Roger Dingman described the first, "The Japanese-Soviet Confrontation, 1935–1939", as "a wealth of new data", and praised the second, "The Army's Move into Northern Indochina", for demonstrating "brilliantly how peaceful passage through northern Indochina became forceful occupation". Mark Peattie wrote that Hata's third essay, "The Marco Polo Bridge Incident 1937", was "the best overview we now have in English" of the event, and Hata would later expand it into a full-length book which Edward Drea and Tobe Ryoichi called "the single best source on the incident".
Roger Dingman described the first essay, "The Japanese-Soviet Confrontation, 1935–1939", as rich with new data, and praised the second essay, "The Army's Move into Northern Indochina", for vividly illustrating how peaceful passage in northern Indochina escalated to forceful occupation. Mark Peattie observed that Hata's third essay, "The Marco Polo Bridge Incident 1937", was "the best English-language account" of the event at hand, and later expanded it into a comprehensive book which Edward Drea and Tobe Ryoichi deemed "the single most authoritative source on the incident".