''How Japan Plans to Win'' is the English translation of ''The Three-Power Alliance and the United States-Japanese War'', a work of current events by

Kinoaki Matsuo was a Foreign Affairs Officer and Navy Admiralty Liaison, Black Dragon Society member, writer, and Japanese Navy strategizer. ''How Japan Plans to Win'' In 1940 Kinoaki Matsuo published a book on how Japan planned to win a war with the United Sta ...

, a Japanese Foreign Affairs Officer, Navy Admiralty Liaison, Navy strategizer, and member of the

Black Dragon Society The , or the Amur River Society, was a prominent paramilitary, ultranationalist group in Japan. History The ''Kokuryūkai'' was founded in 1901 by martial artist Uchida Ryohei as a successor to his mentor Mitsuru Tōyama's ''Gen'yōsha''. It ...

. The English translation was performed by Kilsoo Haan, a Korean anti-Japanese operative living in the United States. It was published in 1942 simultaneously in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

(323 pages) and in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

by George G. Harrap and Company (240 pages). The book was reviewed in such publications as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

journal, ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

''. The book was originally published in Japan by the Foreign Office Press in late 1940. It has been described by some historians as the Japanese counterpart to the United States government

contingency plan A contingency plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic conseque ...

War Plan Orange War Plan Orange (commonly known as Plan Orange or just Orange) is a series of United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Army and Navy Board war plans for dealing with a possible war with Empire of Japan, Japan during the interwar years, years bet ...

.Koster, John (2012)
"War Plan Orange."
In
''Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR's White House Triggered Pearl Harbor''.
New York:

Regnery Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947, and is now a division of radio broadcaster Salem Media Group. It is led by President & Publisher Thomas ...

, pp. 66–67. . : "A Japanese counterpart to

was set out in ''The Three-Power Alliance and the United States–Japanese War'', published in Japan in late 1940 and said to have been written by a Naval officer named Matsuo Kinoaki ic a member of the ultra-nationalist

. Kinoaki predicted an American attack on Japan, followed by a fight for national survival against an arrogant and racist enemy and overwhelming odds. Kilsoo Haan, a Korean anti-Japanese operative living in the United States, claimed to have stolen a copy of the book from Kinoaki himself.

Little, Brown and Co. Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

published Haan’s English translation in 1942 under the title ''How Japan Plans to Win''. Japanese sources suggest that the book was actually written by a Japanese propagandist to reassure the public that Japan would have a chance for a negotiated peace if forced into war with the United States. Kilsoo Haan passed off this morale-building

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

as inside information."

Synopsis

Kinoaki predicts an impending attack on Japan by the United States that will leave no alternative to an existential war of attrition between the two powers, pitting Japan against an arrogant, racist enemy and overwhelming odds.

Controversy

A copy of the book is alleged to have been stolen from Kinoaki himself by the book’s translator, Kilsoo Haan. Some Japanese sources allege that the book is actually a work of propaganda, intended to lift civilian morale and reassure the public of that Japan will have a chance for a negotiated peace in the event it finds itself coerced into war with the United States. One reviewer described the book as being "on a level far beneath ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

''."

Covers

The version published in Boston by Little, Brown and Company featured a reproduction of the Japanese

book cover A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...

and endsheets. This entailed black cloth boards with the Japanese title in red, vertically, along the right side of the cover. The endsheets were emblazoned with a red and white naval theme."How Japan Plans to Win"
''

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

''. Archived fro
the original
on 7 July 2019. : "Reproduction of the cover of the Japanese edition on lining-papers." The book published in London by George G. Harrap and Company featured tan cloth boards without a title on the front or back covers.

Reviews

* Chamberlain, William Henry (Apr. 26, 1942)

''

''. p. BR18. * Woolbert, Robert Gale (Jul. 1942)
Review of ''How Japan Plans to Win'', by Kinoaki Matsuo.
''

'', vol. 20, no. 4. p. 785. * Ainger, E. (Sep. 1942)
Review of ''How Japan Plans to Win'', by Kinoaki Matsuo.
'' International Affairs Review Supplement'', vol. 19, no. 9. pp. 519–520.

References

External links

Full text
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Kilsoo Haan
at

Densho Encyclopedia Densho is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington whose mission is “to preserve and share history of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans to promote equity and justice today.” Densho collects video oral histories, photos, ...

*{{WorldCat, oclc=4674240
松尾樹明『三國同盟と日米戰』霞ヶ關書房 1940.10 増補改訂版
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English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''The Three-Power Alliance and a United States-Japanese War''). Foreign Office Press, 1940. 1940 non-fiction books Japanese non-fiction books Little, Brown and Company books Current affairs books Books about Japan Japan–United States military relations Translations into English