A+Japanese+soldier+of+the+Kwantung+Army+1


 * Name **: Omuka Naho
 * Age **: 36
 * Gender **: Male
 * Occupation **: Japanese private - Kwantung Army, IJA (Imperial Japanese Army)
 * Appearance **: Manly, usually dressed in military uniform
 * Location **: Hsinking, Manchukuo
 * Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits **: Aggressive behavior, arrogant, patriotic, proud of the IJA
 * Family **: Husband, father of three children
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Education **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">: College graduate
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Languages ** **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">you ** **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">speak **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">: Japanese and basic Chinese (Mandarin)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Your main concerns at this time and in life **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">: Having his family involved in the war
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Portrait (an image that you and we can live with) **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Diary Entry # 1 **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">

June 7, 1937

I am concurrently situated in Hsinking, Manchukuo, and the cabin in the headquarters of the Kwantung Army reminded me of another several years of murky service. I remember the usual routine; wake up at about 5:00 A.M., follow various instructions and regulations by my commanding officers, and then attend my shifts. All of this would take up the majority of a day’s time. It reminded me of school, except more frightening, more engaging. It just seemed like another eternal routine that was about 100X more exasperating. When I had left for war, I wasactually excited for some change despite the fact that my life was atstake. Since then it’s been several years – recently I’ve been getting back into the habit of sitting at the end of my bedside writing diary entries that would hopefully transcribe as letters of experience to my family sometime in the future. I had just returned from the second ‘episode’ of the Sino-Japanese Wars and my relations in Fukuoka were gratefully informed of my survival. It is such a relief that my wife and children are aware of my safety because making them worrisome only degrades their mentality and strives to live. My biggest concern is their involvement in any of the activity that I currently participate in. But from where they are, the distance seems like millions of miles away from combat. The truth is, the entirety of Japan is in peril. After a series of coordinated invasions, the Second World War is probably closer than we expected. On the brighter side, the Japanese state of economic depression is improving, and this will surely do well for my family who live in partial poverty near the countryside. News comes that imports of raw materials and heavy industrialization will aid Japan’s infrastructures to pursue a more modern perspective. Partly due to the Meiji reforms, Japan is now opening and seeking new markets for commerce. This might have been a relating factor to what I had witnessed. Today, during military training, I had saw many young men, most of them in their teenage years, be drafted into this campsite. It seems as though the government is now expanding their military efforts by mobilizing young soldiers into the army. Japan is like a cobra, if something annoys its meditation, it does everything within its power to get rid of it in a timely manner. In order to do that, we use a tactic known as ‘total war’ a strategic improbability developed by our leader, General Hideki Tojo. Soon, the rules of war would be broken and all moralities recognized by both sides of a conflict would be considered null. Things are getting ugly, I can sense it. I don't agree with the overly-aggressive actions that we're taking on other nations. Our xenophobic ideals are defending our cultures and traditions to such an extent that racism is a valid edge in this era of nationalism.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Diary Entry # 2 **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">

December 8, 1941

It felt like a decade since the last time I wrote. As I'm writing this entry I'm being hospitalized in a local clinic on the outskirts of Singapore. We were the second platoon to be deployed on the beaches from Thailand and were abruptly ambushed by the Americans and the British upon our arrival. Although a good portion of our squadrons were ‘slaughtered,' we celebrated numerous victories of several colonial powers including Indochina, Hong Kong, and the Philippine Islands. Many thought that I was very lucky to have come out alive in one piece. Other than that, it is official. America, Britain, and China have all declared war on us – seems like an intercontinental conflict to me. As a result of this outbreak, the Americans ceased the exports of oil to the motherland, thusly reducing domestic oil consumption in the eyes of Japanese Empire. This not only tilts the balance of economic stability within the islands, but also marks the beginning of governmental corruption. Our formal General, Hideki Tojo, has replaced the previous prime minister. Knowing his antics, the only thing he’ll do is increase the scale of this war. Total War will enable Japan to think of militaristic strategies outside of the box in order to optimize a more fatal outcome to any external threats. Since World War II has just unleashed hell to the boundaries of South East Asia, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Nihon //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">may never be forgiven for the brutality it has caused. I keep experiencing disturbing occasions during times of service. I’ve come to realize the amount of patriotism behind most of these soldiers. I remember seeing an American splintering a fellow ‘Jap’ with a 50 Cal. - it took about forty rounds before he fell to the ground. His body was not like any others on the battlefield, he was shamefully butchered as I listened to his dying words. “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real,” he said. Unfortunately, he was a childhood friend who went by the name of Akita Akizuki. On a more bias standpoint, I think that some of these men have too much valor and feelings of eminence towards our country. Kamikaze is just unethical warfare, a rather ridiculous tactic to combat others in my opinion. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Sigh **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">, I hear the shrieks of wounded men being surgically cured as I’m about to end this transcription. Amputations, blood transfusions, and unhygienic materialism are not of surprise to me in such a distasteful location. Hopefully, my cuts and wounds wont be infected before I reenter the arena of madness. I’m about to be recruited into another corps to defend our stations in Manila from invading forces. I truly hope to return to my family in the aftermath of this all. But until then…Godspeed to my legacy.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; font-weight: normal;">March 8, 1944
 * Diary Entry # 3**

