Short Abstract

An exploration of the so called “Yasukuni problem” from a transcultural perspective, through examining Yasukuni in the eyes of British journalism, by ‘Yasukuni (-Type)’ Shrines in China and Taiwan, and through similar “provocations” in the case of Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Long Abstract

The case of controversial pilgrimages to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese politicians, as well as the numerous resulting implications, is a well-established topic of scholarship in Japanese Studies. However, beyond the realm of diplomacy, little attention has been given throughout the years as to the transcultural understanding of what Yasukuni is beyond the confines of Japan, as a source of nationalist projection, reconciliation, appropriation, syncretism, and comparison.

With the goal of expending this discourse, this panel presents three studies investigating the transculturation of Yasukuni as a phenomenon in the UK, China, Taiwan, and Israel. First, an exploration of “Yasukuni Shrine in Britain’s Postwar Media: From a ‘British’ to a ‘Foreign’ Controversy”, a British journalistic reporting reading of Yasukuni is elaborated on, with emphasis on the history and transformation of the UK’s evolving war memory through the discussion of a distant controversy involving WWII war memory. Second, “‘Yasukuni (-Type)’ Shrines in China” are discussed. Built during Japanese Imperial rule in Mainland China and in Taiwan, these shrines, originally designed as Yasukuni tributary shrines, represent a case of Chinese and Taiwanese appropriation, syncretism, and reconciliation corresponding with the idea of Yasukuni both conceptually and as physical location. Third, in “What can Yasukuni and other similar controversies teach us about the essence of Populism: a comparison of political spectacles”, this panel will explore what can be learned about the essence of populism by comparing the Yasukuni controversy to similar political behavior and logic in the case of Israeli politicians making “provocative” pilgrimages to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.