The diary was created by the Japanese government with the dates already indicated on each page when the owner received it. The owner crossed out each date as if they were wrong and corrected them with new dates, which suggests that he was using a 1942 diary to record his life in 1943. Additionally, on the cover of the diary, he crossed out the 7 in "17th year" and wrote an 8 over the top making it read "Showa 18th year," or 1943. The owner wrote in cursive Japanese, which is difficult even for Japanese scholars to read. As a result, there has not been a way to determine who the owner of the diary was. There are areas in the diary for the owner to insert personal information but these areas have been left blank. There are about 14 pages of the diary that have someone else's handwriting on the bottom of the pages along with the original owner's. This suggests that someone else was either writing in it at the same time as the original owner, or that someone else actually had posession of the diary for a time.

Dimensions: 15 x 10 cm.

Date on item is Shōwa jū hachinenpan, which is a Japanese imperial regnal date.

Title on item: 海軍日記

Holograph.