Have you ever received that shiny Gakken volume, or other Japanese language books on the IJN in the mail, looked through it admiring the images, but only regret that you cannot read any of the enclosed articles???

Well, regret no more! Sander Kingsepp who is an expert IJN historian, and Japanese translator have come to the rescue! Sander have put his two areas of expertise together and written short “IJN Lore” articles for our consumption. In collaboration with him, I have put together these articles on my website’s “IJN Lore” section for your consumption and enjoyment. As a bonus, they also included images that go with the story.

Just in case you have missed it, many of the REFERENCE sections have been heavily updated. "Technical" section has been split into "IJN specific" and "non IJN specific" sections with many new additions and high res scans of these books. Other sections significantly upgraded include the IJN Historical section, the Anatomy of the Ship Series, all the Polish books sections (AJ Monografie Morskie, BS Destroyers of WWII, BS Flota XX Stulecia, BS Profile Morkie, Nautilus, Okrety Swiata) , the FBMS Model Art Magazine, the Futabasha Super Detail 3D CG magazines, the three Gakken series(DX, pictorial and Rekishi Gunzo), the Kojinsha publications (Japanese Naval Vessels HC, Maru Graphic Quarterly, Maru Magazine), Warship Pictorial and Warship Profile. All have upgraded to a new format which includes the non-IJN volumes which are "greyed" out to make research easier. Also included are high res scans (click on the book cover image) whenerver available. A new section for warship plans has also been introduced with a special section for Plan books, Japanese Navy Ships and Craft Plans, NAVPLAN, and some unknown plans. Two new sets of books have also been introduced, these are the IJN Detailed Combat Report and Navy. Enjoy....

Made a major update in my Reference pages. My two loves with the Imperial Japanese Navy are building ship models and collecting books on the IJN. To help in the latter hobby, I have started scanning in the covers of all the books in my library. This is a major effort and I have already placed hundreds of images on my web pages. A graphical reference list is both more pleasing to visit and helpful in book identification - especially those books published in a foreign language. I am hoping that my visitors (especially those from Japan - where books are hard to obtain) can also contribute. If you are interesting in helping. My only request is to sent me the images in JPG format with a top dimensions of 140 pixel (i.e. 140x90, 140x88. The second dimension being determined by the shape of the book). A short description of the book (author, title, publisher, date of publication, ISBN#, etc.) would also be appreciated. You will also be given credit for the reference whenever possible. Please only sent information on books which relates to the IJN in W.W.II. Thanks !!