The Japanese military experienced different types of defeat in World War Two (WWII) both during and after the war, including loss in battles and war crimes trials. This dissertation analyses Japanese veterans’ postwar narratives in relation to the concepts of defeat and addresses the issue of war crimes responsibility, particularly for civilian massacres during WWII. My thesis focuses on former Japanese infantry regiments whose members committed civilian massacres in the Malaya Peninsula, the Philippines, and Burma and were tried by the British and US/Philippine forces between 1946 and 1948. My dissertation examines group narratives of these regiments, utilising war crimes trial records and postwar regimental histories (rentaishi) and war memoirs (rentaisenki) compiled from the 1970s to the 1990s. Despite the different times of compilation, these regiments present similar recurring themes in their narratives, including glorious deeds, operational justification, rectification of the Allied trials, sacrificial dedication to their country, living through the deadly battleground, and glorious ends of regiments. Behind these narratives was the continuation of wartime military values into the postwar period, which had helped to justify war crimes both during and after the war. This thesis shows that different types of defeat shaped their postwar narratives in such a way as to alleviate negative sentiments resulting from defeat and, for some group narratives, avoid accepting responsibility for war crimes. My research contributes to the cultural history of military defeat by illustrating Japanese veterans’ responses to the issue of responsibility for war crimes. Analysis of their postwar narratives in the frame of the military defeat can provide a deep understanding of the inadequacy of some Japanese veterans in acknowledging atrocities as groups.European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) grant agreement No. 313382, Travel and Research Grants from St Catharine’s College, Graduate Support Funds from Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Research Grant (No. 4598), Aoi Global Research Award, John Crump Studentship of the British Association for Japanese Studie
