G'day, I was talking to a mate of mine yesterday and he asked if by any chance I knew anyone who could speak and read both Japanese and English, and I figured here was as good a place as any to start.
His grandfather recently passed away and he was given a box full of WWII "stuff" that his Grandfather had kept from his service days.
Amongst a lot of other stuff are the personal effects taken from a dead Japanese soldier, including a couple of photographs, a diary,a headband, what seems to be a pay book, or military passport or something, and a few other things.
Now, what I was wondering is this, can anyone help out by translating the diary for us? and is there any way that anyone knows of that we could possibly track down this man's family and return the items to them?
Allso, and please forgive my ignorance here, as I really do not know......The Japanese soldier's family, if we did manage to find them and return the items.......would they be offended, or insulted, or dishonoured by us doing that?
My friend is a good bloke, and in my opinion, by wanting to return the items to the dead soldier's family, is doing the right thing, but he asked me if the family would be offended in some way by it, and I really dont know.....I wouldnt think so, but I am aware that Japanese culture is very differant to what we know in Australia, and thought it best to ask.
If any of the Japanese guys could help us out here, it would be muchly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bluedog.
