Contested geopolitical messages for tourists at the Okinawa Peace Park and memorials

Abstract

Now marketed as a tropical beach destination, Okinawa's identity is also forever linked with the horrors of war. Okinawa's tumultuous past encompasses the Ryukyu Islands, which had close economic ties to China until being annexed by mainland Japan, were invaded by the US in the Second World War, were occupied until 1972 and, more recently, have become the centre of heated debates over the continued presence of US military bases. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest of the Second World War and the inhabitants faced not only the American invasion but also the tactics of the Japanese army, who viewed the islands as expendable in order to slow invading forces from reaching mainland Japan. In the context of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 2015, and beyond, it is argued here that these conflicting geopolitical disputes present significant challenges in terms of the messages presented to educational dark tourists visiting the Okinawa Peace Park and Memorials. The Peace Park Story Tellers or kataribe who are the Second World War survivors, have the critical task of mediating the message to both domestic and international tourists, some of whom are not prepared to hear anti-Japan sentiment. Through an examination of the historical and geographic background, and an analysis of the tourist experience at the Peace Park and Memorials, this paper explores the complexity of educational dark tourism where competing messages collide.     

美日同盟的出现与冲绳问题的产生

近数年来,围绕着驻冲绳美军基地,特别是普天间基地问题,美国、日本中央政府、冲绳地方政府两国三方之间发生了尖锐的冲突和争执。冲绳的民众为支持地方政府的政策再次掀起要求美军基地撤离的大规模群众运动。战后以来冲绳人一直在抗争试图减少基地甚至是实现无基地化,60多年过去了,冲绳仍然生活在基地当中。那么,冲绳问题在战后之初到底是如何形成的呢?从美日同盟的角度来探讨这个问题,可以看出,美日同盟的出现导致了冲绳问题的产生。《旧金山对日和约》结束了日本被占领状态,同时《美日安全条约》的签订确定了美日安保体制的法律框架,对冲绳来说更为重要的是《旧金山对日和约》第三条也成为美国统治冲绳的法律依据。也就是说,《旧金山和约》和《美日安全条约》结束了美日之间的敌对关系,并开启了两国之间的同盟关系,与此同时,美日安保体制的确立也就意味着冲绳问题的出现。     

井上光晴的核文学创作

核文学是20世纪70年代原爆文学的发展过程中,逐渐衍变出来的原爆文学的新形态。考察井上光晴的核文学创作历程,可以看出从对于"人"的命运的思考,到日本社会的心理悲剧分析;从广岛、长崎的个案,到核能的存在所引发的人类社会的精神危机,建构起井上光晴核文学的核心。可以认为,这也是战后日本原爆文学发展的一个缩影。     

Okinawa: women, bases and US-Japan relations

The goal of this paper is to examine the process by which rapesand other acts of sexual violence lead to changes in internationalrelations. This paper focuses on the rape of an Okinawan schoolgirlin 1995 because it presents a mysterious puzzle: given the changinginternational structural and epistemic environment, why didthe US and Japanese governments fail to answer local calls formeasures to prevent future rapes and other crimes by soldiers,perhaps by reducing the size of US forces deployed in Okinawa?By looking into factors that affected the decision-making processwithin the US and Japanese governments, this paper tries toexplain why the issue of US bases in Okinawa evolved in theway it has since 1995.     

Wrapping up in something long: Intimidation and violence by right‐wing groups in postwar Japan

Political organizations enjoy considerable legal protection under Japan's postwar constitution, and right‐wing organizations acquired additional political protection during four decades of uninterrupted rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. These circumstances facilitated the development or re‐emergence of (1) complex links and overlapping memberships between right‐wing political groups, organized crime groups (yakuza), and professional corporate extortionists (sōkaiya); (2) tolerance and encouragement by state authorities of the use of violence by such groups as forms of private policing; and (3) the formation of bogus right‐wing groups to facilitate extortion, intimidation, and political corruption under cover of legal protections afforded to political organizations. This situation is reassessed in light of new legislation, current changes in the Japanese political situation and a recent influx of foreign workers.     

