Tag: Japan

Korean War, US occupation of Japan

Koreans and Military Training in Japan, 1947-48

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in a single box at the US National Archives — otherwise known as RG331 (Allied Operational and Occupation HQ), SCAP Government Section, Administrative Division, Purge Miscellaneous File, 1945-51, box 2054, “Administration to Directives [Screened].” This is a box of “screened” purge candidates. It is hugely disorganized, with no real folders, everything mixed in together, but amid the probably 2000 … Continue reading Koreans and Military Training in Japan, 1947-48

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Japan, US-Japan relations, War Crimes, World War II

On Heartbreak, and Bix on Hirohito

In our culture of oversharing and social media, there is such an excess of verbiage that the words ‘must read’ or ‘essential’ have basically lost their meaning. The same is true for words like ‘heartbreaking’ — if it was really breaking your heart, you wouldn’t be on Twitter. What happens if you don’t read something ‘essential’? Usually, nothing, because the term has been turned into … Continue reading On Heartbreak, and Bix on Hirohito

Adam Cathcart2 Comments
East Asian modernity, Environmental Politics in East Asia, history and memory, Huanqiu Shibao, Japan, North Korea-Japan relations, Sino-Japanese Relations, US-Japan relations, World War II

Post-Soulevement

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami that thrashed the northeastern Japanese coast has generated a great deal of thinking from me, not much of it coherent or of use to readers.  Thus the silence.  At some point, I would imagine that some discussion of the following questions would emerge: To what extent have regional responses to the catastrophe intensified transnational goodwill?   Does this forceful reminder of … Continue reading Post-Soulevement

Adam Cathcart7 Comments
Chinese nationalism, Cultural Politics, East Asian modernity, history and memory, Sino-North Korean relations

Competing Visions of Japan on the Huanqiu BBS

Huanqiu Shibao’s BBS world isn’t necessarily representative of the upper crust of netizen opinion, but, since, as China Digital Times reminds us, the internet is becoming increasingly Chinese, it behooves us to get any glimpse into the yawning nooks and immense creaking crannies of 爱国网民活动. Today’s foray brings two threads into competition: a long missive on the Japanese assassination of Korean Queen Min in 1894 … Continue reading Competing Visions of Japan on the Huanqiu BBS

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China, Chinese nationalism, Cultural Politics, East Asian modernity, Sino-Japanese Relations

Chinese Cyber-Nationalism and Online Identity among Chinese Youth

China Media Research, a peer-reviewed online journal which is a cooperative venture between Zhejiang University and Michigan State University, carries two excellent and worthwhile articles in its latest issue. Li Mingsheng, a communications scholar at Massey University, lays out an excellent and densely-document account of the netizen response to the Tibet debacle (both the March riots and the Olympic Torch protests) of spring 2008, entitled … Continue reading Chinese Cyber-Nationalism and Online Identity among Chinese Youth

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North Korea-Japan relations, US-Japan relations

Notes on Japan

Japan has been rather quiet in the U.S. news of late, but a few things have happened which may be worthy of attention: 1. The secret terms of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty have been made public, and their revelation of U.S. transiting nuclear weapons through Japan has led to commentaries like this one from North Korea. 2. The Okinawa issue remains unresolved: 3. Tokyo … Continue reading Notes on Japan

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Environmental Politics in East Asia, North Korea-Japan relations

Asia’s Ahab: North Korea, Japan, and Environmental Geopolitics in NE Asia

People who fish, who brave the ocean, who create seriographie of fish, who take pictures of fish, who quantify fish populations — all of these people have a special place in my consciousness these days.   The recent wetness in Seattle, along with a return to the cello/axe in a downtown performance backed by giant Jules-Verne style organ pipes, has me thinking watery thoughts. And … Continue reading Asia’s Ahab: North Korea, Japan, and Environmental Geopolitics in NE Asia

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US-Japan relations

Obama in Tokyo: Initial Reactions

For someone like myself whose main point of reference of U.S.-Japan relations is the postwar occupation (1945-1952) and the later 1960 Security Treaty (or Anpo), there is something a bit giddy about watching Air Force One touch down in Tokyo. (Perhaps it is the recollection of my own triumphal arrival in that city in 1987 as an impressionable and wholly smitten boy soprano, bringing Gershwin … Continue reading Obama in Tokyo: Initial Reactions

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Japan, North Korea-Japan relations

On Megumi Yokota: Doggerel One

Japan is hatin’ on DPRK Koizumi’s plume done led the way When Kim abducted you say? The DPRK gotta send Megumi home.// //But they said she killed herself in a fit of despair Her parents want ashes, yet Kim forswear Apologies and memories mingle up with force Like a mini-submarine rising off the Niigata coast// //KCNA drops bombs while J-pop drops beats oblivious Tumescent and … Continue reading On Megumi Yokota: Doggerel One

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