Restoring honor: Japanese Pacific War disabled war veterans from 1945 to 1963

My dissertation “Restoring Honor: Japanese Pacific War Disabled War Veterans from 1945 to 1963” examines the lives of Japanese disabled war veterans and the activism of the Japanese Disabled Veterans Association (JDVA: Nippon Shōigunjin kai) in the early postwar period, beginning immediately following the Allied Occupation in the summer of 1945 and ending in 1963, when the National Diet passed the “Act on Special Aid to the Wounded and Sick Retired Soldiers” (Senshōbyōsha Tokubetsu Engo-hō). Established in 1952, the JDVA would play a leading role in securing welfare for Japanese disabled war veterans. In Japan as everywhere in the modern era, war exacted a huge price quantified in the death and maiming of soldiers. Victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) came at the cost of significant numbers of Japanese casualties. After the Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan’s prestige rose remarkably as it came to be recognized as a major power. Simultaneously, the government had to address the pressing issue of war injured soldiers. The government responded by establishing a series of welfare provisions for disabled war veterans. By providing generous support for disabled soldiers, the government sought to bolster the morale of its citizens. The basic policy for disabled war veterans remained in place until the conclusion of the Pacific War. The Allied powers led by the U.S. initially aimed to extirpate wartime militarism in all its forms and as a consequence, virtually abolished preferential treatment for disabled war veterans. Experiencing the loss of the privilege that they had enjoyed and drastic changes of social status from the prewar to the postwar period, the disabled veterans engaged in organized efforts in quest of life security and recovery of honor after the end of the Allied occupation. This dissertation explores the reintegration of Japanese disabled veterans into civilian life in the shadow of war. In examining Japanese disabled war veterans, it is