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Paper short abstract

This presentation focuses on the factors that led the Japanese Navy to massacre 100,000 civilians in Manila in February 1945. Using surviving documents of the Imperial Army and Navy, I show that the tragedy in Manila was partially a byproduct of specific battle tactics.

Paper long abstract

While the Rape of Nanjing is well-studied as one of the worst atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War, there is relatively scant reserach on the rampage of Imperial Navy troops in Manila (February 1945), one of the biggest massacres in the Pacific War in which 100,000 Filipino civilians were killed by Japanese marines, often after gruesome torture. The existing studies on the massacre usually focus on the subsequent trial of General Yamashita Tomoyuki, Japanese commander in chief of the Philippines, and the doctrine of command responsibility that developed as a result. Other studies deal with the experience of the victims. In this presentation, however, I would like to shift the focus back to the still-obscure decisions that led to the massacre. Using surviving documents of the Imperial Army and Navy, and some new studies, I will show that the tragedy in Manila, unplanned in advance, was at least partly a result of peculiar battle tactics adopted during the fight on Manila.

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Paper short abstract

This paper sheds light on the cultural activities of Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union after World War II. The prisoners had the opportunity to engage in activities such as singing, drawing, and acting, which were also used as propaganda tools to spread communist ideologies.

Paper long abstract

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army surrendered to the Allied Powers. For thousands of soldiers, this meant the end of a long war and the return home. But some unfortunate individuals remained prisoners of the Soviet Union. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 800,000 former Japanese soldiers were taken to Siberia as captives to undertake forced labour and re-build the country. Around 63,000 died in Soviet captivity, which corresponds to a mortality rate of 10%. Soviet camp documents show that most of the detainees were released until late 1949, but the last soldiers did not return to Japan until 1956. Today, more than 2000 documents from Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union have been written and published over a period of 70 years. The written testimonies show clearly how cultural activities, such as singing in choirs, sports, drawing, and theater were important for captives: It helped to ensure that the inmates did not lose hope, and in many cases, it was also a welcomed distraction from the forced labor work.

Although the cultural activities were partly initiated by the detainees themselves, Soviet authorities also planned some as “cultural education measures” to indoctrinate the Japanese. These measures included critical examinations of the emperor system of Japan through discussion groups to promote “pro-democracy” and “anti-imperial” views. One example of such thoughts is recorded in a Soviet song book for Japanese prisoners, smuggled out by a former soldier, Nīzaki Shōki, after his release. A talented accordion player, Nīzaki was given a songbook by Soviet lager personnel during his imprisonment. Upon his release, he hid the book inside an accordion fold and brought it back to Japan. It includes 71 propaganda songs, as well as illustrations inspired by Soviet communist motives.

Using examples such as the afore-mentioned book, I would like to provide an overview of the cultural activities the Japanese prisoners engaged in and assess their significance as distractions from camp life but also as effective tools of Soviet propaganda.

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Paper short abstract

This presentation examines the religious nature of the Tower of Himeyuri. By focusing on how Okinawan Christians sought to redefine the nature of the monument, this presentation aims to clarify the complicated background of the way Okinawans commemorated the war dead after the defeat.

Paper long abstract

This presentation examines the religious nature of the Tower of Himeyuri. The Tower of Himeyuri is the historical monument which commemorates the Himeyuri Student Corps, who were female Okinawan students working as assistant nurses on the battlefields of Okinawa during the Asia-Pacific War. Because of the number of casualties and their uniqueness as female students on the battlefields, the Himeyuri Student Corps gradually gained status and popularity as the ultimate symbol of the tragedy of the Battle of Okinawa in postwar Japan.

Those who initially wrote about the Battle of Okinawa in the late 1940s were Japanese soldiers from outside of Okinawa, and the Himeyuri Student Corps were described as patriotic martyrs who willingly sacrificed their lives for the nation. In 1948, however, a Christian Okinawan author objected to such portrayal of the Himeyuri Student Corps. From the later 1940s to the early 1950s, the narratives about the Battle of Okinawa entered a new stage, in which Okinawans began narrating their own views and experiences themselves. What characterized this new stage was its relationship to the construction, on the site of the Tower of Himeyuri, of a charnel chapel with a Christian cross. Consequently, the Tower of Himeyuri gradually became a site of struggle between the competing religious and political narratives of Okinawan Christians, the U.S. occupying forces, and the bereaved family of the Himeyuri Student Corps.

This presentation focuses primarily on the intersection of war memories and postwar realities by examining three Okinawans - Yonashiro Isamu, Hiyane Antei, and Ishino Keiichiro - all of whom served a crucial role in disseminating the image of the Tower of Himeyuri as a Christian monument. In doing so, this presentation ultimately aims to illustrate the complex nature of Okinawan writers' portrayal of the Battle of Okinawa, at the intersection of war memories and postwar realities.

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Paper short abstract

This paper introduces the debate on the new Japanese history curriculum to be implemented in 2022. Using concepts of East Asia and Empire found in the curriculum plans and textbook drafting reports, problems arising from these conceptions in regard to the examination environment are discussed.

Paper long abstract

Due to constant criticism of history educators towards the Japanese history curriculum in general and its treatment of colonial legacies in particular, history classes in Japan are in the process of being revamped. From 2022, the divide in World History and Japanese History will be partly overcome by the introduction of a Integrated History (歷史總合) class, that will be accompanied by investigative classes (探究), which then however still is split into World- and Japanese History. These investigative classes are designed to bring students closer to source work and critical historical thinking. Thus, finally following trends long established in Europe, the overhaul of history curricula responds to the aim of making instruction more student-centered and allow for more interpretations. This then becomes a challenge for the university entrance examinations system in Japan which itself has received updates from 2021, and the myriad of cram schools preparing for them. Whilst curriculum plans are already approved by the authorities, history educators are still debating the upcoming changes, for which they are in the process of drafting history textbooks and material collections. What remains unchanged is that these still have to undergo the MEXT screening process before being approved for class.

Next to introducing the ongoing debates about the overall new framework, this paper analyses concepts of East Asia and Empire as found in the curriculum plans for the news history classes in Japan and list problems arising from them when it comes to multiple interpretations contesting multiple choice exams.