Disquieting growth: urban space in Kawashima Yūzō's film Suzaki Paradise Red Light

This article examines how Japanese postwar cinematic texts manifest and comment upon contemporary political and economic events, and considers the usefulness of cinema for a more complete historical understanding of the period. In particular, it argues for the significance of fūzoku eiga, or ‘films of customs and manners’ by analyzing a representative text of that genre, Kawashima Yūzō's 1956 film Suzaki Paradise Red Light. Although Kawashima's film has been treated as an apolitical melodrama, a close textual analysis reveals it to be a counter-narrative to the success story of postwar economic recovery and growth that the Japanese state sought to promote. Key to this analysis is an examination of the urban space of the Suzaki neighborhood in Tokyo, as depicted in the film. Kawashima's tour of Suzaki addresses the issues of the economic stagnation within the metropolis, uneven development, and the liminal space of muen, or ‘no ties,’ which offers a brief refuge from an increasingly disciplined everyday life.     

Contemporary art and unconditionality: ‘the genus of art’ in the art criticism of Chiba Shigeo

This article examines art criticism of the 1980s that sought to address the context and continuity of postwar Japanese avant-garde art. The emphasis is placed on the notion of ‘the genus of art [rui to shite no bijutsu]’, which the art critic Chiba Shigeo discussed in his Gendai bijutsu itsudatsushi (1986). Chiba argued for an autonomous current of postwar Japanese art separate from Western art history but the argument has been largely overshadowed by his ostensible nihonjinron. The term ‘the genus of art’, therefore, has not yet received an adequate critical treatment. The article rephrases this notion as a call for a more inclusive definition of art designed to challenge the conditions that regulate non-Western art. Rather than simply being a nationalist polemic against Western art history from a marginalized place, Japan, ‘the genus of art’ was intended to revitalize and redefine the aims of the avant-garde within the context of ‘contemporary art’. By fleshing out the textual details of ‘the genus of art’ and situating the notion within a larger discourse that interrogated the semiotic role of ‘Japan’ in a global exhibition context, the study repositions Chiba's writing as a potential argument for unconditional acceptance, or unconditionality, as one important ethical contribution of contemporary art.     

The forgotten success story: Japan and the methamphetamine problem

This paper examines Japan's policy towards methamphetamine (Japanese: hiropon). Opium has been used in Japan for medicinal purposes since 1722. However, it was strictly controlled. The result was that drug abuse was minuscule. This changed with the introduction of methamphetamine. During the Second World War hiropon was given by the military to fighter pilots and the signal corps in order to help them stay awake and alert. After 1945, the large military stockpiles of methamphetamine found their way onto the black market. With society in chaos, drug abuse spread rapidly and a hiropon epidemic emerged. The introduction of a comprehensive anti-drug package in the mid-1950s, including stricter laws, resulted in that abuse having been almost totally eradicated by 1957. Around 1970 a new wave of abuse (‘the second epidemic’) began. It peaked around 1985, after which abuse tampered off, albeit slowly. A temporary increase in the mid-1990s made Japanese authorities declare the emergence of ‘the third epidemic’ that is still said to be ongoing. Official statistics show, however, that Japan has not seen any such epidemic. In comparison with most other Western countries, methamphetamine abuse in Japan is modest.     

巫术的世界观:菲律宾阿拉安人的精神信仰和巫术治疗

本文探讨了菲律宾民都洛岛山区原住民阿拉安人的世界观、精神信仰和相应的巫术仪式。阿拉安人经常举行巫术仪式,向神灵求助,以便让病人得到善灵的救治,或让善灵祓除人们遭遇的灾祸。阿拉安人的世界观是善与恶二元对立的,它很好地解释了巫术治疗的原理,即通过巫术仪式来呼唤善灵、驱赶恶灵,从而达到治疗的目的。本文通过大量对于神灵信仰和仪式语言等细节的深描和分析,诠释了在巫术治疗领域,阿拉安人的观念层面与行为实践之间是如何互动的。     

Sacred Time and Conflict Initiation

This article examines the manner in which rituals and symbols associated with sacred time have influenced conflict initiation. Leaders will time their attacks with sacred dates in the religious calendar if the force multiplying effects of sacred time, motivation, and vulnerability, outweigh its force dividing effects, constraint, and outrage. This is most likely to occur under three conditions: When conflict occurs across religious divides, when the sacred day is unambiguous in significance and meaning, and when rituals connected to that day will undermine an opponents’ military effectiveness. I illustrate these effects with twentieth century examples, including the timing of insurgent attacks in Iraq and the launching of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. By exploring the pervasive effects of religious calendars on modern combat, I hope to redirect the focus of the study of religion and violence away from the narrow preoccupation with fundamentalism and terrorism and onto the much broader range of cases in which religion shapes secular conflict in multiple—and often unexpected—ways.     

