Phyllis BirnbaumManchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army (Asia Perspectives: History, Society and Culture)

A bit disappointing. Largely because I first "met" this character in David Bergamini's WW2 history of the Japanese war machine and she seemed more glamorous and exotic. In reality she is very much less so. A good piece of writing, well sources and fair.

I’d never heard of Yoshiko Kawashima before, a larger-than-life character whose almost unbelievable story was surely crying out for a good biography. On the whole author Phyllis Birnbaum does a pretty good job of assembling all the facts and sorting out the myths from the reality. Her research has been both detailed and meticulous and the inclusion of primary documents and many photographs into the narrative adds to its authority. A thoroughly enjoyable account of a thoroughly fascinating person.

This biographical account of Kawashima Yoshiko relates the unsettled life of a woman who was mentally unstable and today would be classified as gender confused. Yoshiko was a daughter of Prince Su, heir to the throne of the Qing, the deposed dynasty of China as of 1912. Her father gave this unwanted daughter to a Japanese friend and political patron to raise when she was eight. Raised as Japanese, to think and act as Japanese, to identify as Japanese.Yoshiko identified herself as male-gendered early in her teens. After she came of age she wore men's clothing and short hair in male style. Despite this, she had many male lovers and suitors. She also proclaimed a young woman as her wife. Her status as a princess of the Manchu royal family and her antics gave the Japanese press many chances of writing articles about her just like the media stars of today.The Japanese army wanted to use her for propaganda purposes when the decision was made to create the independent state of Manchukuo. At one point she created for herself the identity of Commander Jin, leader of a militia made up of former bandits and criminals that was used to further the goal of the Imperial Army to pacify Chinese rebels. After a few years however it appears that her mental state became increasingly erratic. The decision was made to keep such a person away from any important matters.Her drug abuse and subsequent public rantings became an embarrassment for the Japanese. After the failure of her restaurant business and the beginning of the Pacific War she only made occasional appearances, usually denouncing the war and pleading for Japanese- Chinese reconciliation. Arrested as a war criminal by the Nationalist Chinese after the war, she met her fate in 1948.Four stars for being a good read at 224 pages and the author keeps the reader interested even when the narrative gets sidelined by other information. Recommended as an interesting biography and for Asian studies students. Now interested in reading the author's other works.

Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy by Phyllis Birnbaum.As an American reader who was totally unfamiliar with the life of Kawashima Yoshiko, I found the story of this real-but-legendary woman, jaw-droppingly incredible. Already of only elementary school age Yoshiko drew great attention to herself for her outlandish behavior, especially in conservative Japan. She rode a horse to school, dressed and talked as a man, spoke up to adults like equals (she was a Chinese princess, after all); andby her mid twenties she had lovers—male (who were high-up in the power structure of Japan), and likely female as well. She seems to have been a spy, either for Japan or China, or both; she was an aviator, a dancer, a restaurateur, and the model for the (somewhat) fictionalized character in a very popular Japanese book of 1933, The Beauty in Men's Clothing. And, oh, did I say she was also the commander of an army that was involved in the Battle of Rehe in 1932? (The early 1930s were really big years for her). Besides all of this she had a lust and knack for publicity—the Japanese public devoured every tidbit they could find about her, and there was lots in the newspapers. In short, the myth grew much greater than the woman and she became like contemporary media personalities of today who are famous for being famous.All of the foregoing is to inform the reader what Phyllis Birnbaum was up against in presenting a credible account of this utterly unbelievable character. I would think the task similar to trying to figure out the facts in a murder mystery—what really happened and what didn't. Birnbaum took an approach similar to a particular style of movie or television documentary (think Grey Gardens). She does not tell the story chronologically. Facts regarding Yoshiko's early life are mixed together with later facts, and material that is only hearsay or has obscure sources appears on the same pages with information stemming from direct interviews between Birnbaum and the very few remaining relatives who directly knew the Manchu princess. What was real, what was myth? Gradually by presenting the various story fragments, one by one, and out of sequential order, a structure of the whole life of a picaresque character emerges, whether all the details are true or not. Birrnbaum's account suggests the truth, but doesn’t insist on it. She rigorously quotes her sources and has opinions on their reliability. Nevertheless, she leaves it to the rational, thinking reader to sift through "facts" along with her to construct a plausible persona that fits historical reality. Even accepting a minimal amount of information as factual, the old adage that "truth is stranger than fiction" certainly fits a description of this Manchu princess who was also a Japanese spy. But besides being an amazing biography, those unfamiliar with Sino-Japanese relations of the 1930s-40s will also find Birnbaum's book an interesting an illuminating read.

The author made a good effort in researching Yoshiko and the times she lived in but as s historian I find that her work digressed and sidelined a lot and there were many other characters who were given more weighting than Yoshiko. So 2 stars for research. I would have given this 5 stars if this was really a biography about Yoshiko. More detail should have been given to her life and her activities as a spy. A bit disappointing.

Fascinating story; we'll be discussing it at our book club at The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray/Boca Raton.Another good spy story is Dick Schmidt's new "Memory Road".

A great book about a fascinating character.