The Goddesses of the World series continues, landing us midway through the twentieth century. So far, the UK-based Japanese author Kazuko Nishimura has provided the stories of extraordinary women in ancient Japan, Portuguese-colonised Brazil and other cultures. THE GIRLFRIENDS OF THE RISING SUN is perhaps more controversial and saddening because it is more recently set.

Yoshiko Kawashima was a Manchu royal, and as an educated woman, she was employed as a Japanese intelligence asset. Her training and aptitude made her eventually a master of disguise. We see that at first, women were used to getting information from wealthy or influential men in bars and brothels. Yoshiko was obliged to lower her station in life, and not all that well paid, either. She did not have many options but obedience to her government.

The scenes move from Manchuria and Shanghai, where the constant threat of war with Russia or China is uppermost, to the reality of war with America. Yoshiko is able to observe events at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese internment centres that followed it, and, by dressing as a man, she sneaks into briefing rooms.

The really heartbreaking part is the story of the young women who were or became girlfriends of indoctrinated young men who were convinced to be kamikaze pilots. The women were ordered to keep up the morale of the pilots and reassure them they were doing the right thing, as Japan did not have enough conventional forces for war with the US.

I like best the parts where Yoshiko is able to be herself, to hang out with other young women and chat, to take a lover she actually wants to be with and respects. Women were tools of war just as much as missiles. By making this tool human and personalised, we understand how little choice any of the young Japanese people had, and how inconsiderate and proud their leaders were, giving orders that would leave no options.

I learnt a lot, and I think it’s good to see how a war was pursued from the other side. I see Japanese culture and their constant fear of war with bigger continental forces. Japan became, of course, a leader in technology and smaller, reliable equipment, setting standards for the world, but too late for poor Yoshiko. Kazuko Nishimura has excelled at finding photographs of the day to bring the story home to readers.