History Problem : the politics of war commemoration in East Asia / Hiro Saito.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saito, Hiro, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 279 pages)

Other Title:

History Problem

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2018.

Summary:

Seventy years have passed since the end of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains embroiled in controversy with its neighbors over the war's commemoration. Among the many points of contention between Japan, China, and South Korea are interpretations of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and compensation for foreign victims of Japanese aggression, prime ministerial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and the war's portrayal in textbooks. Collectively, these controversies have come to be called the history problem. But why has the problem become so intractable? Can it ever be resolved, and if so, how? To answer these questions author Hiro Saito mobilizes the sociology of collective memory and social movements, political theories of apology and reconciliation, psychological research on intergroup conflict, and philosophical reflections on memory and history.

Contents:

Cross-national fragmentation, 1945-1964

The growth of transnational interactions, 1965-1988

Apologies and denunciations, 1989-1996

The coexistence of nationalism and cosmopolitanism, 1997-2015

The legacy of the Tokyo trial

The role of historians in the history problem.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.