Railwaymen in the War

The Japanese railway soldiers, who built the notorious Burma-Thailand railway in 1942-43, earned an unenviable reputation for brutality, but they have not hitherto told their own story. This is the first book to bring to light the testimonies of the soldiers of the Emperor, who worked with 55,200 British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war in the construction of the 415 kilometre railway.

Author Biography

Kazuo Tamayama, MBE, was born in 1919. After working for a synthetic oil company, the Japanese government, and an American pharmaceutical company, he became President for eight years of a British company, a subsidiary of Beechams. It was during his last appointment that he began his study of the military operation in Burma. On his retirement he became secretary of the Japan British Society, actively involving himself in the reconciliation of the Japanese and British people, and was awarded an honorary MBE (1998). His published works include Burma 1942 – The Japanese Invasion, co-authored with Ian Lyall Grant, and Tales by Japanese Soldiers with John Nunneley.