Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This presentation examines autobiographic accounts of violence by ordinary Japanese soldiers in wartime China collected in the “War Experience Library” in Nara. Reconstructing micro-level situations through these records, it reassesses the diverse forms of Japanese military violence during the war.

Paper long abstract

What violent acts did the Japanese military actually commit in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War? In popular discourse, both in China and the West, this issue is often framed by portraying the “Japanese people” as a collective entity, emphasizing their “innate” brutality. However, there is also a view that responsibility for the war lies only with a segment of Japanese militarists, and that ordinary citizens and soldiers were also victims. Yet, many ordinary soldiers did commit atrocities in China during the war.

What were these acts of violence by ordinary soldiers? This presentation will examine them through soldiers' recollections, diaries, and last wills collected in the “War Experience Library” at the Nara Prefectural Library and Information Center. How were acts of violence expressed and explained in these personal accounts? How did these soldiers, having returned to everyday life in Japan, perceive, or fail to perceive, the inhumane acts committed during that former “extraordinary” period? This micro-level examination will reveal a variety of individual cases of violence that are difficult to capture when portraying the “Japanese people” as a collective.

The violence examined here likely took diverse forms, including violence against the Chinese people, but also violence within the Japanese military itself. Furthermore, the definition of violence may differ depending on the individual who recorded it. While a considerable amount of prior research exists on wartime violence, I believe there is still a need for, and value in, advancing empirical research on the diversity and causes of these acts.

Of course, postwar recollections, diaries, and last wills are secondary historical sources. Yet, understanding the reality of violence often necessitates reliance on such materials. While aiming to conduct a renewed qualitative examination of the nature of the violence recorded, this presentation also considers the methodological framework of this autobiographical, micro-level approach.