The Shadow of World War II in Modern Japan: Community and the "Victim's History": An exploration of the rewriting of history in Japanese pop culture and the importance of community.

Module Wrap Up

Throughout this course, it is evident that the Japanese utilize their popular culture to air grievances and anxieties they are often unable to utter aloud. These materials also serve as messages to the audience, guiding them along in what it means to be a proper Japanese citizen. Though it is impossible to know what Japan may have been like had they not suffered a defeat in World War II (Koushun Takami explores this in his novel Battle Royale, 1999), it is clear that the loss has had a massive impact on the Japanese psyche and is still being represented in their media.
 
By completing this course, students should now be able to recognize the themes of “victim’s history” and community in other pop culture materials. It is, of course, too simple to distill the entirety of the Japanese into two concepts, however, since World War II, these concepts have been the crux of Japanese society. As Carol Gluck of Columbia University mentions in her interview on Slate.com, for the Japanese “the bomb doesn’t end the war: It starts the postwar mission for peace.”[1]
 
Japan has become our staunch ally in the years since the bombs; perhaps not at their own insistence. Yet their popular culture has boomed and spread, becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Therefore, it is of vital importance that we view these materials not solely as objects of entertainment, but indispensable mirrors through which we can come to more intimately understand a nation that has needed to marry the traditional with the modern as a result of their convoluted history.
 
 
Suggested follow-up project: 

Students research their favorite facet of Japanese Culture (i.e. a particular ritual, a holiday, a custom) and create a presentation, including examples of that facet in popular culture, and present it to the class. They must focus on finding evidence of the “victim’s history” or of reinforcement of community versus individuality.

Some suggested media include: 

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Akira (1988)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Battle Royale (2000)

 

Author Biography

Bradley Wilson is a lecturer in the School of International Letters and Cultures in the field of Japanese. His research interests include Japanese pedagogy, the study of Japanese popular culture, digital humanities, folklore, and traditional Japanese pastimes.  

After graduating from university, Wilson spent two years teaching English in the southern Japanese countryside in Kagoshima Prefecture as a participant in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. During his tenure, he studied Japanese calligraphy and the shamisen, a traditional three-stringed lute.

A member of the School of International Letters and Cultures since 2006, Wilson-sensei, as his students call him, focuses on the instruction of Japanese language, culture, and calligraphy. Additionally, he works with his cohort to improve online teaching methods, incorporation of technology in the classroom, and the development of new curriculum in the Japanese field.

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