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  • The History Problem: The Politics of War Commemoration in East Asia by Hiro Saito
  • Takashi Yoshida (bio)
Hiro Saito. The History Problem: The Politics of War Commemoration in East Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2016. x, 279 pp. Hardcover $62.00, isbn 978-0-8248-5674-8.

This book examines whether Japan and its two neighboring countries, namely China and South Korea, can ever solve the history problem surrounding the commemoration of the Asia-Pacific War (1931–1945) that still haunts these three nations to the present day. The book consists of an introduction, a conclusion, and six chapters. Chapter 1, titled "Cross-National Fragmentation, 1945–1964," outlines historical backgrounds from 1945 to 1964. This chapter examines the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) (1946–1948), the so-called reverse course, or conservative shift in domestic and international politics starting from the late 1940s, the restoration of the pensions for the veterans and the bereaved families, the resurgence of nationalism in Japanese education, and Japan's relations with China and South Korea. Chapter 2, titled "The Growth of Transnational Interactions, 1965–1988," outlines Japan's diplomatic relations with China and South Korea, including Japan's normalization with South Korea in 1965 and China in 1972 and the growing tensions between Japan and the two countries, particularly after the 1982 textbook controversy. Chapter 3, titled "Apologies and Denunciations, 1989–1996," examines domestic politics and Japan's relations with China and South Korea after the end of the Cold War. While the awareness of Japanese wartime violence was more widely acknowledged by a number of actors in Japan, including the members of the ruling political party, nationalistic counter movements also occurred in Japan due to the series of apologies offered by the Japanese government officials. Chapter 4, titled "The Coexistence of Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism, 1997–2015," highlights the revisionist challenges by the conservative politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform (JSHTR) and their denials of Japan's war crimes and wrongdoings. During this period in [End Page 230] which nationalism escalated in the three nations, a number of joint historical research projects among the three countries were organized to underscore cosmopolitanism. Chapter 5, "The Legacy of the Tokyo Trial," examines shortcomings of the Tokyo Trial and urges the concerned individuals within the three nations to reassess the trial critically in order to resolve the history problem. Chapter 6, "The Role of Historians in the History Problem," emphasizes the importance of the role of historians in the three countries to avoid future war atrocities in East Asia. In his conclusion, Saito resolves that the history problem "can be resolved if the governments and citizens in Japan, South Korea, and China find a way to unleash the potential of the historians' debate to promote the cosmopolitan logic of commemoration" (p. 178).

Whether one concurs or disagrees with Saito's argument that the history problem can be solved if the three nations and their people embrace a cosmopolitan approach that mourns the victims of the war equitably regardless of nationality or ethnicity, this book provokes readers to consider why the historical disputes over Japanese war crimes lasted so long, who maintains responsibility for these lengthy disputes, and what could contribute to confronting a spiral of nationalism in East Asia that may disturb peace and stability in the region. In the eyes of Saito, nationalistic narratives of the war that exist not only in Japan but also in China and South Korea impede the three nations from promoting historical reconciliation as they all ignore war atrocities against the perceived other. Therefore, Saito sees the possibility of overcoming nationalism in transnational historical projects and critical historical analyses of the war that exist in all the three nations. Saito urges review of the IMTFE from a critical perspective, as it contained substantial problems. Saito argues that its judgment itself "was a nationalist commemoration that eliminated ambiguities of the past and legitimated the particular version of the past that favored the Allied Powers" (p. 137). For example, it neglected the war crimes committed by the Allied Powers such as the dropping of the atomic bombs...

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