Food safety and consumer trust in post-Fukushima Japan

Abstract

The contamination of food with radionuclides has posed serious problems to consumers, producers and policy makers in Japan since the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 2011. Many Japanese consumers were and still are worried about the safety of domestic food products. How did the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima affect consumer trust in food safety regulation, and how did the Japanese government try to (re)establish consumer trust in its food governance system? Drawing on empirical data from a consumer survey, expert interviews and documents issued by the Japanese government and public authorities, this paper argues that existing institutions had difficulty handling the situation and rebuilding consumer trust. I will argue that consumers in Japan lack trust in government institutions and the food industry and that the government's risk communication was not suitable for rebuilding trust. This specific situation saw the emergence of new actors from civil society, such as citizens’ radioactivity monitoring stations (CRMS). These actors took over some of the functions of public authorities by providing information and monitoring food. I argue that they have the potential to build trust by fostering the participation of lay people and encouraging a more democratic discourse on food safety. Nevertheless there are some limitations.     

抒写人性觉醒表现个体独立--试论作为启蒙文本的《饲育》和《拔芽击仔》

如果从大江在《奇妙的工作》等作品中初露端倪的战后再启蒙意识的角度出发进行考察,《饲育》和《拔芽击仔》这两部作品显示出清晰的启蒙意识,可以说是显见的启蒙文本。大江以自己的作品强调了在战后的时代状况和生存状态之下作为一个独立个体的主体性的重要,意在提醒人们,确立个人主体性问题,是日本人最需要迫切解决的问题。正是这种战后再启蒙意识,构成了《饲育》、《拔芽击仔》的主题,构筑了大江早期文学的重要特质之一。     

Kawabata's views of language and the postwar construction of a literary genealogy

Abstract

This paper shows the ways in which, in the immediate post-war period (1945–1951), Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) reflected on his earlier, pre-war literary career and re-envisioned his postwar literary trajectory by constructing a new genealogy of the modern novel in Japan, in relationship to the intricate issues of the literary styles of the modern novel, ‘national language’ (kokugo), and the literary tradition. By examining his Shin bunshō tokuhon (New Guide to Literary Language, 1950), which presents Kawabata's past and present views of literary language, I will argue that Kawabata's changing views of language and literary style must be understood in the context of contemporary debates over national language policy and language reform movements. I will show the manner by which Kawabata formulated his views of language in dialogue with his two rival writers: Yokomitsu Riichi (1898–1947) in the prewar period and Tanizaki Junichirō (1886–1965) in the postwar period. As we shall see, the death of his close literary colleague Yokomitsu in 1947 and Tanizaki's unflagging literary exploration during and following the war prompted Kawabata to position himself in a genealogy of modern Japanese literary writers as well as in relationship to the linguistic and literary tradition of Japan.     

Cultural and Spiritual Constructions of Mental Distress and Associated Coping Mechanisms of Tibetans in Exile: Implications for Western Interventions

The Tibet-TPO project in Dharamsala, North India aims to provideculturally sensitive psychosocial support to Tibetan refugees.In this study we have examined the cultural and spiritual constructionsof mental distress of Tibetan exiles from a secondary analysisof previously published data. Tibetans refugees' constructionsof mental distress were intimately linked to cultural, religiousand political factors. Family and religious support were regardedas key coping strategies, yet many new refugees lacked bothfamily support and detailed knowledge and understanding of TibetanBuddhism. Not all of those interviewed were positive about ‘westernapproaches’ to dealing with mental distress, but thoseusing the service seemed to do so in a pragmatic and integrativeway. We conclude that culturally sensitive psychosocial supportcan usefully ‘fill a gap’, especially for new refugeeswho lack both family support and access to, or understandingof, traditional religious coping mechanisms.     

Religious Intelligence

Sacred rituals and symbols can act as force multipliers that motivate and constrain the effectiveness of actors. Religious intelligence involves an assessment of how these rituals and symbols affect combat operations. The fourfold challenge faced by the religious intelligence analysts is to ascertain how prominent a role religion will play in a given conflict, what the relevant sacred phenomena are, how salient they are for the specific religious communities present, and how they will affect a given conflict. The case studies that form the core of this article highlight three issue areas open to religious intelligence collection and analysis, and exhibit variation in the ability of intelligence analysts to correctly assess those religious factors. Egyptian and Israeli decision making prior to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War illustrates how information about sacred time can influence war initiation. The diverging outcomes of two counterinsurgency operations at the same sacred site, “Operation Blue Star” (1984) and “Operation Black Thunder” (1988), demonstrate the utility of intelligence about the parameters of sacred space. A final case study explores the U.S. failure to grasp the importance of religious authority in the Iranian Revolution. I conclude by considering the actors best suited for gathering and processing religious intelligence. Religious intelligence requires interdisciplinary teams that combine expertise in religion, area studies, and military operations.     

