As you can tell from the title, this article was a chapter from a book written by a Japanese author Tetsuo Maeda, and translated into English, by a Japanese speaker. The book is titled The Hidden Army: The Untold Story of Japan’s Military Forces.I touch on this subject in an earlier paper: Epping Forest History Supporting Mine Sweeping Boats, primarily in Sasebo, Japan. “One little known fact was that elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy, never disbanded following the Japanese surrender in WWII, (renamed the Maritime Safety Agency-MSA) had been hard at work in the previous five years (before Korea), clearing mines from Japanese ports and waterways.

I think the Japanese perspective of what occurred with the Sasebo facilities post WWII is very interesting, Life in Base Town Sasebo

Ed Sinclair