In this presentation, I argue that I argue that in the case of Japan - because of different historical experiences - building coherent historical narration is difficult and results in backlashes, as well as wars over history.

1. The paradox of the Japanese politics of memory
• Marcin Wrobel
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
International Relations course
The University of Tokyo
2019年1月13日

2. Plan of the presentation
1. The politics of memory
2. Available narrative strategies
3. Main argument
4. Case of Japanese politics of memory:
Yasukuni shrine and comfort women statue
5. Alternative?

3. The politics of memory
•Definition: praxis of the actors of memory (mainly states):
making narration about the past through media of memory
(speeches, textbooks, museums, monuments etc.)
•Politics of memory is integral part of strategic concern of
modern nation-state
•Just like countries in the past were fighting for a territory or
economic benefits, today another precious value is moral
capital such as reputation

4. Politics of memory: three narrative types
Heroic Victimhood War guilt
Positive aspects
about members
of a nation
Innocent victim
of evil
Accepting the
guilt
Political right Political left

5. Argument
•Because of different attitude to historical experiences, building
coherent narrative of the politics of memory is difficult and
results in wars over history
•Making politics of memory by politicians brings more harm
than good
•Politics of memory in Japan is inevitably contradictory,
therefore rather than balancing between different narratives, it
is better to leave it to other actors

6. Case of Japan
Hero Innocent
Victim
War guilt
Story of the
Chiune Sugihara
(杉原 千畝)
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
Civilian losses
during the
Battle of
Okinawa
Nanjing
massacre
Comfort
Women issue
Political right Political left

7. Visit or not to visit: Yasukuni shrine 靖国神社
• Prime ministerial visits since 1980s spark controversy
• Every visit results in diplomatic protest from South
Korea and China
• Right wing organizations and politicians are
encouraging visits

8. Case of Yasukuni
Hero Victim War guilt
Dead soldiers
fought against
western
imperialism,
therefore we
should honor
their sacrifice
Dead soldiers
lost their life in
various ways
they were
victims of war
High rank war
criminals are
enshrined
therefore visit is
unacceptable
Political right Political left/occupied country

10. Abe visit: 2013/12/26
• Beside visiting Yasukuni shrine, Chinreisha 鎮霊社
shrine was also visited, which is a shrine dedicated to
all war dead (including non-Japanese foreigners)
• Such gesture wasn’t recorded at all by foreign media
and the whole event resulted in diplomatic scandal

11. Result
•Balancing strategy i.e. visiting Chinreisha 鎮霊社 besides
Yasukuni or offering flowers instead of official visit is not
satisfactory to all sides involved
•Visit to Yasukuni is damaging Japanese reputation
•Attend the Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead omitting
Yasukuni shrine visit seems to be plausible solution

13. Comfort women statue 慰安妇少女铜像
• Appeared in Seoul, San Francisco, Tainan, Shanghai and
Manila after 2011
• Statues were criticized from Japan for being one-sided
• Strong criticism of Japanese attitude from victims

14. Case of comfort women statue
Weak victimhood Strong victimhood
Comfort women were
victims, but we can discuss
- The actual numbers
- Degree of enslavement
- Third Party involvement
- It happened elsewhere
Comfort women were
victims as a result of war
conflict. Suffering is more
important than historical
correctness
Political right Political left/occupied country

16. Result
• Although Japanese government strongly emphasized
the compassion with the victims and asked for
consideration of used historical data the only message
understood by the world was historical revisionism
• Criticizing comfort women statue is damaging
Japanese reputation

17. Paradox: Every try to build coherent moral
narration by the government may be contradicted
with the fact that the other narrations are omitted
War guilt narration is useful
in a foreign policy, yet results
in domestic backlash
Hero-victim narration is
extremely effective in
domestically, yet causes
mistrust overseas

18. Alternative
Japanese
politics of
memory
Historians
NGOs
Local gov.
Universities
Centralgovernment