NEW YORK -- A reader of my Jan. 30 column ("Another side to Japanese-Korean history") wrote to comment and, in the course of subsequent correspondence, wondered about an "alternative reality" or a "what if" in Japan's history before World War II. He had in mind, in particular, "Secretary (Cordell) Hull's ultimatum of Nov. 26, 1941."
The so-called Hull Note -- the "Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement between the United States and Japan" -- demanded, among the 10 "fundamental principles" for keeping peace between the two countries, that "The Government of Japan will withdraw all military, naval, air and police forces from China and from Indochina."
My reader's wonderment made me read -- this time from cover to cover -- Kazuo Osugi's 1996 book examining which step at what stage during the 15-year war between Japan and China might have prevented the war's prolongation. What struck me in the new reading was one of Osugi's heroes, Tanzan Ishibashi (1884-1973).