Even after eighty years since the end of a conflict that killed at least thirty-five million people, there remains a deep well of bitterness and anger about the way the Asia Pacific War was fought and the behaviour of the combatants, especially the Japanese. Japan has been vilified for its aggression and condemned for the countless examples of its cruelty to civilians and prisoners of war. In turn, those criticisms have led to a backlash in Japan, where many deny that the accusations are true. By going back to the origins of modern Japan, and by using only Japanese accounts, this book offers a powerful yet dispassionate account of the events of the war and explain in detail why Japan and the Japanese did what they did.