"Katasase, susosase samusa ga kuru zo!"

William Manchester on Post WW II Japanese crickets, circa the fall of 1945...!

Source: American Caesar, by William Manchester, 1978.

Pages 454 - 465.

"Before Pearl Harbor, Japan had been called the workshop of Asia.

"Now it was Asia's scrap heap.

"[Emperor] Hirohito's empire had been reduced by 81 percent, from 773,781 square miles to 146,690.

"The metropolises were unlivable."

Plus, as the author has already cited earlier in a report by Japanese expert named Reischauer:

Not just the cities but the hearts of the people had been burned out.

Indeed, as Manchester continues:

"There were few phones, fewer trains, and virtually no power power plants.

"Soon thermometers would drop."

Enter the eloquent Japanese crickets' little song!

"Japanese crickets, more eloquent than Occidental katydids, are said to sing Katasase, susosase samusa ga kuru zo, meaning Sew your sleeves, sew your skirts, for the winter is coming, and each evening after the surrender they grew louder -- but coal production was at one - eighth of its peacetime level.

"Textiles had been the backbone of the country's prewar economy.

"In putting the nation on a war footing, 80 percent of the textile machinery had been converted to other uses, and now it lay shattered in th eruins of bombed buildings.

"[General Douglas] MacArthur set up army kitchens and cabled Washington that he needed 3,500,000 tons of food immediately.

"The Pentagon quibbled; the State Department demanded details; there were forms to fill out, officials to be consulted, bureaucratic channels to be explored.

"The General grimly cabled again:

Give me bread or give me bullets... "

A good read...