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메이지 150년, 여전히 변하지 않는 일본의 기억법
Japan's Unchanging Memories of the Meiji Restoration With the spread of radios and televisions in Japan from achieving rapid economic growth, the Meiji Restoration's centennial anniversary was celebrated through the popularization of period dramas and historical novels during the 1960s. For instance, Shiba Ryotaro's novel "Ryoma Goes" (Ryoma ga yuku) serialized in the newspaper Sankei Shimbun for five years between 1962 and 1966 was at the forefront of the Japanese public’s surging interest in historical themes as it became dramatized and broadcasted by NHK in 1968. “Clouds Above the Hill” (Sakano ueno kumo) is another novel by Shiba Ryotaro set against the Russo-Japanese War that was a sensational hit during the five years it was serialized between 1968 and 1972. Amidst such a boom of historical themes, the glorification of the Meiji period played a definitive role in ingraining deep into the Japanese psyche the notion that the Meiji Restoration symbolizes success and glory. Around the same time, the Japanese theory of modernization emerged, deeming as a success the modernization Japan achieved since the Meiji Restoration and recommending Japan’s case as a model for underdeveloped or developing countries in Asia. This gave a boost of confidence to the Japanese. This period is also when Japan began to deny its past aggressions by justifying them as wars of self-defense, which gave rise to the affirmative theory on the Greater East Asian War. And at the height of these movements was the 1968 Meiji centennial celebrations through which the Japanese government paraded the success of Japan’s modernization. Memories of the Meiji Restoration’s success and glory that took root since the 1960s are still very much alive in Japan. And fifty years later, Japan led by the Abe administration is now back to rekindling such memories upon the Meiji Restoration’s 150th anniversary.
Park Jin-woo (Professor of Japanese Studies, Sookmyung Women's University)
우리는 메이지 유신을 어떻게 평가할 것인가
How We Should View the Meiji Restoration Professor Park acquired his bachelor's and master's degree from the Department of Asian History at Seoul National University and his doctoral degree from the University of Tokyo. He taught Japanese studies at Kookmin University before coming to teach at Seoul National University's Department of Asian History. He has mainly been researching and writing papers on the inception of the Meiji Restoration, political reforms and the public sphere's formation in Meiji Japan, and Japanese perceptions of the outside world. Among his many research papers is "The Emergence of the ‘Political Culture of Confucian Literati’ in 19th-Century Japan: Rethinking the Meiji Restoration in the East Asian Context." He is the author of the book "How the Meiji Restoration was Possible" and co-author of "Modernization in the East and West."
Interviewer: Lee Won-woo (Director, NAHF Research Institute on International Relations and Historical Dialogue)
장소의 역사성과 기억, 그리고 역사 만들기
Tenth Anniversary of the Comfort Women Monument on Miyako Island The year 2018 marks the tenth year since a monument for Japanese military "comfort women" became installed on Miyako island, a small but well-known tourist destination with a beautiful beach located 300 kilometers south of Okinawa's main island in Japan.
Park Jung-ae (Research fellow, NAHF Japanese Military Comfort Women Research Center)
‘육식’ 단상(斷想)
Snippets on Eating Meat As I helped prepare food to hold the customary ancestral rite over the recent Chuseok holiday, a random, cheeky question crossed my mind. Would it be considered disrespectful to place dog meat on the table of food meant as an offering to my ancestors? After all, hadn't I placed jujube tea my father used to enjoy drinking instead liquor on the table as I held the annual memorial rite for him a month ago in August? Choosing to replace the usual liquor with tea was because my father never enjoyed drinking liquor and the one glass of soju he had from being overjoyed on my wedding day thirty years ago left him sick in bed for the rest of the day. My father was a man who refused to acknowledge a salad full of greens as food suitable for mankind. His love for dog meat was so great that he would always burst into laughter as he talked about how the Chinese character yeon (然) that stands for "thus" was made from a combination of individual characters that can be lined up to be read as "it is quite natural to eat dog meat grilled over a fire." Thanks to my meat-loving father, I get to hear the same story every few days from my mother, who was originally a vegetarian and is now suffering from Alzheimer's.
Kim Min-kyu (NAHF Honorary Research Fellow)
임진왜란 직후의 통신사가 목격한 교토의 명승지
Visits to Kyoto After the Imjin War After the Imjin War, the Toyotomi regime collapsed and Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to power to establish the Tokugawa shogunate, otherwise known as the Edo bakufu. Having seized power, Tokugawa Ieyasu requested that Joseon enter into diplomatic relations with Japan. Joseon went through lengthy discussions and negotiations before finally deciding to establish diplomatic relations and send a delegation to Japan. The delegation sent in 1607 became the first to be dispatched since the Imjin War and marked the beginning of a new relationship with the Edo bakufu. However, instead of calling the delegation a Tongsinsa mission, Joseon chose to call it "reciprocation and prisoner repatriation envoys." The title indicates that the Joseon court's sentiment toward Japan did not coincide with the meaning of Tongsinsa, which was a mission to communicate good faith with one another. "Reciprocation" suggested that the delegation's purpose was strictly to deliver a reply to the Japanese shogun on a diplomatic matter and "prisoner repatriation" implied that Joseon intended to bring back everyone Japan took away. At the time, it was impossible for Joseon to determine whether Japan was truly making a gesture of good faith, but Joseon nevertheless wished to underscore that their foremost goal was to repatriate Joseon people that had been captive in Japan since the Imjin War. And the same title was given to subsequent delegations sent in 1617 and 1624.
Kim Kyong-tae (Research professor, Korea University CORE Program)
재단 뉴스
NAHF News On October 19, 2018, the Northeast Asian History Foundation held an international conference at its grand conference hall under the theme "Studying China's Globalization Strategies: The One Belt, One Road Initiative and Conflicts and Cooperation in East Asia." Present at the conference were Professor Zheng Yongnian (鄭永年) of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, five Chinese experts including Professor Luo Jianbo (羅建波) serving as director of the Research Office for China’s Foreign Affairs within the Central Party School's Institute of International Strategic Studies, Professor Abanti Bhattachary from the University of Delhi, Professor Sandip Kumar Mishra from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Professor Do Tien Sam, the former director of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Chinese Studies. The experts exchanged their various opinions about the light and shade of China's One Belt, One Road initiative and the possible implications it may have on the Korean peninsula and Asia. The Foundation plans to take what was discussed at the conference to conduct further research on China's globalization strategies and publish the findings in book form by the first half of 2019.
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