| Item title: | Prominent factors in Japanese military psychology |
| Title (kanji) |  |
| Location: | Australian War Memorial (AWM55 12/53 part 5) View information about obtaining a copy of this document |
AJRP details | |
| AJRP module: | Australian War Memorial official records |
| AJRP series: | Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) publications |
| AJRP sub-series: | ATIS research reports |
| AJRP folder: | |
Location details | |
| Institution: | Australian War Memorial |
| Call number: | AWM55 12/53 part 5 |
| Inst. series: | AWM55 |
| Inst. sub-series: | AWM55 12/- |
| Item: | RR-76 part 4 |
Item qualities | |
| Quantity / desc: | 30 pages |
| Access: | Open |
| Item type: | Unpublished, Official |
| Category: | Information report |
Item content | |
| Creation date (d/m/y): | 7/2/1945 |
| Conflict code: | Pacific War (1941-1945) |
| Keywords: | RESEARCH, MILITARY TRAINING, PROPAGANDA, CENSORSHIP, MORALE, PRISONERS OF WAR, DEATH, DESERTERS, DISCIPLINE |
| Australian unit names: | |
| Allied unit names: | |
| Japanese unit names: | |
| Names: | |
| Languages: | English |
| Area: | Japan–Formosa Melanesia (PNG, Irian Jaya & Solomon Islands) Noemfoor Island [Melanesia (PNG, Irian Jaya & Solomon Islands), Dutch New Guinea (Irian Jaya)] Sansapor [Melanesia (PNG, Irian Jaya & Solomon Islands), Dutch New Guinea (Irian Jaya)] |
| Content: | This is an Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) research report issued on 7 February 1945 on prominent factors in Japanese military psychology, and forms part of a 6-part series intended to give a documented exposition on Japanese psychology. The report contains information on a variety of psychological traits which were seen to influence the Japanese military code of conduct including inferiority complex, self-consciousness, self-dramatisation, family and group domination, the family as a threat, group thought and action and individualism. A section on Japanese military discipline examines military speech, corporal punishment, military police, thought control, propaganda and responsibility. The section entitled "hypocrisy" deals with official propaganda and distortion of the reality of frontline fighting, censorship of letters and postcards (with examples of excised matter), falsification of facts in personal and official documents. Figures published in the report include the ratio of Japanese killed in action to those taken prisoner in the South-West Pacific Area, the ratio of Japanese killed in action to those taken prisoner at Noemfoor and Sansapor, and a table showing violations of Japanese censorship regulations. ATIS researchers concluded the Japanese were emotionally unstable and suffered from a deep-seated inferiority complex which resulted in an inability to understand or feel empathy for other races. Military speech and discipline were deliberately intended to sharpen the distinction between superior and subordinate servicemen. ATIS researchers also surmised that the low percentage of desertions and prisoners indicated that indoctrination had successfully maintained morale and that large financial rewards to the families of those killed was a further inducement to fight to the death. (In fact, families of those killed during the war typically only received a small pension.) |
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Other information | |
| Notes: | |
| Last modified: | 03/05/2009 09:06:00 AM |
| Source: | AJRP staff |
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