Sunday book pick: ‘How We Disappeared’ honours the ‘comfort women’ of Japan-occupied Singapore

“I arrived home, or where it used to be, and all that was left was a wreckage. Just ash and charred wood where our lives used to be. There was a big patch in front of the houses where the earth had been turned over and patted down. I lowered myself into a squat, put my hand to the ground. There was nothing left. It was as if I had dreamed it all, what happened. I was the only one who could prove it but the only evidence I had was the absence of things…”

Few nations in the world have tried to redeem their colonial past as assiduously as Japan. The kawaii-fication of Japan, an aesthetisation of “cuteness”, emerged from the devastation of the Second World War. It gained serious momentum in the 1980s and ’90s when Japanese anime culture, along with kawaii, began earning fans across the globe. Today, Japan is revered for its strong cultural identity, delicious food, and enviable professional efficiency. It is a top tourist destination and immigrants have found ways to assimilate, despite language and cultural barriers.

Japan’s transformation has been remarkable – and yet, its track record as a colonising power is shameful and bloody. In this...

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