Press Release
August 13, 2015
For Immediate Release
Seven decades on from the defeat of Japan, memories still divide East Asia
This week’s Economist essay – translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean on economist.com – looks at how
memories of the second world war still shape lives and worldviews in East Asia today
August 15th marks the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan at the end of the second world war. In the decades
since, Japan has not fired a bullet in anger – and yet the war remains crucial both to how some Japanese see their
own nation, and to how Japan is seen buy its neighbours. This week’s essay explores the region’s memories of war
and their continuing relevance. To mark the regional importance of such discussion, it is being presented online not
just in English but also in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Every August 15th, on the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the second world war, festivities surround the Yasukuni
shrine in Tokyo. The shrine commemorates the glorious dead—those who died in service to Japan’s emperors from
the Meji Restoration of 1868 to Japan’s defeat by the Allies in 1945. Over 2 million imperial protectors are inscribed
in the shrine’s “Book of Souls”; they are treated as a divine shield for the emperor. Their number includes casualties
from the seventy years of expansionist war that went along with Japan’s modernisation – and also, controversially,
14 of those found guilty of Class A war crimes in the aftermath of the second world war.
Many visitors to Yasukuni mourn family members who died in Japan’s wars. Not all approve of how Yasukuni
presents the past. A visit to the museum associated with the Yasukuni shrine, called the Yushukan, finds the
militarism that brought Japan to its knees still glorified. The massacres of civilians by imperial troops in Nanjing
(1937-38) and Manila (1945) are downplayed or denied and Japan portrayed as a bulwark against Western
imperialism, communism and the anarchy of Chinese warlords.
Chinese officials say Yasukuni represents the darkest parts of Japan’s soul. From Japan’s full-scale invasion of China
in 1937 until its attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Chinese nationalists fought Japan alone, a resistance
which shaped the course of the war far beyond China.
Today Chinese officials see the Chinese Dream defined in part by its opposition to wartime Japanese aggression.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sees the memory of that struggle as a tool for shaping Chinese identity. The narrative
downplays the Communist Party’s own violence in power, responsible for the deaths in purges and famines of
millions of Chinese.
August 15th 1945 was far from a definitive end for those caught up in war. Today, while the lives of those scarred in
the second world war are nearing their ends, the Asian history they are part of continues to shape the worlds of their
children and grandchildren. In some places it is distorted, in others denied. Some victims and some victors are
commemorated. Some are forgotten.
This Economist essay argues that on all sides the ghosts of war are kept locked away. Instead they should be allowed
to speak and also to listen—to hear and voice the complex truths of war, responsibility and victimhood.
Full essay “Asia’s Second-World-War Ghosts” can be found in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean here:
http://www.economist.com/news/essays/en/asia-second-world-war-ghosts
-ENDSMedia Enquiries
For more information or to arrange an interview contact: Michelle Hayden at [email protected]
About The Economist (www.economist.com)
With a growing global circulation (more than 1.5 million including both print* and digital) and a reputation for insightful
analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and
well-read current affairs publications. The paper covers politics, business, science and technology, and books and
arts, concluding each week with the obituary. In addition to the web-only content such as blogs, debates and
audio/video programmes available on the website, The Economist is available to download for reading on Android,
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*Audit Bureau of Circulations Worldwide, Jan-June 2015