As American forces closed in on the Japanese home islands in the spring of 1945 — Iwo Jima secured after a brutal month of fighting, the invasion of Okinawa just underway — the Bureau of Naval Personnel’s All Hands Bulletin ran “Inside Japan,” a feature offering Navy men a look at the enemy homeland they were fighting toward. The article provided perspective on Japanese geography, society, and wartime conditions at a moment when every sailor in the Pacific knew the assault on Japan itself was only a matter of time.
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