Shrine of Valor
Members of the 16th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army stationed in Kyoto were sent out across the Asia-Pacific, linking various sites across the city to Japan's military past. This past and the associated sites, however, are conspicuously absent from
The Politics of Pacific War Memorialization in Thailand's Victory Monument and Philippines' Shrine of Valor - John Lee Candelaria
Victory Monument
Thailand's Victory Monument approaches memorialisation of Thai war heroes in an outwardly subdued way, apparently criticising the state's past actions through ambiguity and restraint.
The Politics of Pacific War Memorialization in Thailand's Victory Monument and Philippines' Shrine of Valor - John Lee Candelaria
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
Lin Zhao Tomb
Emergence of Contestation: 2013
Lin Zhao (Chinese: 林昭; January 23, 1932 – April 29, 1968), born Peng Lingzhao (彭令昭), was a prominent dissident who was imprisoned and later executed by the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution for her criticism of Mao Zedong's policies. On the date of her death (April 29), memorial gatherings on the site of her tomb was interrupted by the authority with conflicts.
June 4th Museum (Tiananmen Incident)
Emergence of Contestation: 2019
The June 4th Museum in Hong Kong commemorates the student democratization movement and the Tiananmen Incident in 1989 in Beijing. There has been several instances that the museum was broken into by the unknown forces and protested against by the pro-Beijing groups in Hong Kong, who claimed that the museum is distorting history. In mainland China the Tiananmen Incident is identified as student riot, which is counter-revolutionary, whereas elsewhere the Incident is widely seen as democratization movement that was repressed by the authorities.
Jiabiangou Labor Camp Sites
Emergence of Contestation: 2013, 2014
Jiabiangou Labor Camp (Chinese: 夹边沟; pinyin: Jiābiāngōu) is a former farm labor camp (laogai) located in Jiuquan in the northwestern desert region of Gansu Province. The camp was in use during the Anti-Rightist Campaign in the years from 1957 to 1961. During its operation, it held approximately 3,000 political prisoners, of whom about 2,500 died at Jiabianguo, mostly of starvation. Remains of the camp, including the graveyards, are unmaintained and heavily guarded to prevent people from visiting. In November 2013, a new monument erected by families and social workers was quickly destroyed by local authorities. Ai Xiaoming, a professor of Sun Yat-sen University, was briefly detained before released and prevented from photographing the site in May 2014.
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
Ahn Martyr Memorial Museum 【安重根(An Chung-gun)】
Emergence of Contestation: 2014
The South Korean President Park visited China in 2013, and expressed the idea of building a museum to commemorate An Chung-gun in Harbin, the city where he assassinated Ito Hirobumi. After the construction of the museum in 2014, it was protested against by the Japanese Foreign Minister (2014, Jan. 20). Though An is widely remembered as an Anti-Japanese patriot in China and South Korea, he was regarded as a terrorist in Japan.
Okawa Elementary School
Emergence of Contestation: 2011
In the wake of the March 2011 disasters in Tohoku, several remaining ruins have become sites of negative heritage. This site - at which the failure to manage the evacuation of pupils led to tragedy - has been subject of a debate between survivors and the Japanese government, with the former wanting to preserve the school buildings, and the latter seeking to demolish them.
Framing Negative Heritage in Disaster Risk Education: School Memorials After 3.11 - Julia Gerster, Flavia Fulco
Ainu Remains
Emergence of Contestation: 1869
The Ainu human remains stolen from Hokkaido gravesites for scientific purposes in the period of the Japanese colonisation of Hokkaido are presently still housed in museum collections across the globe, provoking protest from Ainu activists who demand their return. The remains themselves have become sites of memory through which Japanese colonial amnesia is challenged.
Stolen Ainu Remains as Sites of Memory - Michael Roellinghoff
Comfort Women Statue (Seoul)
Emergence of Contestation: 1991, 2011
The Statue of Peace serves as a memorial to young Korean women who became victims of the Japanese wartime military prostitution system. The physical placement of the Statue is Seoul opposite the Japanese embassy was highly symbolic of the victims' waiting for a full and formal apology. However, its reach and the political pressure it could exert were amplified through digital reproduction, which ultimately allowed for a global debate to be kindled. Understanding the Statue in the context of visual politics allows for understanding its rise as a symbol of resistance.
Visualising Korea: The Politics of the Statue of Peace - David Chapman
Arahama Elementary School
Emergence of Contestation: 2011
In the wake of the March 2011 disasters in Tohoku, several remaining ruins have become sites of negative heritage. This site - an example of a successful evacuation - is being preserved as a monument to the importance of disaster preparation (BOSAI).
Framing Negative Heritage in Disaster Risk Education: School Memorials After 3.11 - Julia Gerster, Flavia Fulco
War Memorial of Korea
Emergence of Contestation - 1994
The War Memorial in Seoul commemorates the successful military campaigns of Korea, and aims at preventing future wars through education. However, the museum has been criticised as a glorification of Korea's military past, as it fails to offer any counter-narratives and does not highlight wartime atrocities perpetrated by Korean soldiers in Vietnam, as well as as domestically during the suppression of the democratic protests of 1980.
War Memorial of Korea - Dasom Lee
