The Japanese Soldiers in Second World War Thailand: Grassroots Relations

Kakizaki re-examines the real image of the Thai-Japanese alliance during the Second World War by focusing on the incidents and accidents that occurred during the passage through, or the stationing, of the Japanese army in Thailand.

The book reveals the grassroots relations between Thais and Japanese by utilizing the records of incidents/accidents between Thais and Japanese during the war. The results show that although the number of incidents/accidents was large at the initial and the last stages of war, those caused by Thais were skyrocketing at the last stage of war while those caused by Japanese reached their peak at the initial stage of war before decreasing. Therefore, the real image of the Thai-Japanese alliance was the alliance of endurance that both Thais and Japanese had to be forced to endure the frequently-occurred incidents/accidents.

A book for students and academics interested in the Thai/Southeast Asian war history during the Second World War.

Ichiro Kakizaki is Associate Professor at Yokohama City University in Japan.