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(1)1. Introduction Yutaka SASAKI. Recent developments in East Asia are troubling. Security situations surrounding Japan have changed a great deal during the post-Cold War period. This has led to a redefinition of the U.S.-Japan security alliance. On the one hand, a changing role has become possible for Japan in fostering peace and security in this region, embodied in the nation’s new security laws, which enable Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense. On the other hand, friction over “historical memor y and its reconciliation” centering on what actually happened during World War II between Japan and China, and Japan and Korea, often surfaces, resulting in extremely strained relations between these countries. In addition, territorial disputes between Japan and these countries could flare up, possibly triggering military confrontations. In these potentially explosive times, it is of vital importance for us to ask how Japan will be able to contribute to the peace and security of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as of the entire world, while resolving frictions over historical matters that continue to appear in the form of unresolved, thorny diplomatic issues with China and South Korea, both vital partners of Japan for realizing peace and security in this volatile region. All three articles in this special issue of Cosmica deal with this difficult yet vital issue of “historical memory and its reconciliation” in East Asia. The contributors are Dr. Kurt Piehler, the director of the Institute of World War II and the Human Experience and an associate professor of the Department of History at Florida State University, Dr. Annika A. Culver, Faculty Associate at the Institute of World War II and the Human Experience and also an associate professor of the Department of History at Florida State University, and Dr. Hideki Kan, the leading authority on U.S.-Japan relations in the Cold War era and a visiting professor at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. While some parts of the articles derive from the papers that each of them read at the July 19, 2017 symposium commemorating the 70th Anniversar y of the establishment of the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, the present articles that have been published in this issue represent revised and expanded versions of the papers read at the symposium. The first paper, Kurt Piehler’s “The Great Divergence: Trans-Pacific Memories of the Second World War,” discusses the ways in which Americans remember major wars their country fought, including the Pacific War. According to Dr. Piehler, in the early 1990s memories of the Pacific War were still very strong among Americans, but those recollections are now fading. President Barack.

(2) 2. Introduction. Obama visited the USS Arizona Memorial but did not take part in the ceremonies marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Few Americans are alive who can recollect the events of December 7, 1941 that brought Japan and the United States to war. When Americans have remembered the Pacific War in more recent times, Dr. Piehler explains, they have been more willing than before to modify their wartime memories by emphasizing respect for soldiers of both sides of the war. He also notes that in sharp contrast to European memories of the Second World War, memories of the Second World War continue to divide nations and peoples in Asia. In asserting this, Dr. Piehler emphasizes two points: first, that divergent memories have negative impacts on diplomatic relations between Japan and its former adversaries, especially China, and second, that Japan should seek to promote reconciliation between nations and peoples of its neighboring countries by putting disputed historical issues behind. To do so, he argues, will contribute to the peace and stability of East Asia. In the final analysis, Dr. Piehler stresses that war is too costly. The second ar ticle, “Reflections on Historical Objectivity and Intellectual Engagement: Transnational scholarship on Mutual Sino-Japanese Historical Issues during Imperial Japan’s Wartime Occupation of China” by Dr. Annika Culver, examines contemporary developments related to historical issues in the field of Japanese history in the U.S., as well as ongoing work in transnational scholarship on historical issues concerning imperial Japan’s wartime occupation of China, especially Manchuria, or “Manchukuo” as it was known under Japanese puppet rule. Dr. Culver closely traces and dissects the ways in which historical issues such as “the comfort women issue” have been deeply and publicly politicized by the use of social media and other online means of communication, both by conservative and left-wing circles. Viewed from this perspective, Dr. Culver argues that professional historians and intellectuals are no longer able to claim the position of being the sole possessors of “objectivity” regarding such controversial historical issues. Yet Dr. Culver notes that on the brighter side, ongoing scholarship on cultural production in China during the period of Japanese occupation has enabled historians to have a multiplicity of interpretations and perspectives. Indeed, she entrusts her hope to this newer trend of transnational research and collaboration in investigating problematic historical issues. The third and final essay, entitled “Challengers to the Postwar Regime’ and the Histor y Problem’ in the Asia Pacific” by Dr. Hideki Kan, focuses on the rise of “a small, vocal right-wing minority” symbolized by the ascendance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe within the Liberal Democratic Party and its negative consequences on the relationships not only between Japan’s neighboring countries, including China and Korea, but also with the United States, Japan’s major protector in the post-World War II period. According to Dr. Kan, the Postwar Regime’ consists of three pillars, i.e., popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and pacifism symbolized by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. It has been boldly challenged, however, by the.

(3) Introduction. 3. anti-postwar regime forces whose leader is Prime Minister Abe. Kan argues that the agenda that Prime Minister Abe has been pushing for, including the remilitarization of Japan against the background of rising nationalist sentiments and “historical revisionism” that denies the “comfort women issue,” has exerted a negative impact on Japan’s diplomatic relations; such an agenda has not only antagonized China and Korea, but has also provoked harsh criticisms on the part of high-ranking officials in the U.S. government. Based on these observations, Dr. Kan suggests that it is important for Japan to preserve the Postwar Regime’ to maintain friendly and viable relations with its neighboring countries as well as with the United States.. It is hoped that these three essays will provide the reader with much food for thought when reflecting on the path that Japan has followed for the past 70 years or so, and on the vital stakes involved in “historical memory and its reconciliation” for Japan’s diplomatic relations in this new century..

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