Japanese Prisoners Research Articles

Polska literatura obozowa według Arkadiusza Morawca

The present article is a commentary on Arkadiusz Morawiec’s book Polska literatura obozowa. Rekonesans [Polish Prison and Camp Literature: Preliminary Remarks], in which a convincing hypothesis was presented that a concentration camp should be seen as a symbol of the 20th century. Morawiec illustrates his reflections with the monograph’s chapters on Nazi concentration camps, gulags, as well as Polish, Spanish and Japanese prison camps. In his book, the author postulates broadening the scope of literary and historiographic research on Nazi and Soviet camps to include the internment camps created by the other European regimes as well as the literary works created decades after the Second World War, with inclusion of questionable pop culture works. The author of this article sees this not only as Morawiec’s attempt at redefining the concept of Polish camp literature but also an attempt at re-creating it from scratch in order to showcase new research perspectives. The author emphasises the fact that each of the book’s chapters can be seen as a small monograph describing the camps and their literary representations that serves as a model example of academic humanistic writing. The author’s only point of critique is underrepresentation of the genre’s most well known works. Such literary works have been subjects of numerous studies, nevertheless Polish Prison and Camp Literature would have greatly benefited as monograph from exploring the oeuvre of Tadeusz Borowski, Seweryna Szmaglewska, Stanisław Grzesiuk, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Anatol Krakowiecki, Aleksander Wat in greater detail.

PERANCANGAN PALANG MERAH INDONESIA KOTA MUARA TEWEH

The Indonesian Red Cross, which is often known by the abbreviation PMI, is a national association organization located in Indonesia and engaged in the humanitarian field. The activity that was first carried out by PMI was to help victims of the Indonesian Revolutionary War of Independence and return victims of Allied and Japanese prisoners of war so that the Indonesian Red Cross has gained international recognition. The purpose of the design this time is "How to design the Muara Teweh Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) building which is able to fulfill the activities of the volunteers and their working staff by providing assistance and blood services to the people in the city of Muara Teweh which are appropriate and make rooms with adequate facilities?”. By using the concept of "Local Wisdom" by prioritizing the function of building the PMI building and using the Symbolism Method in the design.

Japanese prisoners of war of World War II: a historiographical review

Japanese prisoners of war of World War II: a historiographical review

About choosing places of stay for the Japanese prisoners of war in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)

The article concerns the problem of prisoners of war during the Russo-Japanese war. The problem appears in the focus of modern researchers quite rarely: they usually write about political, military, and economic aspects of the war. The article describes the process of choosing the places of stay for the captured Japanese soldiers and officers in 1904–1905.By the beginning of the war, Russia assumed a number of obligations, since, during the Conference in Hague in 1899, it signed the Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land, prescribing the treatment of prisoners based on humanistic ideals.The sources used during writing the work represent the latest research materials and the archival documents. These documents are stored in the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA) in Moscow.While determining the places for the Japanese stay, the Military department faced a severe problem, since it was necessary to take into account different factors: whether it would be possible to ensure guarding the prisoners of war, whether there was a suitable building for their accommodation, whether the Japanese soldiers and officers would have opportunities to commit sabotage. The latest issue was vividly discussed in the official documents of the period: there were concerns that the Japanese would destroy railways, as they did in Manchuria.The idea that the place for the Japanese prisoners should be in the Far East was rejected almost immediately due to its proximity to the theater of operations. Siberia also did not fit, since a railway passed through it – the most important transport artery during the war, so it was decided to place the Japanese in European Russia. The city of Penza was chosen as a collection point, from where prisoners of war were distributed to the cities of the Kazan, Moscow, Kiev, and Saint Petersburg military districts.However, in the autumn of 1904, Emperor Nicholas II issued a decree that the Japanese should not be stationed near the passage of the Russian troops. After that it was decided to accommodate all Japanese prisoners of war in one place: in the village of Medved, Novgorod province. The barracks located there were perfect for housing a small number of Japanese prisoners, where they stayed until the end of the war.

