Robert Guillain (4 September 1908 – 29 December 1998) was a French journalist who spent most of his career in Asia at times of momentous events, such as the Pacific War.
[1] Guillain was considered by his colleagues and many readers as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Western journalists in and on Asia, especially Japan and China, over the second half of the 20th century.
Since 1977, a Robert Guillain Reporters au Japon (Robert Guillain Reporters in Japan) Prize is awarded every year to selected journalists by the Association de Presse France-Japon (France-Japan Press Association).
After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, he could not return to France until the end of World War II.
[3] His book I Saw Tokyo Burning: An Eyewitness Narrative from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima (originally published in 1947 in French as The Japanese people and the war - a witness account - 1939-1946), recounts his experience in Japan before, during and immediately after the Pacific War, including how war was perceived by the Japanese population, and how the Japanese Government and Military acted and communicated to try to guide national and international perceptions, and what were the initial impact of the Gyokuon-hōsō, in which the Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan in August 1945.