The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japan's War Economy supplies the production and consumption figures used throughout the discussion. Its extensive data tables are a strong starting point for reconstructing Japan's wartime economy, although the survey was written to argue for the effectiveness of strategic bombing. There is no accusation that the authors fabricated their data. The caution concerns presentation: awkward evidence may have been minimized, while results that supported the bombing case may have received more attention. The figures therefore need to be read alongside the purpose of the source.
Notable Point · 2:28-4:01
Reading Japan's strategic-bombing survey critically
The production tables provide detailed evidence, but their postwar authors also had an institutional case to make for strategic bombing.