Japanese Imperial Army and Navy’s Disaster Relief Efforts (警備救護) after the Sakurajima Eruption

Do you know that the Japanese Army and Navy carried out disaster relief activities before the Second World War? Much like today’s Self-Defense Force, the Japanese Army and Navy once performed relief, guard, and rescue activities. Although they didn’t have a conduct code stating their duties in times of disaster, the Institution sought to protect people's lives and property.

At first disaster relief was comprised of unofficial activities. Such activities are described in documents from our database on efforts following an earthquake that occurred on July15th,1896 (Reference Code:C07071033600) [Image 1].

The Japanese Navy sent medical treatments with a cruiser as well as a destroyer that collected information and carried out relief efforts. Thankfully, the Sakurajima eruption did not injure many people and though their work was small in scale, the Japanese Imperial Army presence in the disaster area increased feelings of security.

The records serve as evidence suggesting the army was engaged in relief efforts while also guarding the Japanese people. Such efforts deepened connections between victims in disaster regions and army personnel. The records also suggest that the army managed to mobilize and help citizens at times when police, firefighters and the Red Cross Society could not. In this way the army of the past may have set a precedent for today’s Self-Defense Force to achieve historical feats.

[References]
Sakurajima taishō funka hyakusyunen kinenshi, Kagosima Ken, 2015.
1914 Sakurajima Funka Hōkokusyo, Naikakufu cyuō Bousai Kaigi, 2012.
Sakurajima taishō funka Shi, Kagoshimaken,1929.
Ishihara Kazuhiro, "Sakurajima no funka dai ikkai 20 seiki saidai no Sakurajima taishō funka to sono kyō kun",NHK(Japan Brodcasting Corporation), August 9, 2014 update.
Yoshida Ritstuto, "Guntai no 'Saigai Syutsudō' seido no Kakuritsu", printed in Journal Shigaku Zasshi, Vol.117. no.10, 2009.

Exhibition "Kanagawa's Military Bases and local communities" at Kanagawa Prefectural Archives

Currently Sagamihara serves as a sort of military city that contains the former site of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, which moved into the area in 1937. The original site of the military academy was Ichigaya, Tokyo, but Tokyo’s density made it difficult to use the area for military training exercises. For this reason the Japanese military selected a new site in 1936, a process about which information can be found in the file "New Location and Construction of Imperial Japanese Military Academy" (within "Mitsu Dainikki 1936", which is held by the Ministry of Defense’s National Institute for Defense Studies). Papers discuss how the military site came to be selected for military training. The documents, shown to the right, indicate that other places were also studied by the Japanese army for training, notably Hachioji and a space at the foot of Mt. Fuji. The current site in Sagamihara City was selected as a base camp due to its ease to secure.

[Reports]

-25th EAJRS Conference in Leuven, Belgium (September 17-20)

The European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) is a society of resource experts affiliated with research institutes as well as universities, public libraries, and organizations providing database resources on Japan. While members mainly reside in Europe, some participants are from North America and elsewhere. In general, an annual conference is held every September, at which time participants present and exchange information. For several years JACAR staff members have exhibited at the conference to get the word out about our services. In the past three years we have increased our activities by holding a workshop and exhibition booth at the conference. Most recently, we participated in a four day gathering from September 17th to the 20th at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium along with a total of 78 participants.

Many participants seemed to be surprised during the presentation by Japanese and Chinese Qing dynasty propaganda, but participants were also interested in efforts of JACAR and BL to present prints neutrally. One of the participants expressed a desire to exchange ideas on this matter, as he had been tackling the issue of neutrality for a long time. An essay based on this presentation is published on Current Awareness Portal (→Current Awareness Portal, E1630e).

In the conference session JACAR emphasized a desire to work on more cooperative projects with other institutions, and some participants showed their intention to find a way to coordinate with JACAR.

[Publicity Work]

-Overseas

-Domestic

[Visitors]

The Condition of Japan Related Materials in the United Kingdom

　This past September JACAR staff members Hiroko Matsuo and Muneaki Hirano visited two of Britain’s Imperial War Museums (IWM London and IWM Duxford) as well as The National Archives (TNA). At these sites, interviews were conducted about available archives and digitization of materials. Results of the interviews are outlined below.

- The Imperial War Museums (IWM) (→Website)

[IWM Documents related to WW2]

The documents held by IWM that are related to WW2 are classified into two categories: "British Private Papers" (which are mostly kept at IWM London) and "Foreign Documents" (which are held at IWM Duxford).

"British Private Papers" include documents related to former POW and civilian internees whom were held in Japanese captivity in 1939 to 1945. Those documents include personal records such as diaries, letters, and memos. Many of the items were acquired from private donors and if the donors wished to keep their originals, the museum possesses copies. In most cases, individuals retain copyrights when relevant and there are limitations for museum use; most of the collections are accessible to the public at IWM London.

[Digitization at IWM]

IWM London has a section specialized in digitizing items. Due to limits in budget, priority is given to digitization of certain projects; currently items related to WW1 are given high priority. The IWM also offers paid digitization services for researchers, in which cases copyright ownership must be proven when applicable. All digitized content is added to the digital holdings of the museum and can be made, with permission, open to the public assuming there are no issues with copyrights.

- The National Archives (TNA) (→Website)

The National Archives' 21st-century role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible.

[Second World War Era Documents at TNA]

Second World War era document holdings include detailed information cards created by the Japanese military on some 45,000 individual POWs. The cards were partly filled in English, so location information about where and when POWs were captured is clear but information on how they were dealt was written only in Japanese. Due to language constraints, the cards have not been researched very much and they are not catalogued or easy to understand by the public. There are also documents in the collections that were submitted to the British authorities by POWs upon arriving in the UK, which have been used as proof to claim compensation after the war. There are also records of military trials held in Asia by the Allied Forces with the UK corps.