PERANCANGAN PALANG MERAH INDONESIA KOTA MUARA TEWEH

The Indonesian Red Cross, which is often known by the abbreviation PMI, is a national association organization located in Indonesia and engaged in the humanitarian field. The activity that was first carried out by PMI was to help victims of the Indonesian Revolutionary War of Independence and return victims of Allied and Japanese prisoners of war so that the Indonesian Red Cross has gained international recognition. The purpose of the design this time is "How to design the Muara Teweh Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) building which is able to fulfill the activities of the volunteers and their working staff by providing assistance and blood services to the people in the city of Muara Teweh which are appropriate and make rooms with adequate facilities ?”. By using the concept of "Local Wisdom" by prioritizing the function of building the PMI building and using the Symbolism Method in the design

Inner Recreation

Abstract This article is a conversation between Judy Goldhill and Fay Ballard, two second-generation artists, respectively Jewish and non-Jewish. Goldhill's parents escaped from Nazi Germany, whilst Ballard's father, the novelist J.G. Ballard, was interned in a Japanese prison camp. Goldhill works on photography, film and artists’ books and Ballard draws. They have collaborated extensively, following a conversation in 2016 about a shared experience of generational trauma and early parental loss. Both artists have been using recovered objects, photographs and letters in their artwork and this collaboration has led to several joint exhibitions including Breathe (Freud Museum, 2018), Travelling Companions (Alison Richard Building (ARB), University of Cambridge, 2020–21) and Mending the Psyche (Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck, University of London, 2022).

Book Notices

Michael Harold Hyer. Saints at War in the Philippines: Latter-day Saints in WWII Prison Camps. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2021. xvi + 271 pp. Illustrations, maps. Hardcover: $25.99.Reading about war can sometimes be an academic exercise if a book only lists battles, soldiers, and results. It becomes the terrible experience it really is when the writings describe in detail all of the suffering and pain that takes place. It can also be just the story of the winners and losers. It shows the complex reality when it explains the cultural reasons why soldiers react to battle. This study of twenty-nine Latter-day Saints who fought for the United States during World War II in the Philippines shows the horrors of the war by telling the men's personal stories of the Bataan Death March and the Japanese prisoner of war camps. Only twelve survived. The book goes beyond just explaining the nightmare though and explains the difference between American and Japanese culture that helps explain how the Japanese responded to the prisoners. The author is an attorney and a nephew of 1st Lt. George Robin (Bobby) Brown, one of the prisoners of war that he discusses in the book.Warner Woodworth. Radiant Mormonism: Using Our Faith in Christ to Power World-Changing Service. Newburgh, IN: By Common Consent Press, 2022. 358 pp. Photographs, appendix. Paperback: $14.95.Radiant Mormonism provides a model of how the teachings of Joseph Smith and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can help the poor throughout the world. As a Brigham Young University professor and entrepreneur, Warner Woodworth has used his faith and management skills to create and support NGOs (non-government organizations) worldwide. Journal of Mormon History readers will appreciate his references to Latter-day history. They will also learn about the role of Woodworth and other Latter-day Saints in creating organizations worldwide. The book is a combination autobiography, history, and how-to-do manual.

Comparative moral economies of crisis

At times of crisis, existing institutional arrangements of societies are thrown into question. Crises that occur in multiple societies simultaneously present rare opportunities for comparative empirical analysis. Social theory can reveal the framing conditions of the responses to crises and the sources of variations between them. This paper compares the immediate responses of the Australian, UK and US governments to the global COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regard to financing lockdowns, and points out significant differences between the three approaches. Drawing on Polanyi’s method of institutional analysis, we compare the responses of these same national groups to an earlier crisis, the Japanese prisoner of war camps during the Second World War, to show similar patterns of integration recurring eight decades apart. This analysis shows that aspects of moral economies that are not usually apparent can become pronounced during crises, and points to the importance of enduring social imaginaries.

