Clearing Out and The Japanese

More, more, more of the same. I've made a real dent in clearing out the living room, at least, but there's plenty more to go. Worked on it until about noon, then went back to the library to get a book my brother, Larry, had recommended. It's "Fly Boys," about WWII pilots who crashed landed on a Japanese island and were killed by the Japanese
This is no gung-ho, all praise to our heroes crapola, though. I just started reading it and was surprised that author James Bradley, who also wrote "Flags of Our Fathers," starts with clearly recounting the vicious slaughter of native people in the building of our huge and oblivious land. Native Americans were here first? Mexicans own California? Slash and burn until they're dead or enslaved. As for those in far off lands, the ignorance of Americans was--and often still is, in my experience, I'm afraid--appalling. In the thirties and forties, that prominently included Japan, according to Bradley. (On that topic, I can easily recall the characterization of Japanese people as cruel, ugly, and savage, monkey-like creatures who were barely human. I was fed that when I was a kid during the war and I believed it.) According to Bradley, though, before westerners "discovered" them, the Japanese were "arguably the most civilized, most urbanized, most highly organized, most literate and peaceful country in the world."
Noelle sent me a lovely picture of her and Joel's wedding with the two of them and all four boys. Joan Millen Hardman sent me a kitchen towel with pictures of herbs on it, prominently including rosemary. She included photos of her brood.