October 13th-15th I attended 3 public lectures by Japanese scholars at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. The title of the conference was “Japan in Transition.” The conference was sponsored by: The Kikkoman Foundation, The Japan Study, The Japan Foundation, Lawrence University, and The Henry Luce Foundation.

Takakazu Kuriyama spoke on “Japan and the United States: the Alliance in Evolution.” Former ambassador Kuriyama attended Lawrence University in the mid 1950’s. The talk dealt with Japan’s changing demographics, a shrinking population with a large percentage of elderly (the high percentage of elderly to youth will become increasingly exaggerated in the future), a growing conservative nationalism, and how both affect the way Japan relates to its Asian neighbors and the U.S.A. Kuriyama san addressed concerns over a nuclear North Korea, changes to the constitution (to put it into language of Japanese people rather than that of a war victor and which would include a larger Japanese military capability for global peace keeping missions), and Prime Minister visits to Yasukuni shrine (where war criminals are enshrined) which complicates relations with China and Korea.


(the Chinese have propagandized by demonizing Japan to incite Chinese nationalism to take attention away from their own governmental failings/Pictured here is the famous Tiananmen Square Photo which put China in a bad light-prompting China to respond with a media blitz of its own)

“A Sordid Squabble: the ‘Rape of Nanking’ in Sino-Japanese Relations” was the paper delivered by Bob Wakabayashi. This was a very informative discussion on 1) Where the varying figures come from in terms of defining the war atrocities (time-one week or 6 weeks period/the city itself or a large metro area, etc) 2) How the Chinese accepted both the Tokyo and Nanking war trial terms from the late 1940’s (In fact did not convict any Japanese war criminals in the north were the country men killed were communist sympathizers opposed to the Chinese government in power-and acquitted 40% of those Japanese put on trial overall) 3) How the Japanese government has made 20 public apologies for war crimes, paid billions in reparations, and has a constitution promoting peace and limiting militarism 4) How some Japanese writers following the war defined the atrocities in strong terms (daigyakusatsu/tat’u-sha) but how current Japanese high school text books address the issues as a military advance on Nanking-use considerably milder terms 5) How the Chinese in the late 1980’s after the Tiananmen Square protests have propagandized by demonizing Japan to incite Chinese nationalism 6) How the world attitude now favors a climate of individual reparation-of animal rights, rights for women, homosexuals, etc.-that this is an attitude that was not present in the late 1940’s when the war trials were held for war criminals. How this change in attitude is part of the media sympathy for China in terms of addressing Nanking today.7) How the Yasukuni visits by PM Koizumi have led to behavior by both Chinese and Japanese that amounts to adolescent type name calling (Chink/shina, Jap/Hsiao-jih-pen, wo-chu, wo-nu, jih-pen kuei-tzu, Jih-k’ou), an attitude of “Anything motivated by patriotism is permissible”-ai-kuo wu-tsui. For diplomacy to advance this type of behavior would have to cease and both sides obey rules of reciprocity, logical consistency, and evidence. If a PM whether Koizumi or now Abe Shinzo whose ancestor Kishi Nobusuke is enshrined at Yasukuni visits Yasukuni a more specific explanation than that it is a “matter of the heart (reason given by Koizumi)” should be given the global community.

“Does Every Princess Need a Prince?: Navigating Japan’s Imperial Succession Debate” was the paper given by Michael Schneider. This was a fascinating look at Japanese pop culture, attitudes toward women, politics, and the imperial family. It took a close look at the political reactions to contemporary females in politics by examining the tenures of Tanaka and Ogata (only 4% of the Diet is female). It questioned Koizumi’s motives in appointing these women to high positions of authority (Tanaka as Foreign Minister). It looked at the fall out after a national panel (on which Ogata served) recommended a change to the constitution that would allow for female imperial succession-how this has brought out the blood hounds of the conservative. It discussed the possibility of the Yugio anime character as a macho Japanese man’s fantasy of being a real military player without the history of the post war constitution and other pop culture tie-ins (Japanese TV personalities were quoted) to male-female, imperial family succession issues. There was so much information and light hearted questions that dealt with serious issues that I could not process everything said.

I was grateful to Lawrence University for providing this intellectual stimulation.

Lynn Zetzman
Xavier High School