While the UK has heralded the end of COVID restrictions, I struggle to remember what life was like before the pandemic in a Japan that shows little sign of re-opening and returning to "normal". Dwelling on the past is never a particularly healthy way of living; on the other hand, forgetting it entirely risks repeating the same mistakes. Today, I thought I'd take a serious turn and talk a little bit about Japan's complex relationship with history, as a country in the unique position of being both victimiser and victim in WWII.
In order not to get too abstract I'm going to introduce a local building
damaged in WWII which was officially scheduled to be demolished but after a campaign by local citizens became a designated cultural property
(文化財=
bunkazai) in 1995, opening as a fully-fledged
museum in 2021 after expensive repair work. Located in a
Higashiyamato South Park, the building is officially titled the Electric
Substation of the old Hitachi Aircraft Co. Ltd Tachikawa Factory
(旧日立航空機株式会社立川工場変電所). Built in 1938, it transformed and supplied
electricity to the nearby Hitachi aircraft plant but became a target for
US air raids towards the end of the war. As the picture shows, the
building is covered in bullet marks and damage caused by the shrapnel.
When I visited, I was lucky to meet Shigeya Narazaki, one of the official guides and also a certified English interpreter. He told me how he had visited the US National Archives to get copies of the some of the "damage assessment" pictures taken by the US Military (apparently such information is generally not publicly available in Japan). He described the three separate days of attacks: bombing and strafing by over 50 Navy Grumman F6F Hellcats, Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, and GM TBM Avengers on February 17; strafing by P51 Mustangs on April 19th; and bombing by B29 bombers on April 24th (one of the 500 pound bombs is pictured above). Among the 111 casualties were mobilised student workers (学徒勤労動員=gakuto kinrōdōin), including girls from the university I currently work at.
 |
|
The clear message, as in many similarly preserved WWII buildings around Japan,
is not to forget the horrors of war and to strive for world peace. The most famous of these building is probably the Hiroshima Peace Memorial or
Atomic Bomb Dome (原爆ドーム）which was kept as a memorial to those who died in the atomic bombing (the bomb exploded directly above the dome). While the Dome was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1996, it was not without controversy: the US abstained, expressing concern that the context behind the bombing would be lost, while China argued that it would take attention away from Japan's victims. Certainly, anyone who has seen the Dome cannot but be moved by the physical evidence before their eyes - the absolute horror of a city of civilians being nuked; but on the other hand, it can generate a sense of victim consciousness that leads to a collective amnesia as to the reasons why they became victims. In sum, if the purpose of such "relics" is truly to prevent a recurrence of war, just showing
WHAT happened is not enough; it is also necessary to provide explanations, from multiple perspectives, as to
WHY it happened and
WHO was responsible. What do you think about preserving historical monuments for future generations? How is the history of war handled in your own country? Let us know in the
COMMENTS below.
7 comments:
Thanks for reading this month's post. The subject is a little more difficult this time round but with the recent tearing down of statues around the world the question of what kind of physical history should be kept is a topical one. Historical relics needn't be controversial though - the ruins of an elementary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, damaged in a fire sparked by the 2011 tsunami, are set to open to the public in April as a reminder of the devastation caused by the earthquake of that year - and a lesson for future generations. Any examples from your country or thoughts on the blog?
Thanks for the post Chris. It's certainly one to contemplate and consider. My most frequent interactions with the structures of war, are the pillboxes dotted along the Suffolk coast. Not there as purposeful public structures for remembering the war, but stark reminders all the same.
Thanks for the comment Rich. Compared to the flood of comments last time on tempura, the silence has been deafening this time! But given what is happening in Ukraine at the moment the topic is undoubtedly a tough one (little did I know that a post about war and memory would be followed by real war in Europe). The pillboxes along the Suffolk Coast are a great example of retaining physical reminders of the past to inform present generations. Any more examples out there?
Interesting post. I visited the substation myself in January and enjoyed the tour by Narazaki-san. The building is exceptional not only for being an extremely rare example in Tokyo of surviving WWII damage but an example of citizens actually managing to thwart government plans to demolish and erase the past. Your point about the raison d'être of such monuments is well taken but it seems impractical; Japan cannot even muster the political will to build a "secular" WWII memorial as demanded by those who are not comfortable with Yasukuni Shrine.
Thanks very much for your feedback, Timothy. You're right to highlight the fact that local citizens were instrumental in saving the building - donations towards this goal exceeded 13 million yen! I think this illustrates the fact that Japan has a very strong and active anti-war grassroots movement that attaches great importance to Article 9 of the constitution ("the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation"). Yasukuni Shrine (where millions of the souls of those who lost their lives serving Japan in war, including war criminals, are enshrined) is indeed controversial (future blog post?). I would point out though that the National Memorial Service for the War Dead is a secular service held every August 15th at the Budokan. There is also Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, a stones throw from Yasukuni, containing the bodies of unidentified war dead. There have been proposals to expand this so that it might honor all war dead - like Arlington National Cemetery in the US - but conservative politicians have stood in the what seems like a promising idea.
In 1999 , Tokyo Metropolitan Government propose a plan to build Peace Memorial Museum ,including exhibitions about infliction of injury upon Asian people by Japanese forces.
Not a few members of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly said no to these kind of exhibition, at last the budge was passed, but the plan is pending for 20 years. Former Governor Ishihara Shintaro and the incumbent Governor Koike Mariko ,both don't like to study history of invasion of
Japan, so we can't expect the museum ,I'm sorry! All Japanese are not amnesia, I believe.
Your comments are very much appreciated Kohaku - it’s important to let Japanese voices be heard on this issue in order to highlight the fact that there are many many Japanese who support a more open and reflective history. Unfortunately, as you point out, there are not a few conservative politicians who push for a more revisionist form of history. The coverage of the so-called “comfort women” issue is a case in point - the reduction in coverage of this topic in school textbooks in recent years suggests the revisionists are winning this battle.
Post a Comment