Analysis of Kazakhstan-Japanese Relations in the Post-War and Their Influence on the Tourism Industry and Economic Development

Analysis of both domestic and foreign literature made it possible to formulate research tasks, which were determined by the complexity and versatility of the problem, its relevance and novelty. All these factors made it necessary to focus the author's attention on such key aspects as the nature of Kazakh-Japanese relations in the post-war years, which subsequently influenced the socio-economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the Karaganda region, which clearly demonstrates the role that Japanese prisoners of war played in the development of the economy of the Karaganda region in the first post-war years, and, consequently, in strengthening the material base of the social welfare of not only the inhabitants of the region, but also the republic as a whole. The aim of the study is to analyze the development of Kazakh-Japanese relations in the post-war years and their impact on the further development of the tourism industry and the economic situation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

FROM THE HISTORY NO. 348 OF THE CAMPS OF JAPANESE PRISONERS OF WAR OF THE NKVD-MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE USSR AND ASHCHYSAY POLYMETALLIC PLANT

The history of the development of the natural resources of Aschysai, which the Moscow center paid special attention to, was considered one-sided in Soviet historiography. Its light and shadow sides still need to be fully explored. The means of historical and anthropological research in modern historical science allow a comprehensive and objective study of this problem. The article describes the working days of the Japanese in the prisoner of war camp No. 348 of the NKVD - (MVD) of the USSR, created in Aschysai in 1945. Japanese prisoners of war performed the hardest work on the mines of the Aschysai polymetallic combine, agriculture in Turkestan, as well as cultural construction of the region (construction of buildings, industrial enterprises, construction of workers ' settlements). Some of the buildings from which they were built, still serve the people. The article also analyzes the memoirs of children of Polish citizens who were deported in revealing the content of this problem. The study used documents from the archives of the Department of internal Affairs of Kazakhstan in Shymkent, rgae, TSGA RK, Fund the ASMC and the materials of field expeditions (interviews with local residents) in rural communities Ashchysay, Kentau, Bayuldur, etc. the History of camp No. 348 and everyday life of the Japanese prisoners has not previously been the subject of special studies. Accordingly, documentary materials are introduced into scientific circulation here for the first time.

Prisoners' rights implementation in Japan: breaking the shackles with suspects

AbstractSeveral decades have passed since the first call was made toward political scientists, among other social scientists, to devote attention to human rights and enrich, through empirical investigations, our understanding of how human rights implementation works. Today, the political science discipline is finally beginning to respond to this appeal, with an increasing number of scholars making it their goal to isolate variables that obstruct or facilitate human rights implementation. The current paper joins this burgeoning body of literature by offering a within-case analysis of Japanese prison policy-making. In particular, I compare the 2005 bill updating the Prison Law (Kangoku hō) that had been in force in Japan since the Meiji era with an earlier draft version of that bill which appeared in parliament on three occasions since the early 1980s. On the basis of the convergence of these bills in terms of seeking to align Japan with the evolved new global standards for convicted prisoners' treatment, I argue that a three-decade delay occurred in the implementation of prisoners' rights in Japan. To account then for this delay, I point to a provision pertaining to the criminal procedure (i.e., pre-conviction) which was incorporated in the law in question in 1908 merely for pragmatic reasons, and with regard to which the modern-time stakeholders of the bar and the police could not find agreement. Ultimately, the message that this case deals to the political science of human rights is that institutional–infrastructural factors, such as ties of legal nature, matter to human rights implementation.

