Hiro Saito
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824856748
- eISBN:
- 9780824873714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824856748.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The history problem fully developed between 1989 and 1996. Japanese and South Korean NGOs expanded the transnational network to help former “comfort women” demand apologies and compensation from the ...
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The history problem fully developed between 1989 and 1996. Japanese and South Korean NGOs expanded the transnational network to help former “comfort women” demand apologies and compensation from the Japanese government, while Japanese NGOs helped Chinese victims file compensation lawsuits against the Japanese government and corporations. At this historical juncture, the LDP was ousted from power. This allowed non-LDP prime ministers to offer apologies for Japan’s past wrongdoings more decisively than did their LDP predecessors. Nevertheless, the LDP remained the largest political party, forcing non-LDP prime ministers to compromise cosmopolitanism with nationalism in Japan’s official commemoration. This compromise intensified the history problem by galvanizing Japanese nationalists as well as the governments and citizens in South Korea and China. The former criticized the Japanese government for failing to honor Japanese war dead enough, whereas the latter criticized it for failing to commemorate South Korean and Chinese victims enough.Less
The history problem fully developed between 1989 and 1996. Japanese and South Korean NGOs expanded the transnational network to help former “comfort women” demand apologies and compensation from the Japanese government, while Japanese NGOs helped Chinese victims file compensation lawsuits against the Japanese government and corporations. At this historical juncture, the LDP was ousted from power. This allowed non-LDP prime ministers to offer apologies for Japan’s past wrongdoings more decisively than did their LDP predecessors. Nevertheless, the LDP remained the largest political party, forcing non-LDP prime ministers to compromise cosmopolitanism with nationalism in Japan’s official commemoration. This compromise intensified the history problem by galvanizing Japanese nationalists as well as the governments and citizens in South Korea and China. The former criticized the Japanese government for failing to honor Japanese war dead enough, whereas the latter criticized it for failing to commemorate South Korean and Chinese victims enough.
Peter Hays Gries
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520232976
- eISBN:
- 9780520931947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520232976.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter discusses Chinese nationalism and China's apology diplomacy. It considers Sino-Japanese relations, and suggests that many contemporary Chinese confront their perceived humiliation at ...
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This chapter discusses Chinese nationalism and China's apology diplomacy. It considers Sino-Japanese relations, and suggests that many contemporary Chinese confront their perceived humiliation at Japanese hands alternately with self-criticism and with anger at their rival. The chapter highlights Western scholars' criticism on the elites' use of nationalism to bolster their legitimacy and their dismissal of emotions as irrelevant to nationalist politics.Less
This chapter discusses Chinese nationalism and China's apology diplomacy. It considers Sino-Japanese relations, and suggests that many contemporary Chinese confront their perceived humiliation at Japanese hands alternately with self-criticism and with anger at their rival. The chapter highlights Western scholars' criticism on the elites' use of nationalism to bolster their legitimacy and their dismissal of emotions as irrelevant to nationalist politics.
