April 4, 2014 Nationalism clouds WWII memories in Asia, says Stanford scholar
Stanford scholar Daniel Sneider says that historical memories about World War II in Japan, China and Korea still influence politics among these nations and fuel tensions over a past that could once again trigger conflict.
By Clifton B. Parker Stanford scholars studied the treatment of the war in the Pacific in the textbooks of Japan, China, Korea and the United States to examine how formal education shapes historical understanding. (Photo: AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
Unsettled World War II memories continue to stir up tension in Northeast Asia, but it is time to confront the deep wounds in places like Japan, China and Korea, says a Stanford expert.
Daniel Sneider, the associate director of research at Stanford's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, writes in a new book that while wartime narratives serve the needs of regimes in China, Korea and Japan, they have exacerbated recent territorial disputes almost to the point of armed conflict.
"The past in Northeast Asia is very much a part of the present," wrote Sneider in Confronting Memories of World War II: European and Asian Legacies, which was co-edited by Stanford's Gi-Wook Shin, director of the Shorenstein APARC, and Daniel Chirot from the University of Washington. "The existence of distinct historical memories is a central obstacle to the ability of Asian nations to finally reconcile their still profound tensions over the wartime past."
Whether Japanese atrocities in China, China's exaggerated account of its Communist fighters' role in World War II or the U.S. decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan, no nation is immune to recreating the past to further its own identity and purposes, Sneider said.
"Formal education is a powerful force in shaping our historical understandings," he said. Sneider and his colleagues examined the treatment of the wartime period in the Pacific in the textbooks and films of Japan, China, Korea and the United States. They also conducted interviews with elite opinion makers involved in the shaping of historical memory in those countries.
"We wanted to look at the textbooks that have the most impact and usage," he said.
The research was carried out under Stanford's project on Divided Memories and Reconciliation at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Begun in 2006 and led by Sneider and Shin, the project is a long-term study of historical memories during the wartime period in Asia. These research efforts, the Shorenstein APARC scholars said, are contributing to current discussions among leading scholars in Asia and America about how to find some healing on the issue.
Some Asian governments, Sneider said, have used the project's research in seeking "pathways of reconciliation." Japan
In Japan, most of the textbooks are factual and not overly nationalistic, Sneider said. While that is a plus, they are too often a "dry chronology" of events and dates, leaving few opportunities to engage and motivate students through critical-thinking exercises.
One misleading perception of Japan in the West, China and Korea is that Japan's most nationalistic textbooks are in widespread use, he said. But it's not true, according to Sneider. Heavy media coverage of a few provocative Japanese textbooks somewhat distorts reality. Those textbooks – produced by one Japanese publisher – are used in less than 1 percent of Japanese classrooms.
Still, the textbook controversy has contributed to the perception that Japan has not done enough to confront its culpability in World War II, whereas Germany has done so, he noted.
Sneider said the revisionist conservative narrative about the war in Japan gets the most attention, but it does not necessarily reflect Japan's prevailing war memory. A wide spectrum of opinions exists.
"If there is a dominant narrative in Japan," wrote Sneider, "it is the pacifist narrative." This viewpoint considers war as the enemy and leads to the conclusion that no one country – including Japan – can be held wholly responsible for WWII.
I feel like I still have an issue with this. The idea that war is horrible is pushed in Japan however the idea that Japan were the victims of the war is also pushed. The nonviolent aspect of the textbooks are great, but they disregard the colonial empire of Japan. The clinical nature of the textbooks could be the problem as they avoid any real understanding of the war crimes.