UTSUNOMIYA, TOCHIGI PREF. – While sorting out items at her late father’s home in Utsunomiya a few years ago, Tomomi Narusawa found a trove of printed materials and handwritten notes left behind by the retired high school teacher turned Japanese history researcher.

“I knew he was researching materials related to the war, but no one in the family knew details about his work,” Narusawa, a 56-year-old nursing educator, recalled.

“When I was growing up, I saw him working at home with an English-Japanese dictionary in his hand. I had wondered what my dad, who taught social studies in school, used the dictionary for.”