On Monday I joined my friend Jaehwan to hear a presentation by Daqing Yang, a professor of George Washington University whose work I’m very fond of. His presentation, on Japan’s early postwar relations with China through the perspective of reconciliation studies started with two questions: Did the “history problem” between Japan and China exist before 1982 (the first textbook controversy)? and Did Japanese work for reconciliation with China after the war? Yang argued yes on both accounts. He concludes that Japan achieved “thin reconciliation” or a very limited reconciliation but was reservedly optimistic that future efforts to expand efforts at reconciliation between Japan and China can be achieved by shifting the emphasis from inter-governmental to inter-societal exchanges.
Some points that he made which I thought were interesting:
- Apparently Mao or Zhou Enlai had admitted to Japanese diplomats at some point in the fifties that “China has been an aggressor in history before so Japan isn’t unique.” I was surprised at this since it contrasts with that many Chinese are told in schools now, ‘Unlike so many others, China has never been an aggressor.’ Of course, the latter may be referring to post-liberation China but even then…
- Professor Yang reminded us of the ambiguity in the famous Japanese postwar policy of 一億総懺悔 or “collective repentance by 100 million” which can alternatively mean, “Repent for having lost the war and failing the emperor” or “Repent for the many mistakes and wrongs committed in waging the war.”
- He says that the first postwar prime minister, royal Mr. Higashikuni apparently wanted to use this term in the latter way and allegedly wanted to send the infamous former prime minister Konoe (famous for the 相手にせず declaration during the Sino-Japanese war) to China as an envy of repentance! What a whack idea, but very interesting.
- Professor Yang talked about two invitations by China for Japanese veterans to visit China, all expenses paid, beginning in 1956. Apparently the reactions were mixed and the Japanese government limited the number who could go. He notes that the effect was perhaps different than the Chinese government had hoped. Some who returned used the trip to try to get more respect for Japanese veterans in Japan, where they felt neglected and forgotten.
- In talking about the cozy relationship between the Nationalist government in Taiwan, he mentioned something called the “white brigade” which apparently received postwar training by former Japanese soldiers. Hmm, sounds very interesting, must look into this…he says there has been some research coming out about them.