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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
In the last decade, numerous film and print media treatments of the Second World War have focused on the “soldier's perspective.” Because the wartime generation is now rapidly disappearing, postwar generations have become especially eager to know the war. In particular, there is a hunger to learn how it was experienced by ordinary servicemen—a focus popularized most effectively by historian John Keegan (and film directors such as Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, and Francis Ford Coppola). Scholars and war history buffs alike seek “reliable” accounts of the war; presumably, the best histories of the war are those that rest on a firm foundation of the most “reliable” sources. Certainly, the larger historical narrative of the war is incomplete without adequate attention to the personal records that servicemen kept at the time, such as diaries and letters. Nevertheless, like any document, it is essential to pay close attention to the assumptions shared by the authors of these documents and their audiences today, especially regarding the “truth” such texts putatively contain.
Names that I have introduced in quotes are pseudonyms. I have been asked to use them in order to protect the privacy of the diarists and their families. I have used black bars wherever images reveal personal names or other private information.
In order to gain access to the roughly two hundred wartime diaries written by Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and American servicemen, I have relied heavily on the kindness of archivists, activists, and scholars around the world. One of the most underused resources for Japanese wartime materials are the many “Peace Museums” there. The documents are generally open to qualified researchers and the staff are always quite helpful. Although there is no comprehensive guide to these archives, many can be found through the Heiwa hakubutsukan / senso shiryokan gaido bukku (Aoki shoten, 2000), edited by the Rekishi kyoikusha kyogikai. Also, interested researchers should be all means make use of the “Peace Network” hosted by Ritsumeikan's Kyoto Museum for World Peace.
While working closely with them, I found that archivists and curators there and at “Peace Osaka” keep the most comprehensive lists and up-to-date information on Japan's many “Peace” and “War” Museums.
[1] See especially the discussion in Samuel Hideo Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies: Selections from the Diaries of Ordinary Japanese (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005), p. 9-10
[2] Ohama Tetsuya, Shomin no mita Nisshin / Nichiro senso: Teikoku he no ayumi (Tosui shobo, 2003), p. 50
[3] Tamon Jiro, Nichiro senso nikki (Tokyo: Saiho shobo, 1980, orig. 1912), introduction (original)
[4] Sendai: Sendai minzoku rekishi shiryokan: “Morita Tatsuo,” “Hanseiroku,” 1936.3.17-18, 25. Marking a self-account or diary with red ink or pencil is a practice that was likely connected to that of Confucian scholars who corrected students' writings.
[5] See Linda Hoaglund, “Stubborn Legacies of War: Japanese Devils in Sarajevo.”
[6] Hoshi Toru, Watashitachi ga Chugoku de shita koto: Chugoku kikosha renkakukai no hitobito (Tokyo: Rokufu shuppan, 2002), p. 28.
[7] In spite of vigorous opposition, Kanki Haruo was the first to successfully publish these accounts in the post-occupation era. Kanki Haruo, Sanko: Nihonjin no Chugoku ni okeru senso hanzai no kokuhaku (Kobunsha kappa, 1957).
[8] See Cook and Cook's interview of Tanida Isamu in Japan at War: An Oral History (New York: The New Press, 1985), p. 29, where he denied the severity of the Nanjing Massacre.
[9] Kimura Genzaemon, Nicchu senso shussei nikki (Akita: Mumeisha shuppan, 1982), p. 16-17
[10] Carlisle, PA: United States Military History Institute: Obara Fukuzo, “Gekisen,” with 1976 translation by Edward J. Rasmussen, 1944.10.30. I have made some changes to Rasmussen's fine translation according to my own interpretation of the Japanese text.
[11] Nishimura Masaharu, Yokaren nikki (Kumamoto: Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun joho senta, 2003), p. 245 [1945.7.22]
[12] Kanoya: Kanoya koku kaijo jieeitai shiryokan: “Hara Kinosuke,” “Toyo nikki,” 1942.3.6-7
[13] “Kurozu Tadanobu,” “Jinchu nikki,” in Ono Kenji et alia, Nankin daigyakusatsu wo kiroku shita kogun heishitachi (Tokyo: Otsuki shoten, 1996), 1937.12.10. The pseudonym is Ono's.
[14] Quantico, VA: United States Marine Corps Archives: Lieutenant Watanabe, [no title; personal diary notebook], 1942.3.3, 17
[15] Obara, op. cit., 1944.12.26, 1945.1.27, 2.13
[16] Kimura, op. cit., 1937.10.11
[17] Takamatsu: Takamatsu-shi heiwa shiryoshitsu: “Nagatani Masao,” “Techo,” 1937.9.4
[18] Tokyo: Boeicho boei kenkyujo: Hamazaki Tomizo, “Nisshi,” 1937.12.2, 11
[19] “Ouchi Toshimichi,” “Jinchu nikki,” in Ono Kenji et alia, ed., 1937.12.7. The pseudonym is Ono's.
[20] Umeda Fusao, Hokushi ten senki: Umeda Fusao jugun nikki, ed. Umeda Toshio (self-published, 1970), 1937.8.26; many thanks to Yoshimi Yoshiaki for pointing this text out to me.
[21] Osaka kokusai heiwa shiryokan: “Taniguchi Kazuo,” “Yasen byoin nikki,” 1937.12.13
[22] Carlisle: USMHI: S/Sgt Hopkins, Bernard O, “Diary,” 60th Coast Artillery, 1942.2.2, 3.11
[23] Liu Jiaqi, Zhenzhong riji (Wuhan: Zhanshi chubanshe, 1938.1), 1937.10.6
[24] Stezhenskii, Soldatskii dnevnik: voennye stranitsy (Moscow: Argaph, 2005), p. 32-33. At that time, the Soviet Army was almost entirely eliminated by invading German forces, so Stezhenskii was considering the very real possibility that his friends, particularly Arthur, were already dead when he wrote the passage on February 2, 1942.
[25] Kochi: “Kusa no Ie” heiwa shiryokan: “Yamamoto Kenji,” “Jinchu nisshi,” 1937.12.17
[26] Personal Collection: “Sakaguchi Jiro,” “Jinchu nikki,” 1939.1.4
[27] Kimura, 1938.12.1, 12.14
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