Japanese Perceptions of Papua New Guinea

<i>Japanese Perceptions of Papua New Guinea</i> exposes the interactions between two ostensibly opposing worlds: war and travel. While soldiers deployed to Eastern New Guinea during the Second World War recalled first-hand their experience of war post-war tourists visited battle-sites met locals and drew their own conclusions about the Pacific island from the Japanese media. This book in bringing travel and war closer together through a comparative analysis of veterans' memoirs and the records of postwar travelers explores how individuals consume create and recreate war histories. As a result Ryota Nishino reveals the extent to which the memory of defeat - for both soldiers and civilians alike - influenced the Japanese perceptions of Papua New Guinea and shaped future relations between the countries. <br/><br/>Translating a diverse range of Japanese primary and archival sources this book provides the first English-language analysis of the social and political impact of Japanese interpretations of the PNG campaign and its aftermath. As such <i>Japanese Perceptions of Papua New Guinea: War Travel and the Reimagining of History</i> is an important text for anyone seeking a sophisticated understanding of war nationalism and memory culture in Japan and the Pacific Islands.