Session 7: Combat Morale in the Japanese Army in China

This session consisted of a single presentation by Professor KAWANO Hitoshi ( National Defense Academy , Yokosuka ) who employed detailed social and psychoanalytical analysis of the motivations of Japanese troops in China . Essentially, Kawano applied "primary group" theory to the study of Japanese soldiers in combat in China , but also expanded his analysis to include the various phases of mobilization and demobilization that the average Japanese soldier experienced in the conflict. Professor Kawano concluded that the primary group experience of combat and the rotation cycles during the war contributed to a sense of fatalism among Japanese troops serving in China .

Few participants took issue either with Kawano's methodology or his conclusions, but they were interested in pushing him to gauge the larger significance of his findings: What accounted for the declining morale among Japanese troops in China ? Why didn't more Japanese surrender? How does one account for the atrocities committed by Japanese troops? How did the Japanese soldier's experience in China differ from his experience in the Pacific theater?