Problems of the historical past in Japan’s relations with the countries of Asia: Reconciliation attempts

In this article, the author analyzes the post-war development of relations between Japan and Asian countries. This work tracks correlation between sustainable development of economic and political relations, on one hand, and gradual decrease of tension connected with the issues of historical past in the second part of the 20^th century, on the other hand.

The article addresses the issue of post-war relations between Japan and other Asian countries (PRC, Korea, Taiwan), as well as Southeast Asian countries (mainly Singapore, Indonesia). Besides, special attention is paid to the issues of historical memory related to the Japanese occupation of Indonesia and its consequences, specifically to the problem of the historical grievances of Dutch people towards Japan and the problem of children born to men from the Japanese military and local women.

In the 1980s, the mothers of these children and the children themselves started visiting Japan. The visits were financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and included official meetings. At approximately the same time, the first trips for former Dutch POWs and those who had been forcibly conscripted to work in Japan were held. In the memorial places these people visited, memorial signs and steles were installed, which symbolized reconciliation on issues of historical memory.

Traumatic experience produced by certain historical events is not the only issue here. Development of international ties after these events is also an important factor. The possibility of reconciliation or even overcoming such problems often depends on how positively and mutually beneficially such relations develop afterwards. Over time, especially as generations change and emotions connected with these traumatic events calm down, we can see preconditions for compromises and reconciliation. On the other hand, as tension between nations increases, the number of mutual claims is also increasing. If relations develop smoothly, especially if this process goes on for several generations, any offence or claim might be left behind and memory of it might even become a source of reconciliation.

1. Assman, A. (2018). Dlinnaya ten’ proshlogo. Memorial’naya kul’tura i istoricheskaya politika [The Long Shadow of the Past: Memorial Culture and Historical Past]. Moscow: NLO. (In Russian).

2. Assman, A. (2019). Zabvenie istorii – oderzhimost’ istoriei [Forgetting History – Obsession With History]. Moscow: NLO. (In Russian).

3. Koldunova, E.V. (2021). Fenomen transformatsii otnoshenii Yaponii i stran Yugo-Vostochnoi Azii vo vtoroi polovine XX–XXI v.: opyt dlya Rossii [Transformation of Japan’s relations with Southeast

4. Asia in the second half of the 20th – early 21st century: Russia, take note]. Yaponskiye issledovaniya [Japanese Studies in Russia], 3, 102–116. (In Russian). DOI: 10.24412/2500-2872-2021-3-102-116

5. Kovrigin, E.B. (2012). Yaponiya – Kitai: ofitsial’naya pomoshch’ razvitiyu kak instrument ekonomicheskogo vzaimodeistviya [Japan – China: Official Development Assistance as a Tool of Economic Interaction]. Prostranstvennaya ekonomika [Spatial Economics], 3, 9–33. (In Russian).

6. Perminova, V.A. (2022). Yaponskoe kolonial’noe nasledie na Taivane kak problema istoricheskogo proshlogo [Japanese Colonial Legacy in Taiwan as a Problem of Historical Past]. In: Streltsov, D.V. (Ed.). Problemy istoricheskogo proshlogo v otnosheniyakh Yaponii so stranami-sosedyami [Problems of Historical Past in Japan’s Relations With Neighboring Countries] (pp. 119–160). Moscow: Aspekt Press. (In Russian).

7. Shulatov, Y.A. (2022). Yaponiya [Japan]. In: Pamyat’ o Vtoroi mirovoi voine za predelami Evropy [Memory of the Second World War Outside Europe] (pp. 28–56). Saint Petersburg: Publishing House of the European University in Saint Petersburg. (In Russian).

8. Streltsov, D.V. (2016). Osobennosti identichnostei Sovetskogo Soyuza i Yaponii v poslevoennyi period (1945– 1991). [Pecularities of the Identities of the Soviet Union and Japan in the Post-War Period (1945–1991)] In: Russkaya i yaponskaya tsivilizatsii. Istoricheskii analiz stanovleniya i razvitiya natsional’nykh identichnostei (skhodstvo i razlichie) [Russian and Japanese Civilizations. Historical Analysis of Formation and Development of National Identities] (pp. 178–194). Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. (In Russian).

9. Streltsov, D.V. (2022). «Diplomatiya izvinenii» v otnosheniyakh Yaponii so stranami Vostochnoi Azii [“Diplomacy of Apologies” in Japan’s Relations With the Countries of East Asia]. In: Streltsov, D.V. (Ed.), Problemy istoricheskogo proshlogo v otnosheniyakh Yaponii so stranami-sosedyami [Problems of Historical Past in Japan’s Relations With Neighboring Countries] (pp. 207–238). Moscow: Aspekt Press. (In Russian).