About this site & editorial policy
This page explains what the atlas covers, how sites are graded, where the information comes from and how we handle contested history.
What this site is
The atlas maps real places connected with the Second World War (chiefly 1931–1945), recording what each site did in wartime, what stands there today, and how it relates to events, institutions and themes. It is intended for research, education and as a guide for visitors. It does not represent the position of any government or organisation.
Scope
The atlas centres on the Japanese home islands, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. The map and the site list show only home-island sites by default.
Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria — ruled or controlled by Japan at the time — are also covered, and readers can switch them on in the region filter. They are included because they were part of the wartime system. Where period names of places and institutions are used, the present-day name is given as well.
To explain how things came about, some entries begin before 1931 (the naval districts and fortresses founded in the Meiji era, for example) or run past 1945 (occupation, trials and repatriation).
How sites are graded
Every site is placed in one of four levels. The level reflects the role the site played in the wartime state; it is not a judgement of its worth, nor of the scale of suffering there.
- National
- Centres of national decision-making and command, places of nationwide symbolic weight, the core atomic-bomb sites, and the main yards and plants that built capital ships and front-line aircraft.
- Major
- Division headquarters, principal bases and factories, the air-raid sites of large cities, and representative museums.
- Regional
- Regimental garrisons, branch plants, ordinary airfields, the air-raid sites of smaller cities and local facilities.
- Local
- Single monuments, scattered surviving remains, branch offices and quarters.
The map shows the National and Major levels by default; the others can be switched on in the filters.
Sources
We give priority to material published by governments, local authorities, museums and archives, then to scholarly works and monographs, and then to encyclopaedic websites. Pages with citations list them under “Sources” at the foot of the page.
A good many sites do not yet carry itemised citations; we are filling these in over time. Text without listed sources should be read as a working summary still to be verified.
Figures such as casualties and force strengths often differ between sources. Where they do, we give the range or set out each figure rather than choosing one.
Contested history
The atlas touches on subjects that remain disputed: forced labour, the treatment of prisoners of war, the “comfort women”, war crimes trials, Yasukuni Shrine and colonial rule. Our approach is to:
- State what the documentary record supports, and cite it.
- Attribute claims that are still argued over, rather than presenting one side as settled.
- Describe perpetrators and victims in neutral terms, without glorifying war and without substituting present-day national positions for the sources.
- Describe a memorial’s own stance (how it presents its exhibits, for instance) as it is; describing it is not endorsing it.
Photographs and maps
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons. Only public-domain or Creative Commons files are used, with author and licence shown beneath each image.
Basemaps are from OpenStreetMap contributors and CARTO; the standard map, aerial imagery, relief map and 1945–50 US aerial photographs are from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI).
Coordinates are marked “exact” or “approximate”. Facilities that no longer exist can often be placed only roughly, so please check before visiting.