Memoirs of a Geisha

The book, Memoirs of a Geisha, starts with a little girl named Chiyo who lives in a small fishing village named Yoroido. It goes through how her own father sells her to an okiya, a house where geisha live, has her named changed, and how she struggles to survive. She tries to escape with her sister, only to be caught and beat severely for the attempt. She later becomes a apprentice Geisha, who's mizuage is sold for one of the record highs, and becomes one of the most successful Geisha of all time. Then World War II hits Japan. She struggles to survive once the war hits the land of Japan, and is there to experience the atomic bombs hit the country and see the destruction and devastation it caused, and rises again.

This book as about the time where Japan was turning from medieval to modern, which was an important time in Japan's history. The story seems very interesting with a mix of action, adventure, romance, and mystery, which are vey interesting to read together. Geisha are a type of concubine, so you can easily relate the books, and learn about the history of Japan while reading about real people and what really happened to them. I would read this just because it seems like it'd be very interesting to read.

This article is about what Nikolay Palchikoff saw when he went to Japan a few weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped. He was a intelligence officer who translated Japanese radio broadcasting for the US Army. He heard about it the day it happened and when he reported it, "No one believed my reports" (Palchikoff). When the bomb was confirmed by Truman, he was sent to Japan to make sure they were living up to their surrender agreement, and saw the destruction and horror that was left. He left the army, and became someone to speak against nuclear weapons.

The movie, Memoirs of A Geisha, the storyline follows the book very well. It starts from when she is first sold to the okiya, unlike in the book where it starts with her childhood. It then followed almost exactly from the storyline from the book, where if any differences were there, they were hardly noticeable. The only difference that one could notice was the fact that the war (World War II) went by much faster in the movie. In the book, years passed while Sayuri was hiding away in Kyoto. In the movie, it passed as if it was only a year. 

The United Sates Holocaust Museum's mission is to "to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity". They do this by teaching about the Holocaust in World War II. By doing this, they not only teach about Nazi Germany's genocide, but also about Japan's genocide on China. They talk about The Rape of Nanking and how horrible the Japanese were to the Chinese people. They talk about the aftermath of the Japanese war with China and how to prevent something so terrible from ever happening again.