Because the impact of the Pacific War on the countries of the Pacific Rim is so large，research and writing on the war will continue for decades to e-in China，the United States，Japan，and other Asian countries as well.Our mon purpose is to search for the truth.But for many of us it also means reconciliation，beginning with a willingness to listen to the“other side”.To American ears the Chinese stories are so hard to imagine that they sound as if they are ing from the“other side”，even as China was our friend and ally in the war.Our quest for mutual understanding and reconciliation must extend as well to the“other side”-eventually to Japan.In no way does this quest soften the obscenities of war or Japanese responsibilities.But it does lead us to recognize that however brutal the enemy can be，brutality and inhumanity are found on all sides.However much we remember the enemy as misled，inhumane or brutal，we must also remember that he too is a human being and has feelings and faces frustrations that we all can recognize and even identify with.Questioning the conventional myths of war and moving beyond both victimization and triumphalism are steps in preventing wars in the future.
Philip West
Mansfield Professor of Modern Asian Affairs
University of Montana
Missoula，Montana