관동군 밀정 염동진과 독립투사 김혁 - 낙양군관학교 동기생의 엇갈린 운명과 백의사의 기원

Lyom Dongjin was a founder of White Shirts Society, extreme-right terrorist organization. There were many assumption on his background during the Japanese colonial period. Lyom was a graduate of Korean special class, Louyang Military Academy and related with Korean independence movement at that time. But Lyom was captured by Tong Hua Kempeitai branch of Japanese Kwantung Army in March 1936 and became spy for the Japanese Kempeitai. He served as professional spy for Tong Hua Kempeitai over eight years and received total 2,418 yen from Kwantung Army Kempeitai till March 1944. He was a professional spy and his spy activity was overt one. After Korea liberation, Lyom assassinated Hyun Joonhyuk, moderate communist in Pyongyang and fled to Seoul. He hide his Japanese spy career and disguised as extreme-right anti-communist fighter.<BR>In Seoul, Lyom assassinated Kim Hyuk, an independence fighter as well as his alumnus of Louyang Military Academy who knew Lyom’s back ground and spy activities precisely. Kim Hyuk was apprehended for his independence movement activities and put into Japanese prison for three years. After liberation, Kim assassinated the notorious Japanese detective with the help of Special Squad of Korean Police. Kim Hyuk’s story as well as truth of his assassination fade away from forefront of history. Lyom involved in several important assassinations including Kim Ilsung (March 1, 1946), Lyuh Woonhyung (July 19, 1947), and Kim Koo (June 26, 1949) cases.

Settler-Military Camps: Internment and Prisoner of War Camps across the Pacific Islands during World War II

This paper analyzes the US internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans, Indigenous peoples, and prisoners of war across Hawai‘i, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands during World War II. Decentering the focus on Japanese American internment as a domestic project of racialized exclusion, it analyzes internment as embedded in a transnational project of US settler militarism. Internment and prisoner of war camps utilized varying logics of racialized military detention, Indigenous displacement, and liberal governance in order to rationalize the evacuation and internment of Asian and Indigenous peoples from lands that the US military wished to use as bases, battlegrounds, and bomb testing areas.

The last Japanese prisoner of war of camp No. 16 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Khabarovsk Territory. A sketch about the history of the repatriation of Japanese prisoners of war in 1956

The last Japanese prisoner of war of camp No. 16 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Khabarovsk Territory. A sketch about the history of the repatriation of Japanese prisoners of war in 1956

Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps by Sarah Kovner

Reviewed by: Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps by Sarah Kovner Mahon Murphy Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps. By Sarah Kovner. Harvard University Press, 2020. 336 pages. ISBN: 9780674737617 (hardcover, also available as e-book). Japan's treatment of prisoners of war is possibly one of the most often-discussed aspects of the Pacific War in popular historical accounts that tend to emphasize the exceptional character of the Japanese soldier—which was shaped in part by brutality among military peers. In Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps, Sarah Kovner argues that there was nothing inherent in the Japanese character or culture that led to the inhumane treatment of POWs by Japan during the Pacific War. While taking great pains not to deny the suffering of those held captive, Kovner explains that it was inattention to the challenges of managing POWs and a general lack of interest in their care that led to many of these cruel and inhuman conditions. She describes the Japanese military's failures in the management of POWs as "unwitting cruelty" (p. 3). Official Japanese policy throughout the war was to adhere to the Geneva Convention of 1929, but this was never backed up with any real logistical support, imperial planners were too preoccupied with the expansion of territory, and the government never created a coherent internment system with a clear chain of command. This is a thoroughly researched book. The author makes fine use of international archives spanning nine different countries, as well as interviews with various witnesses. This multiarchival approach effectively serves to include a variety of voices and to give us an understanding of the administration of the POW camps and the management of prisoners. The book also provides enough background about Japan's [End Page 411] treatment of POWs captured in conflicts prior to the Pacific War and its engagement with internationalism to orient a nonexpert reader. Indeed, one of the book's main strengths is its analysis of the role of Swiss diplomats and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Japan during the war. The use of Swiss archives helps to paint a complex picture of the ICRC and Swiss diplomats and their role in POW management. During the war, the Swiss government acted as the protecting power, and the (Swiss-led) ICRC provided relief to POWs. While these were distinct organizations, there were overlaps in personnel. The Swiss were in a difficult position, as their reports on conditions for captives in Japan were responsible for determining whether the US would retaliate against Japanese and Japanese American civilians. The Swiss legation also had to think about the welfare of its own citizens in the expanding Japanese empire, with reports that eighteen Swiss men and women had been murdered by Japanese troops in Manila (p. 117). As Kovner notes, the Swiss diplomats were "less-than-innocent bystanders" (p. 118). The United States used Swiss reports to threaten reprisals against Japanese POWs and civilian internees, and the Swiss were caught between the Americans and the Japanese constantly accusing each other of war crimes—Japan's treatment of POWs and US treatment of Japanese civilians on the US West Coast, respectively. The Swiss government and the ICRC overestimated their capacity to carry out the roles assigned to them. It was only in July 1945 that the Swiss obtained permission to visit camps in occupied territories, although just how Swiss and ICRC officials were to access these isolated facilities as the Japanese empire collapsed was another question. The book highlights the problems facing neutral countries in acting as protecting powers during wartime. In addition, Kovner gives us clear insight into how the Japanese government attempted to administer its POW camps. Here we see the War Ministry issuing constant rebuffs to the Japanese Prisoner of War Information Bureau (POWIB), even preventing it in certain cases from giving information to the Allies. Kovner takes pains to acknowledge that much of the information on the POWIB came from postwar testimony by those with an interest in absolving themselves from any wrongdoing. However, as much of the POWIB archive survived the war, Kovner is able to prove that...

