Thanks so much, David, for affording us the opportunity to pose a few questions. 

Is the focus on post WW ll Japan? If you go earlier, how much time is devoted to the war itself and the events leading up to it? I'm guessing you aren't going back to the Meiji Restoration. :)

As far as your research, did you mainly rely on primary sources? I imagine a lot of what you found in storage would qualify as primary sources, or would that be wrong? 

Did you incorporate lessons learned and stories told at the Baerwald dinner table as related by your father and his colleagues? 

I've always been intrigued by the contact among the Axis Powers. Do you get into that? 

The Nuremberg Trials have long lingered in our collective memories but so little is remembered about similar trials that played out in Tokyo. Do you touch upon them? How about the role of hyper-nationalism/militarism?

My family has a strong connection to the war with Japan. My uncle Peter was stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines when the war broke out. He was one of the tens of thousands of US and Filipino troops who survived the 65 mile long Bataan Death March. He died of dysentery in the camp on June 11, 1943, he was 22. I read a book about the march and the sadism of certain Japanese soldiers was shocking. Tall soldiers were often singled out for the cruelest treatment. My uncle, who I was named for, was 6'5", as I am. I often wonder if he was beaten. Like you, I've inherited a wealth of documents related to the war. I have almost one hundred letters that my uncle wrote prior to the war, but nothing after the invasion. I have numerous correspondence between my grandmother (Peter's mother) and the War Department as she desperately is seeking any information on his whereabouts. You can hear the fear and urgency in her words. And of course I have the boilerplate letter offering "deepest sympathies" from General MacArthur. Among the fascinating documents are the actual multi-page Thanksgiving Dinner 1941 menu for the 28th Material Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, which details all of the foods served as well as a list of the service members, from the Captain to all those lowly privates at the bottom, with Peter M. Young being last. Additionally, I have the local paper for Derry, New Hampshire dated June 16, 1943 with the headline, "Notified Peter Young Died While Jap Prisoner". Many family members were happy to casually use the word "Jap" when recalling this family tragedy but my always wonderful mother didn't. She made it a point to differentiate between the Japanese government/military and the Japanese people. I won't bore you any further beyond telling you that when Peter went missing, my grandmother sent my mom to Washington DC, at age 17, in hopes of finding information. Mom got a job at the Pentagon but alas, it didn't provide any better access to information. Mom did go on to become a WAC.

I hope I haven't gone on too long, David. Looking forward to anything that you can share, as well as questions posed by others.

Peter T.