Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial - AJRP

Translations

Staff of the Australia–Japan Research Project have translated various Japanese-language texts, which include seminar papers, essays, extracts from wartime diaries and primary materials, and extracts of Japanese secondary accounts of the war.

Secondary works

Japanese army operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua campaigns, 1942–43 (translated by Dr Steven Bullard)

These extracts from the Japanese War history series, the official history of Japan's involvement in the Second World War, concern Japanese army operations from the invasion of Rabaul in 1942, through the campaigns in Papua along the Kokoda Trail, to the destruction of the South Seas Force on the beached of northern Papua in January 1943. The translation is now available as a softcover book from the bookshop of the Australian War Memorial, and from the Memorial's online shop. Please note that the previously available translation, which is available here, has been replaced by a newer version in a PDF file, complete with maps and detailed notes. It can be downloaded from here (2.9 Mb).

Southern Cross (translated by Doris Heath)

Written in the post-war period by the chief of staff of the Japanese 18th Army, YOSHIHARA Kane, this account of the battles in New Guinea was translated by Doris Heath, a gifted linguist who worked as a translator during and after the war. Although not translated by AJRP staff, this work is included as a valuable reference.

Primary works

The diary of TAMURA Yoshikazu (translated by Dr Keiko Tamura)

Extracts from this diary concern the life of a Japanese soldier in the area around Wewak during the early part of 1944. TAMURA was killed soon after the last diary entry. In 2003, the Memorial returned the diary to TAMURA's surviving family members.

Essays and seminars

TANAKA Hiromi, About AWM 82 captured Japanese documents (translated by Dr Keiko Tamura)
CHIDA Takeshi, Japanese research on the occupation of post-war Japan by British and Commonwealth forces: new developments and contemporary source problems (translated by Dr Steven Bullard, Akemi Inoue, and Meredith Patton)
KONDO Shinji, The compilation of the Japanese Official History of the war in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (translated by Dr Steven Bullard and Ms Akemi Inoue)
TANAKA Hiromi, Self-sufficiency in Rabaul (translated by Dr Steven Bullard and Ms Akemi Inoue)
TANAKA Hiromi, The Pacific War and New Guinea (translated by Dr Steven Bullard and Ms Akemi Inoue)
TANAKA Hiromi, Japanese military historical sources after the war: a brief survey (translated by Dr Steven Bullard, Ms Akemi Inoue, and Dr Meredith Patton)
UTSUMI Aiko, The Japanese army and its prisoners: relevant documents and bureaucratic institutions (translated by Dr Steven Bullard, Ms Akemi Inoue, and Dr Meredith Patton)

Cowra–Japan conversations oral history project

Interview with MURAKAMI Teruo, TAKAHARA Marekuni and YAMADA Masayoshi (translated by Dr Keiko Tamura)
Interview with YURA Shigeru (translated by Dr Keiko Tamura)

Other translations

The following special sections of the projects also contain a number of translations by Dr Steven Bullard, Ms Akemi Inoue, Dr Keiko Tamura, and Mr Haruki Yoshida.

Remembering the war in New Guinea project
Human face of war project
Attitudes project

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