People & Histories
1980s–present

War memory, apologies and Yasukuni

Textbook disputes, apology statements and prime ministers' visits to Yasukuni Shrine keep the Second World War a live and painful issue between Japan and its neighbours.

  • War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 — Franziska Seraphim, Harvard University Asia Center (2006)
  • Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama: On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end — Tomiichi Murayama, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (1995)
  • Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on the result of the study on the issue of comfort women — Yohei Kono, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (1993)
  • Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations — Zheng Wang, Columbia University Press (2012)
  • The 20th Japan–China Joint Opinion Poll — The Genron NPO and China International Communications Group, The Genron NPO (2024)

Well established memorywaridentity

Part of the story of Japan, China and Koreans.

Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, founded in 1869, honours some 2.5 million people who died fighting for Japan’s emperor. In 1978 its priests secretly enshrined fourteen men convicted or charged as Class-A war criminals by the Tokyo tribunal, including wartime prime minister Tōjō Hideki. Emperor Hirohito stopped visiting after that, and no emperor has visited since. Visits by prime ministers, notably Nakasone in 1985, Koizumi annually in 2001–06 and Abe in 2013, have provoked furious reactions in China and South Korea.

  • War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 — Franziska Seraphim, Harvard University Asia Center (2006)
  • Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan — Herbert P. Bix, HarperCollins (2000)

Textbooks are a second front. In 1982 reports that Japan’s education ministry had softened descriptions of the invasion of China caused a diplomatic crisis; the historian Ienaga Saburō spent over three decades suing the state over textbook censorship.

  • The Making of the "Rape of Nanking": History and Memory in Japan, China, and the United States — Takashi Yoshida, Oxford University Press (2006)
  • War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 — Franziska Seraphim, Harvard University Asia Center (2006)

Japan’s governments have apologised: the 1993 Kōno statement on “comfort women”, the women forced into military brothels, and the 1995 Murayama statement on colonial rule and aggression. But every new statement is scrutinised for what it omits.

In the 2024 Genron NPO poll, about 89 percent of Japanese and 88 percent of Chinese respondents had an unfavourable impression of the other country.
  • The 20th Japan–China Joint Opinion Poll — The Genron NPO and China International Communications Group, The Genron NPO (2024)

How it's seen
Japanese government and mainstream view

Japan expressed "deep remorse and heartfelt apology" in the 1995 Murayama statement, reaffirmed by later governments, and has been a peaceful country for eighty years. Visiting Yasukuni is about mourning the dead, not glorifying war.

Chinese and Korean view

Apologies ring hollow when leaders worship at a shrine that enshrines convicted Class-A war criminals, when textbooks downplay atrocities, and when politicians question the comfort women issue or the Nanjing Massacre.

  • Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations — Zheng Wang, Columbia University Press (2012)
  • The Making of the "Rape of Nanking": History and Memory in Japan, China, and the United States — Takashi Yoshida, Oxford University Press (2006)
  • Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II — Yoshimi Yoshiaki, Columbia University Press (2000)

Why it matters today

Japan

Most Japanese see themselves as a peaceful people who have apologised many times, and many are weary of the issue; a nationalist minority rejects the "masochistic" view of history. How to honour the war dead without honouring the war is still unresolved, and it shapes relations with China and South Korea.

China

For many Chinese, Yasukuni visits and textbook revisions are proof that Japan has not truly repented. Disputes over memory can spill into street protests and boycotts, as in 2005 and 2012, and colour everyday attitudes toward Japan.

Koreans

For many South Koreans, Yasukuni visits, textbook revisions and politicians questioning the comfort women's testimony undo each apology Japan offers. The memory of colonial rule is renegotiated with every new government in Seoul and Tokyo, and court rulings on wartime forced labour and comfort women regularly send relations into crisis.