Diary Day

What Is Diary Day?

Every June 12th is "Diary Day" (日記の日, Nikki no Hi) in Japan. On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank — a 13-year-old Jewish girl hiding from Nazi persecution in Amsterdam — received a red-checked notebook from her father as a birthday present and began writing in it. This diary, discovered after Anne's death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and published by her father Otto Frank as "The Diary of a Young Girl" (アンネの日記, Anne no Nikki) in 1947, became one of the world's most widely read books — a testament to one individual's humanity in the face of genocide, and Japan's most beloved diary.

Anne Frank's Diary in Japan

Anne Frank's diary has been particularly deeply embraced in Japan, where it has been required reading in many schools for generations. The first Japanese translation was published in 1952, and the book has never gone out of print, with total Japanese sales exceeding 6 million copies — making Japan one of the largest markets for the diary globally. In 1995, 300 copies of the Japanese translation of Anne's diary were vandalized in Tokyo public libraries — an act of antisemitic vandalism that generated an extraordinary response: Jewish and German communities sent replacement copies, and the incident prompted widespread Japanese discussion of antisemitism and the Holocaust.

Diary Culture in Japan

Japan has a rich tradition of diary and personal writing literature (日記文学, nikki bungaku) stretching back to the Heian period, when works like Murasaki Shikibu's diary (紫式部日記) and "The Pillow Book" (枕草子) by Sei Shōnagon established the personal journal as a major literary form. Anne Frank's diary sits in this tradition — a first-person account of inner life and outer experience that resonates with Japanese literary sensibilities about self-reflection and the value of private writing.

Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House (アンネ・フランクの家) in Amsterdam — the hidden annex where Anne and her family hid for two years before their discovery — is one of the world's most visited museums, attracting over a million visitors annually including many Japanese. Japan has its own Anne Frank connection: a grove of trees in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem includes a "Japanese garden" area planted with trees donated from Japan.

Fun Facts

• Most translated Dutch book: Anne Frank's diary has been translated into over 70 languages and is the most widely translated Dutch-language book in history — a testament to its universal resonance across cultural, linguistic, and historical boundaries.
• Library vandalism response: The 1995 Tokyo library vandalism incident, in which 300 copies of Anne's diary were damaged, prompted the Simon Wiesenthal Center to send replacement copies, and Israeli schools raised money to donate copies — turning an act of hatred into an expression of international solidarity.