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Pacifism or Peace Movement?: Hiroshima Memory Debates and Political Compromises
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- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2008-06
- Citation
- Journal of International and Area Studies, Vol.15 No.1, pp. 61-78
- Keywords
- Japanese pacifism ; ideological divide ; victim consciousness ; mnemonic amnesia ; Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum ; political compromise ; Korean A-bomb victims ; pacifist movement
- Abstract
- This paper explores the complicated workings of Japans mnemonic praxis in its establishment of
moral authority. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was a decisive moment inaugurating Japan as the
torch-bearer of pacifism. Given Japans ideational multiplicity as the victim and the victimizer, its
pacifist ideology needs further examinations in conceptual and empirical manifestations. This research
situates the ambivalent amnesia and political compromises demonstrated during the renovation project
of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum from 1985 until 1994. As for a nation yet to achieve
meaningful reconciliation over the past with Asian neighbors, the political divide opens room for
utilitarian considerations in its pacifist discourse. The Hiroshima experience suggests that Japans
pacifism can be a problematic representation given its selective mnemonic praxis and situational ethics.
This paper argues that Japanese pacifism should be redefined as pacifist movement. Pacifism is
foundational ethics, whereas pacifist movement accommodates political contextualization.
- ISSN
- 1226-8550
- Language
- English
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