It was during World War I in Europe that serious attention was drawn to psychological trauma  suffered by soldiers. There was a sharp increase in soldiers showing symptoms such as constant trembling and numbness in the limbs even though there were no visible injuries, and the condition was called “shell shock.”

I began studying the trauma of British soldiers during World War I when I was an undergraduate. In the process, I noticed that only few studies have so far been made at traumatized Japanese soldiers. Since the Meiji era, Japan has experienced many wars. Looking at soldiers alone, the Sino-Japanese War and World War II in the Asia-Pacific region resulted in approximately 2.3 million deaths.

Why was the trauma of Japanese soldiers who survived such horrific wars not made visible? How did they live after the war? These became the themes of my research.

Carefully studying the medical records of 1,800 patients left at a military hospital

Kohnodai Military Hospital in Chiba Prefecture was a specialized hospital for treating soldiers with mental illnesses during war. A total of 10,000 patients were hospitalized there. At the end of World War II, the military ordered the burning of their medical records, but military doctors did not obey the order. Instead, they stuffed the records into drum barrels and buried them in the ground. As a result, medical records for 8,000 patients remain to this day, and I have studied 1,800 of these records.

Reading them, I found that soldiers were suffering mental illness not only from the horrors of combat, but also from violence within the military, their inability to adapt to military life, and their own acts of aggression. However, these were treated as symptoms that were inconvenient for the military and the soldiers were handled as if they were merely faking illness. Therefore, they were forced to “recover” through ways such as inflicting fear through electroshock therapy.

On the other hand, newspapers at the time carried an article with the headline “No shell shock at all in the Emperor’s Army.” (“The Emperor’s Army” was a name used by the Japanese army to refer to itself.) Propaganda about the bravery of Japanese soldiers was spread using such testimonies by doctors from Kohnodai Military Hospital.

Returning home mentally ill was also considered shameful for soldiers and their families. Letters from families to the hospital had phrases such as “Sorry for not being of service to the country.” Soldiers themselves wrote, “Please do not visit me.” The trauma of soldiers continued to be hidden under multiple layers by the country, the medical officers, the soldiers, and their families on the home front.

Some former soldiers changed personalities and even became violent toward their families

It is only in the last few years that we began to understand in detail how traumatized former Japanese soldiers lived after the war. Coincidentally, the Association for Families of Demobilized Japanese Soldiers with PTSD to Discuss Their Lives (now the Association of Families of Japanese Soldiers with PTSD and Support Group) was launched in 2018, when I published my book Senso to Torauma (War and Trauma).

Through this association, which was formed mainly by the children of former soldiers, I was able to hear from around 50 children and grandchildren of former soldiers. Their families had suffered greatly. “His personality changed, and he became violent toward the family.” “There were many times when he tried to kill me.” “My father drank a lot, and my mother and I had to support the family.” Many former soldiers committed suicide. Yet they had no one to consult.

Eighty years have passed since the end of World War II, but it continues to torment people over this long period of time. Peace does not simply refer to a state without war; it refers to a society free of structural violence such as discrimination and poverty, a society where those who are hurt receive the help they need. I hope that my research will shed light on the history of ordinary people who suffered in war and those they have hurt.

The book I recommend

“The Unwomanly Face of War”
by Svetlana Alexievich, Japanese translation by Midori Miura, Iwanami Shoten

There were one million female soldiers who served in the Soviet army during World War II, but they were looked down upon by society after the war. This famous work explores the true nature of war through the unheard voices of 500 female soldiers who were not considered heroes.

Interviewed: July 2025