Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire
Published on 30. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-1-350-32464-0 (ISBN)
Description
Ongoing arguments over how histories are honoured - as evidenced by the conflict between South Korea and Japan over the opening of Tokyo's Heritage Information Centre in June 2020 - reveal the extent to which heritage processes enable states to assert legitimacy and power on a global stage.
Here, Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire shines a timely spotlight on the complicated histories and disputed legacies of various sites associated with Japan's empire in Asia and the Pacific.
Bringing together a team of international scholars, this transnational study sees contested memorial spaces as windows for us to explore how borders are created, moved and altered in everyday life. From the Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall in Guam and the Puppet Emperor Palace in China to Japan's Ainu Museum and the Cowra War Cemetery in Australia, the diverse range of case studies examined here foreground the complex relationship Japan and its neighbours have with their imperial past and reveal how these relations stand at the intersection of individual actions, societal choices and memory collectives. In doing so, this innovative collection of essays bridges history, geography and heritage studies to provide an invaluable new approach to the study of imperial conflict and memory politics in modern Japan.
Here, Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire shines a timely spotlight on the complicated histories and disputed legacies of various sites associated with Japan's empire in Asia and the Pacific.
Bringing together a team of international scholars, this transnational study sees contested memorial spaces as windows for us to explore how borders are created, moved and altered in everyday life. From the Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall in Guam and the Puppet Emperor Palace in China to Japan's Ainu Museum and the Cowra War Cemetery in Australia, the diverse range of case studies examined here foreground the complex relationship Japan and its neighbours have with their imperial past and reveal how these relations stand at the intersection of individual actions, societal choices and memory collectives. In doing so, this innovative collection of essays bridges history, geography and heritage studies to provide an invaluable new approach to the study of imperial conflict and memory politics in modern Japan.
Reviews / Votes
This edited volume offers insightful and thought-provoking analysis of Japan's imperial legacies and their entanglement with global histories of memory. The various essays provide a compelling examination of the working of war memory, both within and between sites, making it an invaluable resource for scholars of the topic. * Ran Zwigenberg, Associate Professor of Asian Studies, History, and Jewish Studies, Pennsylvania State University, USA *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
30 B&W
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
351 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-32464-0 (9781350324640)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Edward Boyle | Steven Ivings
Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download
Edward Boyle | Steven Ivings
Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download
Persons
Edward Boyle is Associate Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken), Kyoto, Japan, and editor of Japan Review.
Steven Ivings is Associate Professor of Economics at Kyoto University, Japan. He is the co-editor of Global Diasporas in the Age of High Imperialism (2017, with Ulrike Kirchberger).
Steven Ivings is Associate Professor of Economics at Kyoto University, Japan. He is the co-editor of Global Diasporas in the Age of High Imperialism (2017, with Ulrike Kirchberger).
Content
Introduction: Siting Japan's Empire and Borders of Memory Edward Boyle (International Research Center for Japanese Studies [Nichibunken], Japan) and Steven Ivings (Kyoto University, Japan)
Part I - Struggles for Recognition
1. The 'time of the now': Upopoy and Ainu ancestral remains as sites of memory Michael Roellinghoff (University of Hong Kong, China)
2. Ichigaya Memorial and the (Non-)Representation of the Tokyo Trial Andre Hertich (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria)
3. Contesting Memories Online: The Case of the 'Comfort Women' Page on English Wikipedia Jonathan Lewis (Hitotsubashi University, Japan)
Part 2 - Cosmopolitan Connections
4. Enemies Buried Together: The Remains of War at Cowra Alison Starr (Independent Scholar, Australia)
5. Debating the Meaning and Removal of Kyoto's Mimizuka across the 20th Century Daniel Milne (Kyoto University, Japan)
6. Japanese Repatriation Museums and Bordering Memories of Empire Jonathan Bull (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Part 3 - Stated or Unstated
7. Beyond a 'Site of Memory': The Puppet Emperor Palace Emily Matson (University of Virginia, USA)
8. Meanings and Uses of Meiji Shrine Peter Zarrow (University of Connecticut, USA)
9. Humanizing Bordered Histories: Japanese Locals in Guam's War Memorial Maria Cynthia B. Barriga (Waseda University, Japan)
Bibliography
Index
Part I - Struggles for Recognition
1. The 'time of the now': Upopoy and Ainu ancestral remains as sites of memory Michael Roellinghoff (University of Hong Kong, China)
2. Ichigaya Memorial and the (Non-)Representation of the Tokyo Trial Andre Hertich (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria)
3. Contesting Memories Online: The Case of the 'Comfort Women' Page on English Wikipedia Jonathan Lewis (Hitotsubashi University, Japan)
Part 2 - Cosmopolitan Connections
4. Enemies Buried Together: The Remains of War at Cowra Alison Starr (Independent Scholar, Australia)
5. Debating the Meaning and Removal of Kyoto's Mimizuka across the 20th Century Daniel Milne (Kyoto University, Japan)
6. Japanese Repatriation Museums and Bordering Memories of Empire Jonathan Bull (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Part 3 - Stated or Unstated
7. Beyond a 'Site of Memory': The Puppet Emperor Palace Emily Matson (University of Virginia, USA)
8. Meanings and Uses of Meiji Shrine Peter Zarrow (University of Connecticut, USA)
9. Humanizing Bordered Histories: Japanese Locals in Guam's War Memorial Maria Cynthia B. Barriga (Waseda University, Japan)
Bibliography
Index