I was taught that if writers have a negative comment about what they are reviewing, they should start with a positive comment. However, I am going to be a rebel and start with the negative: If I have one 
complaint about Under the Broken Sky by Markio Nagai it is that the language is too modern. The contemporary voice of the narrator occasionally took me out of the (historical) moment, making me backtrack to get back to Manchuria mid-1940s.
Now that is over, the good stuff.
Had I been a 10 to 13-year-old reader reading this, I would have been blown away by this book. As an adult, I would remember fondly the story of a 12-year-old Japanese girl, her sister and World War II (through the eyes of that Japanese girl growing up in Manchuria). It would be how I judged contemporary stories. Our narrator, Natsu Kimura, is spunky, proud, spoiled even. She is not a bad person but has a sheltered and egocentric view of herself, her family and her world: Of course, Japan will win the war. Of course, she will fight the Chinese, Soviets and Americans to the death; that is what a good Japanese citizen does. Of course, her father must protect them from “unsavory elements.” Of course, her neighbor is an old busy-body to make her life difficult. Little does she know what difficult really is. She quickly learns that the things one does to survive is not always pretty, but you do it.
This historically based prose-poetry story has an afterwards that gives facts and other information of the real people and families that lived (and died) during this time. Plus, there is their first prose-poetry novel, Dust of Eden, I am looking into finding a copy of.