论甘地宗教和谐思想的内涵

本文首次就甘地宗教和谐思想的内涵做了初步探讨,认为甘地宗教和谐思想有其丰富的理论论内涵,体现在宗教统一、宗教平等和宗教宽容三个方面;甘地宗教和谐思想的内涵具有重要的意义,它是甘地思想体系的精髓和灵魂,是印度宗教和谐思想的集大成者,是宗教多元主义园地中的一朵奇葩。     

从就业结构变化看战后德国社会的递变

战后德国较之于战前帝国时期，就业结构发生了快速变化，原来占社会主导地位的工人和业主人数明显下降，原先数量上微不足道的公务员和职员人数疾速上升，一举成为就业人口中的主力军。一方面，这使得德国从原来工业社会快速转向服务业社会；另一方面也使社会性质发生了根本转变，即由两元主导的阶级社会变成了多元主导的阶层社会，基于利益的阶级冲突退隐，源自认可的多元文化冲突开始出现。不仅此，由于两德和外来移民的缘故，战后德国社会的快速变化还呈现出一些其他西方国家不具备的特有方面。     

Interfaith dialogue in global perspective and the necessity of youth involvement

In today’s global landscape, the success of interfaith initiatives is ascertained when their intended aim is envisioned and clarified. This article claims that the truest aim of interfaith dialogue in global perspective is the mutual transformation of cultural and religious realities, maintaining that when this vision becomes the underpinning informing the context of dialogue then interfaith engagement is elevated to an authentic spiritual practice effective across religious borders, assuring its destination in the advancement of intercultural relations and culture in general. Today, interfaith dialogue ought to focus more on common responses to global issues rather than differences among traditions; unimpeded, it can then engage mutual transformation for the benefit of all, achieving also significant steps toward transforming stultifying paradigms of present interreligious discourse. Positive change forwarding harmonious coexistence is an ongoing process involving the work of many generations. Steadfast youth involvement in interfaith dialogue is deemed imperative for sustainable harmony and peace.     

Religious parties and democracy: A comparative assessment of Israel and Turkey

Discussions of the role of religious parties in democracies can be highly misleading when they take the parties' ideologies at face value and assign them to the binary categories of moderate vs radical. Only by a careful review of how religious parties use religious and secular symbols in defining their political stances can we evaluate their roles vis-à-vis liberal democracy. The competing political ideologies of the Mafdal and Shas Parties in Israel and the National Action Party, the Prosperity Party and the Justice and Development Party in Turkey are foci of this analysis. Two controversial concepts, ‘redemption’ in Israel and ‘secularism’ in Turkey, are used to question how these parties appropriate religious symbols in their policies towards secular public and institutions. The arguments draw on a set of interviews with the religious party leaderships and a content analysis of party ideologues' views. The findings suggest that parties that adopt the strategy of sacralization (that is, assigning religious meanings to secular ideas thereby treating them as sacred) appear more moderate yet they are more likely to support authoritarian policies. However, the so-called radical religious parties tend to be more inclusive and are more likely to secularize their respective religious tradition internally by redefining secular terms. Despite their novel political agendas both groups fail to exhibit principled commitment to liberal values and fail to provide inclusive and coherent alternatives to their secularist counterparts.     

Taif and the Lebanese State: The Political Economy of a Very Sectarian Public Sector

Abstract

The political reforms adopted in the 1989 Taif Agreement created a veritable postwar paradox: a more balanced consociational power-sharing arrangement led to a bigger, more clientelist, more corrupt, less autonomous public sector, one preoccupied by predatory rentier practices along sectarian and clientelist lines. The more durable the power-sharing arrangement the less the state in Lebanon acts as a state with a measure of bureaucratic autonomy, extractive capacities, and a national agenda. This article problematizes this postwar anomaly by examining the instrumental role played by the public sector in the reproduction of the political elite’s clientelist ensemble undergirding the political economy of sectarianism.