Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun

"In this fascinating and highly readable book, Meron Medzini offers a sweeping overview of Japan’s ambivalent attitude towards the Jews living in its empire before and during World War II and the controversial treatment meted out to them." -- Rotem Kowner, Professor of Asian Studies, University of Haifa
“Japan has been neglected in most literature on the modern history of the Jews. However, Japan was involved in the fate of the Jews at their critical moments. Although Japan was an ally of Nazi Germany during the War, the Japanese gave a refuge for the Jews fleeing from Nazism. This stood in sharp contrast to the case of the “enemy nationals” who were rather inhumanly treated under Japanese occupation. Meron Medzini’s book provides a fascinating scholarly insight into the history of Jewish-Japanese relations, adding a new chapter to the works of Ben-Ami Shillony and Rotem Kowner.” -- Naoki Maruyama, Professor Emeritus of Law, Meiji Gakuin University
“Anyone wishing to learn about the fate of the Jews in Japan during the years of the Holocaust will gain immensely from reading this eye-opening book. Few people know this generally overlooked history as well as Meron Medzini and can tell its story in as authoritative and engaging a way as he.” -- Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies, Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies, Indiana University
“Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun is a masterpiece that goes beyond its title. It analyses the attitude of the government and people of Japan towards persecuted Jews in various historical contexts, including: Japan in modern world history; Japan in Asia; the history of Jewish communities in Asia as well as their relations with Jewish communities elsewhere and the Zionist Movement; and Japan’s attitudes toward Zionism and the State of Israel. The book covers a variety of related themes and is rich in details, analyses, insights, and reasonable inferences and hypotheses based on a multiplicity of sources. Most notable is Medzini’s conclusion that the attitude of the Japanese government and people toward the Jews was ‘by and large fair and even humane.’” -- Ehud Harari, Emeritus Professor of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Japan’s attitude to and policies toward Jews from 1933 to 1945 — the years that coincided with the rise and fall of Nazi Germany — is the subject of Meron Medzini’s fine and fascinating work of scholarship, Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun: Japan and the Jews During the Holocaust Period ... Medzini, a Hebrew University historian, is one of the few scholars who has exhaustively delved into this intriguing topic ... Medzini’s wide-ranging book fills the gap quite admirably. He deals with the influx of Jews into Japan from the mid-19th century, the image of Jews in Japanese society, the export of antisemitism to Japan, the treatment meted out to Jews in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, China and Southeast Asia and the policies Japan formulated with respect to Jewish refugees." -- Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel, 5 Feb 2017
Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun is a timely book that presents both experts and laymen with an excellent overview of up-to-date research on this topic in a readable and engaging form. -- Rotem Kowner, Professor of Asian Studies, University of Haifa * Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs *
[Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun] is a very good addition to Japanese-Jewish historical literature. ... While there are other general books about Jews in Japan, this book’s focus on the WWII years makes it somewhat unique. The book contains an excellent selected bibliography as well as endnotes which will aid students and scholars for further research. Recommended for all academic libraries and libraries that collect in Diaspora or WWII history. * Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews *
The great value of this book is that it brings together Medzini’s own and numerous studies by others in assessing how we might ultimately evaluate the Jewish experience under Japan. The lengthy bibliography in various languages and far-flung presses will give the reader an idea of what the range of diverse work on this topic has been. It would be no exaggeration to say that this is one of the best surveys of the topic that we now have in English—perhaps the best. -- Joshua A. Fogel * Journal of Japanese Studies *
Indeed, the strength of Medzini’s book lies in the fact that he sees this key issue, namely the survival of Jews on Japanese-controlled territory during the war, not only in the context of Jewish-Japanese relations, but also as an Asian story more broadly. … Meron Medzini’s book must be regarded as a commendable contribution to understanding the complex nature of this important chapter of Jewish-Japanese relations. -- Thomas Pekar * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *