BOOK REVIEW | 'The Japanese Soldiers in the Second World War: Life on the Front Line'

Keiichi Itō takes us beyond the headline battles and into what it meant to be Japanese soldiers fighting in China — the mundane and the brutal, the personal and the structural.

Itō's book offers a ground-level examination of the lives of Japanese soldiers during the Second World War, with a focus on the China front. In his own words, he presents not just the battles and movements, but the experiences and relationships of ordinary men in uniform. 

Through a mix of personal insights, the diaries and memoirs of soldiers and records of the various units and their leaders, Itō paints a multi-faceted portrait of Japan's frontline soldiers. He recounts their views of their leadership, combat experiences, interactions with civilian populations (both Japanese and Chinese alike), the moral and psychological strains these men felt, and the structure of society and the military at the time. 

Moreover, he hides nothing, telling it like it was, like a true writer-participant. In fact, this book could probably not have been written if he had not been a participant.

Who Was Itō?

Itō was born in 1917 in Mie Prefecture and conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1938. He served twice in China, from 1939-1941 and 1943-1945. 

From early on, he had a literary bent. After the war, he sent his manuscripts to various publishers and joined literary competitions. A 1952 story he wrote was nominated for the Akutagawa Japanese Literary Prize. Another novel, Hotaru no Kawa (River of Fireflies), won the Naoki Literary Prize in 1961. Later, he was awarded the Japan Academy of Arts Prize in 2001 and the Order of the Sacred Treasure of the 3rd Merit Class in 2002.

Itō published the original version of the book about his and other soldiers' war experiences in 1969, when war memoirs were becoming popular, and updated it in 2008. This book was translated from the later version by two scholars, Kumiko Ahr and Harald Pöcher, both based in Switzerland. They wanted their translation to "serve as an aid to understanding Japanese wartime history and culture" (p ix).

This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the timing for the publication of the translation could not have been better.

Compact at 140 pages, it is an insightful account made easy to read by the writer's authentic style and the translators' efforts to bring the original Japanese to a foreign audience.

Viewed From the Soldier-Civilian Level

Itō humanizes the average soldier's experience and successfully brings to life the ordinary soldier rather than the mythic combatant. Descriptions of daily routines, the often non-glamorous work, the tension between duty, fear, boredom, and violence give the reader a fuller sense of what it meant to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army at that time. This is especially valuable given how many accounts focus on high-level decisions, battles, or leaders.

While some of the higher-level decisions on tactics and strategies are mentioned, the book engages with wider issues. For instance, soldier-civilian interaction (including prostitution and sex with the local Chinese population, including women who were spies for the Communist forces), and questions about Japanese society and the military as a whole. 

These descriptions, many of them eye-opening, are the true value of the book. Among them is a section discussing the connection between those who were sent to notify families of their fallen loved ones and their own likely deaths later, after returning to the front. 

"Whoever received the task of bringing the remains of a fallen soldier to the homeland of Japan," Itō writes, "certainly fell after returning to the place of war. So it was told. The reason could be that the soldiers who brought the remains to Japan were given a few days off and thus became homesick for Japan. This emotional stirring perhaps prevented them from taking care of themselves and focusing on the battle. 

The soldiers could return to Japan only briefly on this task of transporting the dead bodies. However, no one liked to take on this task in the troops that always had too many fatalities" (pp 64-65).

Structure of the Book

The book is structured in the following way. 

It begins with prefaces by the translators and author, and an introductory-like section about where Ito was on August 15, 1945, when the war ended. 

Then, the first chapter, "Duties in the Stationing Locations," is divided into two parts. First is "Selection of Stationing Location and Type of Stationing." It is followed by "Life at the Garrison." 

Chapter 2 is entitled "Combat Behavior" and is comprised of four parts. They are: "Attacks and Operations," "Conscious of Being the First to Charge the Enemy," "Behind the Scenes of the Theater of War," and "Soldiers: Heroes in the Theater of War." 

The second chapter is followed by an "Afterword" as well as notes, appendices, and figures.

Because of its brevity and its focus, some readers might find that certain large subjects (such as specific campaigns, the full strategic context of the China front, or the Pacific theatre) are touched only lightly. If you're looking for a full operational history of the Japanese army in China, this would not be the book. However, because it is set at the ground level by someone who was there, it is a highly worthwhile read for those interested. 

About the Book:

Title: The Japanese Soldiers in the Second World War: Life on the Front Line 

Author: Keiichi Itō 

Translator: Kumiko Ahr and Harald Pöcher

Publisher: Lit Verlag (2024, in English)

ISBN: 978-3-643-80350-4

For more information, to download the e-book, or to purchase a hardcopy, please contact the publisher's website. 

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Author: Robert D Eldridge

Dr Eldridge is the author of "The Necessary Commander and the Unnecessary Fight: Colonel Nakagawa Kunio and the Battle of Peleliu" (Reed International, 2024) and the former political advisor to the Marine Corps in Japan.