Compared to other recent governments, the Second Abe Administration has been seen as a government with a larger interest in nationalism and patriotic history. According to various scholars, this...Show moreCompared to other recent governments, the Second Abe Administration has been seen as a government with a larger interest in nationalism and patriotic history. According to various scholars, this nationalism is represented in Prime Minister Abe’s war commemoration statements, as in his 2013 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. What is often overlooked in such discourse, is the fact that the current administration has now lasted for eight years and counting, and that no further visits to the shrine were actually made by Abe, despite his long-standing support for Yasukuni. It could be argued that rather than his actual visit, his restraint on further visits is more conspicuous. This study aims to determine the rationale behind Abe’s Yasukuni policy. Building on existing scholars’ work, it asks: How can the Yasukuni policy of Shinzo Abe be understood beyond the existing personal preference explanations? In this context, personal preference is defined as the affinity that prime ministers have with nationalistic interpretations of Japanese history, and how these are leading in determining their Yasukuni policies. Based on an analysis of previous prime ministers’ war commemoration statements (Murayama, Koizumi) and Abe’s personal profile, it could be argued that the Abe administration represents a shift towards nationalism. In relation to the Japanese publics approval of prime ministerial visits, surveys were held by Japan’s main news organizations which showed a slight increase in Yasukuni support over the last 15 years. While this change is generally attributed to the deterioration of Japan’s relations with neighboring countries over time, results of government surveys showed a drastic deterioration of the public’s perception of foreign relations. What these disproportionate results indicate, is that feelings of social distance between the Japanese people and their neighboring countries do not necessarily increase their support for prime ministerial Yasukuni visits. More convincing majority votes were found on surveys that asked whether the public approved on Abe’s restraint on Yasukuni visits, and whether the public found that Japan’s relations with its neighboring countries should be improved. On this basis, this research argues that restraint on the Yasukuni issue satisfies the majority of the public and is thus beneficial from a perspective of political survival. Further research is needed to adequately assess how the state of international relations will influence prime ministerial visits in the future.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to find out to what extend the influences of North Korea and China have been a cause for the 2015 Comfort Women Agreement between Japan and South Korea, and why.
Amid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American...Show moreAmid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American community, has once again resurfaced in American national discourse. As such there is an increasing need to understand the Model Minority Myth in a wider, historical perspective. Drawing on Claire-Jean Kim’s racial triangulation theory, this thesis examines how Japanese American newspapers in California during the 1930s engaged in discursive self-essentialization, and dissociation from other non-white minorities as a means of survival in American society, and by doing so inadvertently contributed to the further perpetuation of a white-dominated racial hierarchy in the United States and a further solidification of the reputation of Asian Americans as an alleged Model Minority. It then critically analyzes the work of two contemporary Asian American authors known for their embrace of the Model Minority Identity, Amy Chua and Yukong Zhao, and demonstrates how the tactics they deploy in their works reiterate discursive strategies used by their Japanese American predecessors during the Depression Era. Rather than viewing model minority discourse as a strictly American phenomenon or a product of white American agency, this thesis argues for a wider, transnational lens with which we view patterns of discrimination across borders and time, taking into account conflict and compliance, action and reaction. In this way the thesis aims to contribute to an improved understanding of systems of discrimination and oppression and, more importantly, how to dismantle them.Show less
Röling was de Nederlandse afgevaardigde aan het Tribunaal van Tokio. Hij is opmerkelijk omdat hij als enige rechter in zijn afwijkend vonnis (hierna: dissent) per beklaagde uiteenzette wat hij een...Show moreRöling was de Nederlandse afgevaardigde aan het Tribunaal van Tokio. Hij is opmerkelijk omdat hij als enige rechter in zijn afwijkend vonnis (hierna: dissent) per beklaagde uiteenzette wat hij een gepaste strafmaat vond, en omdat hij zeer kritisch was over punten waar de andere rechters niet over na (wilden) denken. Hoewel Röling dankzij de hernieuwde aandacht voor het tribunaal ook weer in de belangstelling staat is er nog niet onderzocht hoe en waarom juist Röling tot zijn dissent kwam. In dit onderzoek wordt uiteengezet wat de hoofdfactoren uit het sociaal milieu en persoonlijke leven van Bert Röling waren die ervoor gezorgd hebben dat hij een dissent besloot te publiceren, en hoe die factoren zijn dissent hebben beïnvloed. Deze factoren zijn een neiging tot het niet respecteren van de gevestigde orde; en het feit dat hij door zijn nieuwsgierigheid, zorgvuldigheid en ruimdenkendheid over stereotypes heen kon stappen. Hierdoor kwam hij ook in contact met Japanners die zijn dissent verder beïnvloedden.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt de 28 december 2015 akkoord omtrent troostmeisjes tussen Japan en Zuid-Korea geanalyseerd aan de hand van Japanse krantenartikelen.
This essay asks what the differences and similarities were between the Seikan debate and the debate surrounding the Taiwan Expedition. By comparing the motivations behind and rhetoric around these...Show moreThis essay asks what the differences and similarities were between the Seikan debate and the debate surrounding the Taiwan Expedition. By comparing the motivations behind and rhetoric around these two instances of aggressive foreign policy, this essay aims to shed a light on the degree of Western and traditional ideological influence and consequently show how Japan saw great changes in its ideological discourse during the early years of Meiji rule (1868–1877).Show less
In my thesis I will prove how the blind spot for furusato in the government's cultural heritage policies is harming rural communities and therefore counteracts various other goals set to relieve...Show moreIn my thesis I will prove how the blind spot for furusato in the government's cultural heritage policies is harming rural communities and therefore counteracts various other goals set to relieve the effects of the economic crisis.Show less
The Japanese colonial scholar Yanaihara Tadao (1893-1961) has long been considered a liberal scholar who, despite wartime Japan's totalitarian regime and contrary to popular opinion, heroically...Show moreThe Japanese colonial scholar Yanaihara Tadao (1893-1961) has long been considered a liberal scholar who, despite wartime Japan's totalitarian regime and contrary to popular opinion, heroically defended the rights of the colonised. Nevertheless, much of what he wrote was based on imperialist assumptions of backward, undeveloped, barbaric 'natives' and the idea that colonialism as a system of global politics is fundamentally just and even desirable. In this thesis, I trace the origins of the positive image of Yanaihara “the liberal thinker”, and contrast this image with a reading of Yanaihara as an “imperialist.” In doing so, I show that for a good understanding of the nature of Yanaihara's thought, it is crucial to be aware of both these sides to his work. To illustrate the relevance of this awareness, I also discuss the findings of two recent publications concerning Yanaihara that fruitfully abandon the unequivocally good opinion earlier scholarship had formed of him.Show less
