We cordially invite you to the upcoming workshop at the DIJ:

 

"Revisiting the Asia-Pacific War in Japan: Cultural Artifacts and Intellectual Discourse"

LINK: https://dij.tokyo/revisiting

July 18, 2025 / 15:00 - 17:30 JST

Organizer: Carolin Fleischer-Heininger

 

On November 11, 2024, the Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to the anti-nuclear weapons movement Nihon Hidankyō. This decision not only acknowledged the movement's ongoing commitment, shaped by its members' traumatic experiences of 'Hiroshima' and 'Nagasaki'. It was also an attempt to shape the present and imaginatively construct possible livable futures.

 

The past is neither finished nor finishable; nor is it history which is re-written time and again. The revisitation of history, which every generation undertakes anew, is profoundly influenced by trends and shifts in research theory and practice, as well as by socio-political transformations and significant events, often debated as cesura.

 

Consequently, historiography is both something that is made and - as Clifford Geertz (2000) elaborates - a story that is essential for intellectuals to engage with the political situations surrounding them. Accordingly, the representation of 'the past' always emerges from a volatile and dynamic present, and is thus fleeting and unstable, as Walter Benjamin argues in "On the Concept of History" (1942).

 

Likewise, written history is often considered a fiction that primarily contributes to the formation, stabilization, and self-assertion of nation-states. In Japan, dominant historical narratives, such as Japanese victimization, have been foundational since the post-war period. We explore how these narratives, which inherently claim universality and unambiguity, are being selectively contested by cultural artifacts and counter discourses.

 

Program

Chair: Keyao "Kyle" Pan (Florida International University)

15:00 - 15:05 Welcome address by Franz Waldenberger (DIJ Tokyo)

15:05 - 15:20Welcome & Introduction by Carolin Fleischer-Heininger (DIJ Tokyo) and Keyao "Kyle" Pan (Florida International University)

15:20 - 15:50 Paper 1: Allegories of Godzilla by Tetsuya Kobayashi (Kyōto University)

16:00 - 16:30 Paper 2: Anti-heroism and Trauma in Mizuki Shigeru's Haisōki (1971) by Felix Spremberg (Ghent University)

16:30 - 17:00 Paper 3: Terayama Shūji's Tare ka kokyō o omowazaru (1969) as Objection to History by Carolin Fleischer-Heininger (DIJ Tokyo)

17:00 - 17:30 Wrap-up & Discussion; Discussant: Julia Mariko Jacoby (Hitotsubashi University)

Please find the detailed program on our website: https://dij.tokyo/revisiting

 

On-site event:

To participate please register via email to fleischer-heininger[at]dijtokyo.org by July 16.

 

This is a public event. Please be aware that audio-visual recordings may be made, stored, and published during and after the event.

 

DIJ Tokyo

Jochi Kioizaka Bldg. 2F, 7-1 Kioicho

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0094, Japan

 

https://www.dijtokyo.org 

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