Coming Soon – in November 2024!
Message from the author
The Lost Officer is a nonfiction book that delves deeply into the relationship between the Cowra Breakout and Japanese POW officers. The original Japanese edition was published in 2004 by a Tokyo-based publisher called SPICE (ISBN4-902835-06-1).
The Cowra Breakout, a massive suicidal riot involving more than one thousand Japanese POWs, has traditionally been believed to have been carried out solely by non-commissioned officers and soldiers. However, knowing the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, I harbored doubts as to whether the officers were really not involved. During my research journey, I obtained a member list for the “Murchison Society”, a mysterious group formed by former POW officers after the war, and I visited each of the surviving officers in search of the truth. This book documents my investigations, based on interviews with surviving officers, their families, and their comrades-in-arms.
Since I published The Lost Officer 20 years ago, researchers from Australia and elsewhere have asked me, “Is there an English version of this book?” In response to this request, I finally translated the book into English in 2024. In the hope that people around the world could read it, I will publish it online, free of charge when it becomes available. Expected publication online is November 2024. I hope that this book will help you understand this important but little-known aspect of modern history. Domo Arigato!
August 5, 2024
Mami Yamada
About the Author
Dr. Mami Yamada is an accomplished writer whose work has covered a wide range of fiction and nonfiction topics. She has published over 20 books in Japanese, including several bestsellers, some of which have been translated into English and Chinese. Dr. Yamada is renowned for her meticulous and grassroots research approach, with a particular focus on two areas: Indian Studies and the Cowra Breakout, a significant prisoner-of-war escape attempt during World War II. She received a Ph.D. in Modern Japanese History and Gender Studies from Ochanomizu University in 2014. The title of her doctoral thesis was “Reconsidering the Cowra Breakout of 1944: From the Viewpoints of Survived Japanese Prisoners of War and Their ‘Everyday Lives’ in the Camp.” Currently, she serves as the Advisor for the Japan-India Association and holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. For a more detailed CV, please visit yamadamami.com/cv.html
- Author, The Lost Officer
- Translator, Japanese edition of Voyage from Shame by Harry Gordon
- Research Doctorate on the Cowra Breakout
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Members-only newspaper
Chapter 2: Contacting the Japanese leader
Chapter 3: Die rather than be a prisoner
Chapter 4: Silence of the officers
Chapter 5: PO Box 5844
Chapter 6: Letters from the lost officer
Chapter 7: Man wearing a Navy cap
Chapter 8: 60th anniversary of the Cowra Breakout
Chapter 9: Final days of the Japanese camp leader
Chapter 10: The lost officer’s daughter
Chapter 11: The officer who knew the plan
Chapter 12: What triggered of the riot
Chapter 13: Email from Oikawa’s brother
Chapter 14: Testimony of an officer’s wife
Chapter 15: The officer who survived Biak
Chapter 16: Love letter from an Italian POW
Chapter 17: Mystery of the submarine I-1
Chapter 18: Memories of the Murchison Society
Chapter 19: NCO who looked after the officers
Chapter 20: The Murchison camp site
Chapter 21: Harry Gordon’s archive box
Chapter 22: The official secrets myth
Chapter 23: Escaping during the full moon
Chapter 24: The dead officer’s nephew
Chapter 25: U.S. Navy hospital ship records
Chapter 26: Another lost officer
Chapter 27: The Fall of Saipan and the Cowra Breakout
Notification & Contact
Please use the following form to get notified when The Lost Officer is released, as well as for general inquiries.