God seems to have sent angels over my shoulders to have lasted this long in a multitude of wars. Unfortunately, the Allied Powers are regaining their status over the South Pacific. The last time I wrote was when I was sent to the Philippines to defend a primary limitation. Since then our posts in Manila have been wiped out and only a select few of our men were able to survive and escape the scene before they had completely gained control of the area. We traveled back to Motobu by boat in order for us to regroup with our comrades. It took several days, so I might as have gotten close with the members of our mini crew, which consisted of soldiers from different armies. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 8.91pt; font-weight: normal;">犠牲の賢さ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; font-weight: normal;"> was an interpretive officer of the Imperial Army. He informed me of recent news that the USSR had recently joined the war against us. His stories paralyzed me as all seven of his brothers were killed in action. Although things were only getting worse by the moment, I learned to be more gracious of the sufficient protection my wife and children are contained in. By the time we arrived, our generals had realized the strategies of our enemies and that the Americans had ‘island hopped’ there bombers into range of our islands. Soon enough Okinawa, an area centered in Japan, was overtaken. The conflict is reaching its height to invasions being withstood inside of our country. The begrudging thought of a possible family relocation haunts me continuously. On a more national standpoint, losing our relics is one thing, but losing possession of strategic points on the map leaves us at a state of devastation. As a result of this, our supply lines to our remaining bases situated in other parts of Southeast Asia were cut and are thusly non-responsive. I’d probably be scolded for saying this, but maybe the Axis Forces are languishing due to bad karma. The Fascist governments don’t develop this coincidental trend of future digression without reason. I am hopefully, for the last time, being regrouped for another pull through. Today the Battle of Imphal and Kohima commences as our division was ordered to make a movement against the British for control of Northern Burma. The Japanese force is scaling a massive commitment to open a route into India. My motives were never so strictly focused on the objective at hand; probably because of the risky condition in which my family is facing.


 * Diary Entry # 4**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 81%; font-weight: normal;"> August 18, 1945

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">My life is over. Right now I am a hopeless prisoner of war lying in a cell waiting to be executed within the next twelve hours. This will be the last diary entry to be written and I hope someone will find these meaningful pages so that in the years to come, people will learn what life was like for the soldiers who fought for their country during this respective century. Over the course of eight years I have been fighting hard, sustaining my occupation, and taking care of my family. All the negativity I had accumulated over these years of warfare had dehumanized me. Surviving so many occasions in battles led me to believe that I had a purpose, and that intention was to return to my family. In March 8th, 1944 an order to invade Imphal and Kohima in Northern Burma resulted in a desolating failure. The British IV corps intercepted the mission. The majority of the Japanese soldiers were killed on sight although some of the surviving soldiers were captured as POWs. Now that we’re witnessing the final stages of World War II, the rest of the global civilians can live in peace – an aspect that any soldier or I wouldn’t know of. The Americans had ended the war quite dramatically, two atomic bombs were detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; critical sites of grave value to the empire’s history. The worst bit is that my family resides in Fukuoka, the state in between the two sites of explosion. News states that the radiation waves are reaching vast distances. Although I wish them good fortune, all the conditions released in the aftermath tell me that my family was indirectly involved with the blast. My emotions are uncontrollable as my worrisome feelings are at its highest. As of now the Wars in the Pacific and in Europe have ended with a series of surrenders by the Axis Powers. There’s really not much for people to ask for. All in all, I hope that Japan learns from its ignorant mistakes and never put its indifferent culture, tradition, and citizens in jeopardy again.

Bibliography

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">"Japan's Quest for Power and World War II in Asia | Asia for Educators | Columbia University." //Asia for Educators | Columbia University//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2010. <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/s

"Information Please: 1937."//Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/yea

"The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: December 7, 1941 - Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor." //The History Place//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2010. <http://www.historyplace.com/w