Review by Choice Review
The formation of public memory and the uses to which it is put have been subjects of a considerable body of recent historical literature. This new book examines the politics of memory in post-WW II Japan. What distinguishes this effort is the author's close examination of five interest groups representing or promoting differing strands of memory over the postwar period. Memory formation and propagation in this telling emerges as both a function and a tool of political conflict and social contestation. The interest groups include an association of Shinto shrines; war-bereaved families; the national teachers union; those interested in Sino-Japanese relations; and those memorializing dead student soldiers. Seraphim (Boston College) follows each group over the changing postwar period. This extended analysis results in a nuanced discussion of the controversial veneration of the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine, the ways in which discussions about Japanese war responsibility differed from those in Germany, and the highly charged conflict between Japan's war memory and that of its regional neighbors. An insightful, thoughtful treatment of the interest group politics that has been part of Japan's effort to remember and come to grips with its recent past. Summing Up: Highly recommended,. Upper-division undergraduates and above. W. D. Kinzley University of South Carolina
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
