Memorial Tours to Palau

Emergence of Contestation: 1968

In 1968, Hiroshi Funasaka (舩坂弘1920-2006), who survived the Battle of Angaur, organised one of the earliest non-governmental tours to Palau to hold memorial services and build war monuments. Subsequently, veterans, bereaved families, and former Japanese immigrants joined such tours to Palau. Numerous momuments monuments were erected across Palau’s islands, while the tours were presented as national efforts to foster memories of the war in both Japan and Palau, despite an absence of Palaun involvement.

Negotiating War Memories at the Edge of the Former Japanese Empire: Two Japanese Veterans' Projects in Palau, Micronesia - Shingo Iitaka

Angaur State Nature Park Project

Emergence of Contestation: 2001

The 2001 Angaur State Nature Park Project was organised by a veteran of the battle which had taken place there, Yōji Kurata (倉田洋二1927-2019), in order to stave off a fading of the memories of the historic events which had taken place there. He launched the Angaur State Nature Park Project, an ecotourism package that incorporated war site tours in order to appeal to Japanese visitors without direct connections with the battle.While the project was ultimately unsuccessful, the project sought to invorporate locals within the material commemoration of events two generations ago.

Negotiating War Memories at the Edge of the Former Japanese Empire: Two Japanese Veterans' Projects in Palau, Micronesia - Shingo Iitaka