War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945-2005 (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

Japan has long wrestled with the memories and legacies of World War II. In the aftermath of defeat, war memory developed as an integral part of particular and divergent approaches to postwar democracy. In the last six decades, the demands placed upon postwar democracy have shifted considerably--from social protest through high economic growth to Japan's relations in Asia--and the meanings of the war shifted with them. This book unravels the political dynamics that governed the place of war memory in public life. Far from reconciling with the victims of Japanese imperialism, successive conservative administrations have left the memory of the war to representatives of special interests and citizen movements, all of whom used war memory to further their own interests. Franziska Seraphim traces the activism of five prominent civic organizations to examine the ways in which diverse organized memories have secured legitimate niches within the public sphere. The history of these domestic conflicts--over the commemoration of the war dead, the manipulation of national symbols, the teaching of history, or the articulation of relations with China and Korea--is crucial to the current discourse about apology and reconciliation in East Asia, and provides essential context for the global debate on war memory War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 Acknowledgments Contents Figures and Tables War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 Introduction Japan’s History of War Memory: A Framework The First Postwar Decade, 1945–1955 Interest-based Struggles over Memory, 1950s–1970s Global Memory Cultures since the 1980s Part I: War Memory and Democratic Rebuilding 1. The Politics of Essentialism: The Association of Shinto Shrines Discarding the State, Embracing the Emperor Shrines for the People Memory and Shinto Restorationism 2. Fashioning National Heroes: The Japan Association of War-bereaved Families Creating a Community of War-bereaved Families Gendered Memory: War Widows Social Welfare Measures Bereavement and Nationalism 3. Forging Political Subjectivity: The Japan Teachers’ Union Riding the Wave of Democratic Change The Struggle against State Coercion Never Send Our Students to the Battlefield Again! 4. People’s Diplomacy: The Japan-China Friendship Association Responsibility Evaded: Reparations and an “Incomplete” Peace Grassroots Diplomacy Remembering Japanese Aggression 5. Commemorative Pacifism: The Japan Memorial Society for the Students Killed in the War The Dead and the Living Packaging the Wadatsumi Voices The Politics of Pacifism Part II: The Political Dynamics of War Memory 6. War Memory and Generational Change: Refashioning Special Interests The Changing Temporality of the Past The Emergence of “Generational Memory” The Anti–Security Treaty Crisis Managing the Transmission of Memory 7. Memory between Special and National Interests: Japan and Asia Framing National Memories of War Postwar “Settlements” with South Korea The Specter of Japanese Militarism The Debate over Okinawa’s Reversion to Japan Individual Action as Counter-memory 8. Patronizing the War Dead: The Contested Rites of Official Memory Site of Memory, Symbol of Nation The “Yasukuni Question” The Contested Memory of the War Dead Organizing Popular Nationalism Part III: Changing Geographies of Memory 9. The Politics of Apology Comparing Postwar Responsibilities The Apology Conundrum Toward Reconciliation 10. Cultures of Commemoration at Century’s End Confronting Silences: The Devil’s Gluttony Galvanizing Popular Audiences: Last Friends The Izokukai’s Last Hurrah? The Shōwa-kan The Discourse about War Responsibility at the Turn of the Millennium Conclusion Reference Matter Notes Bibliography Index Harvard East Asian Monographs This text unravels the political dynamics in that governed the place of war memory in public life. Far from reconciling with the victims of imperialism, conservative administrations have left the memory of the war to representatives of citizen movements, all of whom used war memory to further their own interests Franziska Seraphim. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [357]-386) And Index.