Conflicting historical perspectives on Japanese colonial and military actions in the first half of the twentieth century remain unresolved between Japan and its neighboring countries. Disputes over how Japan articulates its past deeds have erupted at multiple points over the past several decades. Little discussed, however, is the fact that contesting or negotiating war memories often involves translation in bilateral and international settings. Translation is indeed an integral part of international politics that can contribute to enhancing and legitimizing a given party’s position. Translation is also important for a state to communicate discussion in the international arena to its domestic audience. Drawing on the functionalist approach and the notion of translation as rewriting developed within Translation Studies, this article illustrates how translation can be used to circumvent complications of memory politics through four examples in which the Japanese government used translation strategically in addressing contested war memories.