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The Right to Confidential Communication with Defence Counsel in JapanRecent Legal Disputes Over Mail Censorship and Photography in Visiting Rooms

In spite of the common global position of protecting the right to confidential communication, the Japanese prison authorities create barriers to communication between pre-trial inmates and defence counsel. Any correspondence, including correspondence between pre-trial inmates and defence counsel, may be opened and read by prison staff. In addition, prison authorities have established regulations to prohibit any visitors from bringing in cameras or mobile phones. They do not allow counsel to take photos in visiting rooms, claiming that these regulations are equally applicable to lawyers. This article examines the legality of the current practice regarding mail censorship and the prohibition of photography in visiting rooms, taking into consideration international human rights standards. It concludes that the current practice diverges from the international human rights standards including the Nelson Mandela Rules, which protects the full confidentiality of communication between inmates and lawyers, and access to effective legal aid. Since the arrest of Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn in November 2018, Japan’s ‘hostage justice’ system – in which suspects are held for a long period in harsh conditions to coerce a confession – has encountered a barrage of criticism. It should be noted, however, that interruption of inmates-defence counsel communication constitutes another dark side of Japanese criminal justice. This article will shed light on the everyday issues which Japanese defence counsel face in actual criminal cases.

Songs of Japanese Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union after World War II

Abstract The Second World War ended with Japan’s capitulation after the disastrous nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Subsequently, approximately 700,000 Japanese soldiers were selected as captives to undertake physical labour in Soviet prison camps. After returning to Japan, some of them wrote about their lives in the Soviet Union, drew pictures about their experiences, or wrote about their favourite songs that they had sung during their imprisonment. My study of various reports of Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) after the Second World War surprisingly revealed that not only traumatic conditions during forced labour were published, but also social interactions in the form of joint artistic activities such as making music, producing theatre plays, and staging sports competitions. The prisoners have often retrospectively described these as strikingly positive events during their years of internment in the Soviet Union. This article analyses a total of thirty-four songs sung and composed by Japanese POWs during captivity on a lyrical level (text analysis). In doing so, I adopt a new approach to interpreting the social conditions during the imprisonment of Japanese soldiers in the Soviet Union.

КУЛЬТУРНО-МАССОВАЯ РАБОТА СРЕДИ ЯПОНСКИХ ВОЕННОПЛЕННЫХ И ИХ ТВОРЧЕСТВО В ЛАГЕРЯХ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ СССР (ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ИСТОРИОГРАФИЯ)

The article for the first time examines domestic historiography of cultural and mass work among the Japanese prisoners of war and their creative activity in the NKVD-MIA camps. The author analyses the domestic publications of the turn of the XX-XXI centuries describing the forms, trends, peculiarities and outcomes of cultural and mass work among Kwantung army prisoners and their creative activity during their stay in the Soviet Union. The historiographical analysis of the problem has allowed the author to identify the achievements and shortcomings of previous studies, to outline prospects for further research.