The Illustrated Man

It's rare that I read two books at the same time. However, I am currently reading Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment and this, Showa 1926 - 1939: A History Of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki. There are two reasons why I started reading Mizuki's epic semi-autobiographical history manga half-way through Pratchett's book. One, it had been in my closet for several weeks and I could no longer resist reading it. Two, there is now way I am going to read this 500+ paged slab of a book on my daily commute.

Shigeru Mizuki is extremely famous in Japan for his yokai manga, comic book stories of Japanese supernatural myths, legends and folklore. This book is very different, the first of four books detailing the historic events of the Showa era. This book recounts the events from 1926 - 1939, the second book covers events from 1939 - 1944, the third book from 1944 - 1953, and the fourth book from 1953 - 1989. A great way to learn about Japan's recent history, especially if one reads the extensive footnotes contained within these volumes. I'm hooked.