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Part of
Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from around the world
Edited by Lucía Ruiz Rosendo and Jesús Baigorri-Jalón
[Benjamins Translation Library 159] 2023
► pp. 145–170

Chapter 6
Interpreting with “human sympathy”

Missionaries in uniform during the Pacific War and occupation of Japan

| Rikkyo University , Japan

Utilizing language skills and cultural knowledge obtained through their time proselytizing or by virtue of growing up in Japan, a number of repatriated Christian missionaries and their children took part in the Allied war effort during the Pacific War (1941–1945) and the postwar occupation of Japan (1945–1952), including as interpreters and trainers of interpreters for military intelligence. By examining what language-related activities these missionary-connected Americans and Canadians engaged in and how they viewed their own participation in the defeat and occupation of communities among which they had recently lived and worked, this chapter adds to the discussion of roles missionaries play as linguistic mediators, informants, and advisors in colonization, trade, diplomacy, and conflict.

Keywords: Christian missionaries, missionary children, Pacific War, occupation of Japan, military interpreters, military intelligence
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Historical overview: Interpreting and translation by Western missionaries in Japan
    • From Jesuits’ arrival to their expulsion (1549–1639)
    • From the reopening of Japan to the outbreak of the Pacific War (1854–1941)
  • The Pacific War and the occupation of Japan
    • In preparation for war
    • Repatriated missionaries and children of missionaries
    • Return to Japan as occupation forces
  • Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.06tak
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