Author Description

Japan's Contested War Memories explores the ways in which World War II has been remembered and commemorated in Japan, with a particular focus on the period from 1972 (the return of Okinawa to Japan) to the 60th anniversary commemorations in 2005. Analysing the variety of ways in which the Japanese people narrate, contest and interpret the past, the book seeks to define and challenge the 'orthodoxy' in the English-language media which is critical of 'the Japanese' or 'Japan' for the way in which they have 'inadequately addressed the past'. Instead, Seaton argues that the ideological 'memory rifts' in interpretations of history and contestation over the government's handling of war responsibility issues have ensured that war history in Japan remains a subject more divisive and widely argued over than in any of the other major World War II combatant nations. By drawing on extensive analysis of the Japanese media, Japan's Contested War Memories applies the latest international war memory and media studies theory to provide a significant and engaging study that will appeal to scholars and students of Japanese history, politics, cultural studies, society and memory theory.