Thirty Minutes over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story by Marc Tyler Nobleman

Abstract

Reviewed by: Thirty Minutes over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story by Marc Tyler Nobleman Elizabeth Bush Nobleman, Marc Tyler Thirty Minutes over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story; illus. by Melissa Iwai. Clarion, 2018 [40p] ISBN978-0-544-43076-1 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R 7-10 yrs In December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; in spring of 1942, the U.S. retaliated with the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo; in autumn of 1942, the Japanese retaliated for the retaliation with an attack on the American mainland. [End Page 84] Pilot Nobuo Fujita was catapulted from the narrow deck of a submarine towards the coastal forest of Oregon, with a mission to drop a pair of bombs that would start a forest fire and spread to residential areas. When the fire failed to ignite, he repeated the mission several weeks later, and at that point the Japanese believed those two bombs had detonated and claimed the missions as victories. Over the years, Fujita came to regret his role in the bombings: "He never discussed his Oregon raids, though they were rarely out of his mind." In 1962, in an attempt to drum up tourism, the town of Brookings, Oregon invited Nobuo Fujita to be an honored guest at a Memorial Day observance that "would be a symbol of reconciliation not just between individuals—but between nations." Genuine friendship and reciprocal visits were the happy outcome, continuing until Fujita's death in 1997. This picture book recounts a shadowy corner of the World War II homeland story, and the text is skillfully complemented by Iwai's line and watercolor illustrations. The result is a respectful and balanced representation of a soldier's wartime mission, protesters who value peace but mistrust an old enemy, and open-minded and -hearted former foes who are ready and willing to move forward and heal. An author's note will be included in the bound book. EB Copyright © 2018 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois