News & Opinions | Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific

Sunken Japanese Destroyer Found on Pacific Seafloor

August 19, 2025
Asia-Pacific

Teruzuki, a sunk Japanese Destroyer during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, was found with all the munitions and weaponry in tact. Its first visual record offers a rare visual documentation of World War II naval ships providing invaluable insights of…

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As eighty years have passed since World War II came to an end in the Asia Pacific, the implications of the passing of the war generations for the war memories became more urgent. How did war generations fit into the domestic politics of memory in the postwar period? How did war generations fit into the transnational politics of memory in the postwar period? What will be the shapes of war memories without the presence of the war generations?

On Friday, September 26 (1:00-5:30pm) the Sigur Center for Asian Studies will host a conference on “World War II at 80: War Generations, Society, and Memory in the Asia Pacific.” The event will feature renowned professors from multiple universities, including Dr. Carol Gluck of Columbia, who will deliver the keynote speech. The event will be held in the Elliott School building’s Lindner Family Commons (6th floor).

Authenticity and Victimhood after the Second World War examines victim groups constructed in the twentieth century in the aftermath of these experiences. The collection explores the concept of authenticity through an examination of victims’ histories and the construction of victimhood in Europe and East Asia. Chapters consider how notions of historical authenticity influence the self-identification and public recognition of a given social group, the tensions arising from individual and group experiences of victimhood, and the resulting, sometimes divergent, interpretation of historical events. Drawing from case studies on topics including the Holocaust, the siege of Leningrad, American air raids on Japan, and forced migrations from Eastern Europe, Authenticity and Victimhood after the Second World War demonstrates the trend towards a victim-centered collective memory as well as the interplay of memory politics and public commemorative culture.

This book by Sharon Chamberlain, a former Program Associate, reveals the challenges faced by the Philippines, as a newly independent nation, in navigating issues of justice amid domestic and international pressures. Chamberlain highlights the differing views of Filipinos and Japanese about the trials. The Philippine government aimed to show its commitment to impartial proceedings with just outcomes. In Japan, it appeared that defendants were selected arbitrarily, judges and prosecutors were biased, and lower-ranking soldiers were punished for crimes ordered by their superior officers. She analyzes the broader implications of this divergence as bilateral relations between the two nations evolved and contends that these competing narratives were reimagined in a way that, paradoxically, aided a path toward postwar reconciliation.

Why do some governments and societies attach great significance to a particular anniversary year whereas others seem less inclined to do so? What motivates the orchestration of elaborate commemorative activities in some countries? What are they supposed to accomplish, for both domestic and international audience? In what ways do commemorations in Asia Pacific fit into the global memory culture of war commemoration? In what ways are these commemorations intertwined with current international politics?

The book is based on a conference convened by the Project in 2015. This book presents the first large-scale analysis of how countries in the Asia Pacific and beyond commemorated the seventieth anniversaries of the end of World War II. Consisting of in-depth case studies of China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, United States, Russia, and Germany, this unique collective effort demonstrates how memories of the past as reflected in public commemorations and contemporary politics—both internal and international—profoundly affect each other.

The book can be purchased here.