The Soldier’s Experience

Abstract

In Japan during the 1980s, a relative flood of memoirs from former army and navy personnel signalled the twilight of the wartime generation of fifty years earlier. In due course, no doubt, these will be utilised to provide a more detailed record of the Japanese forces during their second war with China and in the Pacific conflict. Yet, there have been comparatively few personal records available in English from the Japanese side for any of its modern wars. For the years 1937–45, this was partially rectified with the publication in 1992 of Haru and Theodore Cook’s Japan at War: An Oral History. In the main, however, the Japanese soldier has remained a caricature and, confirmed by silence, the various myths of his patriotism, efficiency and commitment to war, have been allowed to pass unchallenged.