Day Three - 062206 - Yasukuni Jinja

{Holy crap. Japan just scored against Brazil in something like the 34th minute. Amazing. }

Okay, so today I went to Ichigaya-eki to attend a talk, but had some time to kill, so I went to Yasukuni Jinja (http://www.yasukuni.or.jp/) to the Yushukan (the first picture on the left shows a big phallus, uh, I mean gun, that was used during the war). The last time I was able to go there, I took so long reading the displays that I wasn't able to go to the store to look at the books available for purchase. I really wanted to see if they had a book that had the actual wording from the displays available, since the historical perspective on display is, how shall I say it, contentious. I was able to get the museum guide and I plan to go over it carefully later.

I had commented a bit on the Yushukan here (http://www.buddhahead.org/writing/oped_110905.htm) but thought it would be good to add some additional pictures to show what some of the displays say.

{Ronaldo of Brazil just scored an amazing header against Japan in the 46th minute, so Japan must still score at least two more goals to proceed to the next round}

Okay, so the first exhibit picture posted shows the historical perspective on the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was signed between Japan and China at the end of the Sino-Japanese War. In it the English translation states "With the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Korea achieved true independence which Japan had long hoped for." This is a very controversial statement. While the treaty did a great deal to limit Chinese influence in Korea, the wording does little to talk about the increasing Japanese colonial presence in Korea. Also, there is no mention of Japan's colonial control over Taiwan (Formosa) that was accomplished with this treaty.

As another example, here is the English wording (a bit blurry) from the display on the Rape of Nanking. In it, it refers to the "Nanking Incident" under the following terms: "... [General] Watsui told them [the military under his command] that they were to observe military rules to the letter and that anyone committing illegal acts would be severely punished." The display states that the Commander-in-Chief of Nanking was told to surrender, but refused and after being defeated, that "inside the city, residents were once again able to live their lives in peace."

Quite a far cry from certain other depictions of the Rape of Nanking, namely those of John Rabe, a German Nazi Party member who reported widely on the atrocities committed in the city. And of course, there is Iris Chang's controversial work on the subject as well. To suggest that the occupation of Nanking signaled a return to peace, is a rather cruel statement indeed.

{Brazil just scored again against Japan in the 53rd minute. Nothing short of a miracle can turn this game around.}

There are other aspects of the exhibit that are contentious, though I must add, that some aspects are rather true in the sense that Japan, in the context of the colonialism being practiced by other European countries at the time definitely felt threatened and thought that they had few alternatives but to compete as a colonial presence. It is hard to look at Japanese colonialism without placing it in the context of the broader international situation of the time. Of course this is no excuse, but an important contextualization.

{Brazil just scored another goal in the 59th minute. It is beyond over at this point.}

All told, I would suggest that folks check it out for themselves and make their own opinions. But people should not use it to suggest that in the American context that historians are superior to such blatant historical one-sidedness. As shown by the Enola Gay exhibit, historians in the U.S. are far from superior in this respect, even regarding a war that the U.S. won! But I would have to say that this is bad history and does little to promote anything like historical objectivity or complexity and should be discussed and critiqued in broad academic debate.