in the war - the Pacific Fleet had already been smashed and Japan was already teetering on the edge of what would become a total defeat - which most of the soldiers on Iwo Jima didn't know, I might add. They thought the cavalry, i.e. the "unsinkable" battleship Yamato the Pacific Fleet, would come to rescue them from the invading Americans. In any case, Kuribayashi led around 20,000 soldiers against the 100,000 man invasion force. In the ensuing battle many Japanese soldiers fought to the end, with only 296 surrendering. Kuribayashi is thought to have committed suicide just before the end.
(Although there are conspiracy theories in Japan that say he was murdered by subordinates, but I don't know the whole theory behind that - another difficult read in Japanese I'll attempt some day).

The irony of the whole thing, from the stand point of Kuribayashi's story, is that he admired the U.S., having spent two years from 1928 as a deputy military attach・Washington (he also received part of his education in Canada!). He was also opposed to the war and, like Isoroku Yamamoto (the Navy Admiral who led the attack on Pearl Harbour), he knew Japan would lose.

Anyway, this is not meant to be an essay on General Kuribayashi, it's meant to be a plug for Clint Eastwood's movie.

Go see it!

Especially anyone who thinks that the Imperial Japanese Army were a bunch of brain-washed-suicide-psycho-soldiers (surprisingly, a lot of people who think that are Japanese!).

Maybe after I've seen it I'll be inspired to finally finish part two of my Tokyo trial things too.

Anyway, see the movie - in fact see Flags of our Fathers as well and get the story from both sides.