La salutation épistolaire idéologique : routines et identité au sein des correspondances de soldats japonais, 1931-1945

Analysing Japanese soldiers’ semi-private WWII correspondence, this article makes the argument that three kinds of norms (epistolary formulae/routines, censorship norms, propagandistic slogans) give rise to what could be called Ideological salutations. Thanks to the normalising force of formulaic language and implicit categorisations, these salutations become the ideal setting for the writers to declare/construct their identity as “soldiers of the Imperial Army”.