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I was wondering where can I find digitised versions of Japanese war documents in original Japanese?

I can read Japanese but I cannot seem to find any primary sources that relate to the Japanese army in ww2

Any help much appreciated

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Are you trying to learn about Japanese history, or practice your Japanese? – Andrew Grimm Feb 28 at 9:08
It's more about the history - I realize there are translations that were produced at the time but I am also curious about how the original documents were expressed. – Rowan Feb 28 at 10:03

1 Answer

Don't know how helpful this is, but I think the real question you want to ask is whether or not there are documents publicly available concerning the Japanese military from World War II. Many such documents, especially official records concerning various crimes against humanity, (i.e. The Nanjing incident, Bataan Death March or the Bangka Island Massacre in Indonesia read at your own risk) were likely destroyed or hidden at the end of the war.

It is difficult to tell whether surviving military records could be accessible. My bet is that this type of research is best conducted on site. In other words by visiting Japan.

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