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WWII Japanese troops' PTSD revealed for 1st time at museum
WWII Japanese troops' PTSD revealed for 1st time at museum

Asahi Shimbun

time3 days ago

  • Health
  • Asahi Shimbun

WWII Japanese troops' PTSD revealed for 1st time at museum

An exhibit showcasing the psychological trauma that Imperial Japanese Army troops suffered during the Pacific War has opened in a museum in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The materials and items are a result of Japan's first national survey into the trauma experienced by Japanese soldiers. The exhibition opened on July 23 at the Shokei-Kan, a historical materials hall for wounded and sick retired soldiers. Although the show is temporary to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, it is scheduled to become a permanent exhibit starting in February next year. The existence of soldiers suffering from psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was concealed during the war and remained hidden even in the years following the conflict. However, families of former soldiers are increasingly giving testimonies about the effects of war trauma in recent years. This has attracted attention not only to the soldiers' personal suffering but also to the harm inflicted on their families, such as abuse by veterans struggling with unresolved mental scars. In response to the testimonies of the soldiers' families, the government conducted research during the last fiscal year by collecting and analyzing medical records and personal accounts preserved in former military hospitals and other institutions. The exhibition, titled 'soldiers with emotional wounds,' features stories of veterans who directed violence against family members even after the end of the war. Akio Kuroi, representative of an association for families of Japanese soldiers with PTSD, which has long been offering testimonies, visited the exhibit on July 24. He welcomed the new awareness, saying, 'The government has finally taken the first step.' 'There are still many former soldiers who have not been officially recognized as war-injured by the government,' Kuroi said. 'Their families continue suffering even now. A full-scale investigation must be carried out under the government's responsibility to uncover the reality.'

Japan gov't launching 1st exhibit on former soldiers traumatized by WWII
Japan gov't launching 1st exhibit on former soldiers traumatized by WWII

The Mainichi

time22-07-2025

  • Health
  • The Mainichi

Japan gov't launching 1st exhibit on former soldiers traumatized by WWII

TOKYO -- The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is opening an exhibition on former Japanese soldiers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other war trauma and their families at the Shokei-kan national museum in Tokyo on July 23. This is the first special exhibition by the Japanese government on former Japanese soldiers who were emotionally traumatized by their wartime experiences. The soldiers developed PTSD due to the harsh realities in the battlefield and their acts of aggression during the war. The simplified exhibition using panels and other materials will run until Oct. 19, shedding light on the number of traumatized soldiers and their treatment, and the Kohnodai Army Hospital in Chiba Prefecture (present-day National Kohnodai Medical Center) that accommodated them. From around February 2026, the ministry will launch a permanent exhibition based on the findings of its survey since fiscal 2024 at the same museum, which exhibits historical materials about wounded and sick veterans. During World War II, many soldiers were hospitalized due to mental disorders, but the then Japanese military denied the presence of such patients. For a long time after the war, the affected former soldiers and their families continued to perceive the conditions as a "stigma" and would not open up about their experiences, leaving the real circumstances long untold. In recent years, the children of former soldiers formed a family association and have continually demanded that the government conduct fact-finding surveys. Since fiscal 2024, the welfare ministry has collected and analyzed medical charts of patients who were hospitalized in former army and navy hospitals, and has also examined the lives of families of former servicemen diagnosed with mental disorders by referencing materials including written testimonies of their experiences retained at Shokei-kan. Akio Kuroi, a representative of a group of families of former servicemen suffering from PTSD and the citizens supporting them, which has called for the government to carry out fact-finding investigations, commented, "The presence of soldiers who were psychologically destroyed had not widely been known, and there were few researchers, but the issue has lately been gaining social recognition. It marks a significant step forward for the government to hold an exhibition on soldiers who sustained invisible wounds."

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