[Saitō Kunio] 斎藤邦雄 [A Manga Tale of Siberian Internment]. 漫画シベリヤ抑留物語. 2 vol.

東京 [Tokyo], 光人社 , 1991.
8vo, vol. 1. [2], 222, [2] pp., ill., vol. 2. [2], 221, [3] pp., ill.

In original paper boards and pictorial dust jackets. Illustrated endpapers. With belly bands. 1991 publishing house catalogs and reader's cards inserted.
Near very good condition, very light wear and soling to dust jackets.

A rare example of nonfiction manga depicting the memories of a Japanese prisoner of war.

In 1941 Saitō Kunio (斎藤邦雄; 1920-2013), who employed at Toho, a Japanese entertainment company, was sent to war. In October 1945, he was interned in Siberia and moved between four Gulags (concentration camps) in the Irkutsk Oblast. He returned to Japan in July 1948, joined the Tokyo Children's Manga Association, wrote for children's magazines, and worked at Fuji Television Enterprises, where he was responsible for TV animation production.
This two-volume set of manga (Japanese comics) is devoted to Saitō's life in a concentration camp and covers his experiences from the end of the war in former Manchuria (northeastern China) through his three years of internment in frigid conditions, culminating in his return to Japan.Researchers note that Saitō's drawings accurately convey the spirit of the 1940s, highlighting the complexities of the relationships between the Japanese and the local population, as well as the work at the salt factory and road construction. Saitō captures even the smallest details of camp life, and his books contain many touching and lyrical illustrations. All of this makes them a valuable resource for researchers studying the experiences of prisoners of war.
Before this manga, Saitō published others, mostly based on his experiences as a Japanese soldier, with only one focused on the internment in Siberia (シベリア抑留兵よもやま物語, 2 vols., 1987-1988). However, those earlier stories centered around a fictional soldier named Yomoyama. In this particular manga, though, Saitō makes it clear that the story is about his own experiences.
Additionally, the second volume concludes with an afterword written by Saitō in August 1991, specifically for this manga. In it, he explains his reasons for choosing the manga format to share his memories, which is very uncommon for this type of subject matter.

OCLC locates two copies of this edition outside Japan: in the University of Southern California and the UC Berkeley Library.