An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Products of Prisoners of War in the 20th century
Friday 26 - Sunday 28 March 2010
Conference website
Japanese prisoners' cultural activities behind barbed wire
Euan McKay - Poster
Title:
Japanese prisoners' cultural activities behind barbed wire
Abstract:
The cultural and educational activities of prisoners of war (POWs) in POW camps is well known and increasingly well documented. However, there is one group of prisoners that is hardly known at all, and consequently their cultural activities have also escaped notice. After the conclusion of the Second World War in Asia, about 80,000 Japanese Surrendered Personnel (JSP) were interned by the British in South East Asia until the end of 1947, 13,500 by the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies until May 1947, and 80,000 by the Americans in the Philippines until December 1946. They were used as labour on a range of works projects connected with food production, infrastructure rehabilitation and military construction and deconstruction. In contrast to POW camps under the Japanese during the war, the British camps were mostly open, although in some locations JSP were guarded for their own protection. Consequently, few or none of their activities were conducted in a clandestine fashion.
My research focuses on the JSP held by the British, who were mostly in Malaya and Burma, but also on those held by the Dutch, who were largely in Java. I have conducted interviews with former JSP and examined both British and Japanese government and private documents, and some American and Australian documents as well. I also have a collection of materials including diaries, photos and film, and copies of newspapers and other publications produced by the JSP. During their two years under British and Dutch control, the JSP engaged in a wide range of cultural activities, many of which will be familiar to POW researchers.
The main concerns of the JSP were food, clothing, lack of a fixed repatriation date, and desire for information about their families in Japan. Their activities were related to these concerns in various ways, although for many, they were not so much 'cultural' as a matter of improving their conditions and coming to terms with the post-war world. Some generated a small amount of income from their handicrafts and tool-making, a welcome addition as the JSP were not paid for their labour. The lack of clothing resulted in a lot of 'making and mending'. Those with agricultural experience worked to increase their own food production and supplement their camp diet. JSP with skills passed them on to others. The British refused to announce a return date for the JSP, despite a policy decision to repatriate them all by the end of 1947. As a result, many rumours circulated both in Japan and in South East Asia, and the circulation of news was a means for the JSP to maintain contact with conditions in Japan.
Japan losing the war was unthinkable for most Japanese in general, and the military in particular, and their cultural activities demonstrate the attempts of the JSP to understand the new post-war world. Newspapers and magazines were produced and circulated information within and among the camps; translation projects gave JSP access to a wider world of ideas; JSP diaries, recollections, essays, haiku/poems and manga/cartoons, many of a satirical and emotional nature, were a forum for discussing the new post-war world; theatrical productions were staged, featuring makeshift props and costumes created entirely from what little they had to hand. Some JSP, particularly the 'student soldiers' with a university education, foresaw that English would be a valuable skill and used their time in South East Asia to acquire the language. The later careers of several of these former 'gakutohei' bear out the accuracy of their foresight, and are testament to their power to adapt and their creativity behind barbed wire.
