Name: The Emperor's Soldier
SKU: 9781838020309
Price: 24.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Description

Discovered in poor condition at a flea market in downtown Tokyo, this deteriorating photograph album might have remained an unknown relic of Japan’s military past. Instead, as its rotting backing pages crumbled, its striking, often candid photographs came loose to reveal handwritten annotations on their reverse: dates, locations, names and even personal comments by a Lieutenant Otsuka serving with the Imperial Japanese Army’s 50th Infantry Regiment. These clues have made it possible to reconstruct part of his life and military career, following his journey through approximately a decade of service before the Pacific War. What is even more unusual is that Lt. Otsuka was a keen amateur photographer. The restored images capture soldiers at work and at leisure, military training, regimental activities, journeys and everyday encounters. Informal and often spontaneous, Otsuka’s images go beyond the familiar formal portraits and anonymous group photographs that are typical of most Japanese military albums. An accompanying essay explores his regiment, the wider military world in which he lived and the traditions that bound his life. Together, the photographs and text provide a new and distinctive perspective on the Imperial Japanese Army: its personnel, routines and traditions in a period of profound historical change. An appendix carries a translation of the regimental song and a chronology of the regiment from its founding in 1905 to its destruction against US forces in June 1944. A selection of colorized images completes this rich, premium edition. For readers interested in the history of Imperial Japan, military photography, the Pacific War and the lives of the men who served, The Emperor’s Soldier offers an unusual opportunity to explore the past through the eyes of one of its participants. Stephen B Connor is the author of Mountbatten’s Samurai: Imperial Japanese Forces under British Control, 1945-48.