Editor’s Postscript

Thank you for reading the JACAR Newsletter.

JACAR has previously presented two special internet exhibitions about the Russo-Japanese War that broke out in 1904: “Special Exhibition on the Russo-Japanese War: As Seen in Official Documents” and “Special Exhibition II on the Russo-Japanese War: From the Start of Hostilities to the Battle of the Sea of Japan: A Record of 500 Days of Fierce Fighting.” The Battle of the Sea of Japan (Battle of Tsushima), which could be described as the decisive engagement of this conflict, was fought on this day (May 27) exactly 120 years ago between the Combined Fleet of Tōgō Heihachirō and the Baltic Fleet under Zinovy Rozhestvensky.

This issue of JACAR Newsletter is a special edition, with three special features that take a slightly different angle on the battle. The first article sets its focus on the efforts by diplomatic officials to gather information on the movements of the Baltic Fleet leading up to its appearance in the Sea of Japan. The second article takes up the battle with the island of Okinoshima—which also appears in writer Shiba Ryotarō’s bestseller Saka no ue no kumo (Clouds above the hill)—playing the lead role. The final special feature offers some hidden historical background to the fighting between Russia and Japan, focusing on Russian prisoners-of-war. For more information about the battle itself, we encourage you to take in the video being released concurrently with this issue, “Reminisce – JACAR : The Battle of Tsushima Through Online Archival Records.

In conjunction with the release of this issue of the newsletter, we have also made major revisions to those items related to the Russo-Japanese War in our “Learning About Asian History: Using Digital Resources to Learn About Japan and Asia” educational platform. These are explained in detail in this issue’s “Introduction of New Contents” section.

*The three special feature articles in this issue and the descriptions of the revised sections of the “Learning About Asian History” platform were supervised by Dr. Kurosawa Fumitaka, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University professor emeritus and JACAR Advisory Committee member. We would like to use this space here to express our gratitude. Please note: the contents of the by-lined articles are based on the views of the writers themselves and are not official views of JACAR itself. Also, the English version of this newsletter has been translated under the responsibility of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records.