Remembering the war in New Guinea
Treatment of the war in New Guinea in Japanese literature and film (Overview text)
Module name: Remembrance (Japanese perspective)
This page was contributed by Dr Morris Low (University of Queensland)
The Japanese `literature’ relating to the war in New Guinea consists overwhelmingly of accounts of the conflict. These have been published in English or Japanese. Although some of these items have been discussed by IWAMOTO Hiromitsu in his paper `Japanese and New Guinean memories of wartime experiences at Rabaul, 1942 to 1946' (see AJRP website), this entry serves more as a guide to them as research resources.
ASÔ Tetsuo, Rabauru nikki: Hito gun’i no kyokuhitsu shiki (Rabaul diary: The top-secret private records of a medical doctor) (Fukuoka: Sekifûsha, 1999).
ASÔ Tetsuo (1910-1989) graduated from Kyushu Imperial University Medical School in 1935. He was drafted in 1937 and worked in Army hospitals in various parts of China before being released from service in April 1941. In January 1942, he was attached to Independent Field Operations Anti-Aircraft Gun 34th Company, and arrived in Rabaul in 1942. This post-humously published opus of 724 pages is his diary. It chronicles the battle with malaria, daily life at the war-front, includes criticism of the military, and his experience of being held captive by Australians. It is fascinating to learn that the original diary of over 2000 pages was originally written in English and only translated into Japanese after the war. The author suggests that writing the diary was partly motivated by the desire to leave something to his children, and also perhaps as a wartime call to his friends and acquaintances in the US. The first part of the book entitled `Miasma’ dates from 1942 to 1943. The second part, `Book Burning’, covers 1944-1945, and the final part `Call It Treason’ covers from 1945 onwards.
MIZUKI Shigeru, Mizuki Shigeru no Rabauru senki (Shigeru MIZUKI’s account of the war at Rabaul) (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobô, 1994).
Unlike Sakai’s account in which indigenous people are hardly mentioned, MIZUKI Shigeru’s account is much more sympathetic. It includes drawings while Mizuki was living amongst the indigenous people of New Guinea, as well as those created after his return to Japan. After being repatriated from Rabaul, Mizuki was hospitalized and then briefly studied at Musashino Art School in Tokyo. Mizuki became a well-known comic-book artist and one part of the book is drawn in that cartoon-like style. The final section of the book is entitled `Tôma no nichi nichi’ (`Daily Life in Toma’) about the time spent in a camp near a village called Toma near Rabaul.
Saburo SAKAI, with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, Samurai! The personal story of Japan’s greatest living fighter pilot (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1957).
This is the classic story of the renowned wartime fighter pilot SAKAI Saburô (1916-2000), as told to the writer Martin Caidin and the journalist Fred Saito. As such, it represents an Americanised version of Sakai’s career. It begins with mention of his family’s samurai background and their long roots in Saga, Kyushu, a southern island of Japan. He enlisted in the Navy in 1933. In 1937, he was selected for pilot training at Tsuchiura, near Tokyo. He left Japan for China in May 1938. We learn in Chapter 11, that Sakai was eventually transferred from Bali to a new air base at Rabaul in early 1942. From Rabaul he moved on to Lae and fierce air battles with the Allied Forces based at Port Moresby. The following chapters discuss his experiences in New Guinea and his growing friendship and admiration for Lieutenant SASAI Junichi. Sakai’s Zero fighter is in the collection of the Australian War Memorial.
SAKAI Saburô, Kôsen kiroku (An account of the battle of the skies)(Tokyo: Kôdansha, 1992).
Samurai! was a revised version of this book, first published in 1953 and reprinted in 1992. This new edition is accompanied by photographs taken by Sakai, maps of the locations mentioned in the book, a useful glossary, and a technical drawing of the Zero fighter with actual dimensions.
SAKAI Saburô, Shashin, ôzora no samurai (The Photo-Story of the Samurai of the Sky)(Tokyo: Kôjinsha,1996).
This is a recent, highly-illustrated addition to the literature on Sakai, produced with the assistance of the editorial staff of the Japanese magazine Maru. It tells the life-story of Sakai, in chronological order, with extensive photographs with captions.
SEKIGUCHI Noriko (director and producer), Sensô daughters: Daughters of war (Australia: Tenchijin Productions, 1990).
This is a revealing, 55-minute documentary on the legacy of the Japanese occupation of New Guinea during the Second World War. Local indigenous people, especially women, tell the story of three years under Japanese Army rule. Mention is also made of the use of `comfort women’ by Japanese soldiers.
TSUNODA Fusako, Sekinin Rabauru no shôgun IMAMURA Hitoshi (Responsibility of Commander of Rabaul, IMAMURA Hitoshi) (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1984).
General IMAMURA Hitoshi was Commander of the 8th Army. Like SAKAI Saburô, he was transferred from Java to Rabaul. The opening scene of the first chapter takes place in a war criminals’ detention camp where Imamura is held by the Australian Forces in Rabaul in July 1946. The second chapter begins with the transfer of Imamura to Batavia (Jakarta) in May 1948 to be put on trial for war crimes. We then go back in time and learn of Imamura’s life including his childhood, education and career. The third chapter focuses on the Pacific War, and the fourth takes us back to Imamura’s trial in Java in 1948. In 1953, Imamura and all other inmates of the Manus Island prison were released and repatriated back to Japan. This final chapter looks at Imamura’s later years. A useful bibliography of related Japanese books can be found at the back of the book, including several by Imamura himself.