This project, led by Dr Rin Ushiyama seeks to explain why and how historical revisionism has persisted in Japan in the post-war period, despite its lack of academic credibility. In recent decades, there has been a resurgence of Japanese neo-nationalism, which seeks to reinstate Shinto as a state religion, establish a new ‘patriotic’ constitution, and positively reassess Japan’s fascist past. The rise of neo-nationalism has been accompanied by the denial or understatement of wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese military in the Asia-Pacific, such as the 1937 Nanking massacre and the enslavement of Asian women as sex slaves. This project will explore how academically controversial or discredited ideas, such as historical revisionism, persist in public discourse through the perspectives of sociology of ideas and sociology of intellectuals. It will investigate the social and political resources and networks which support revisionist intellectuals and social movements through documentary analysis, participant observation and qualitative interviews.
Image Credit: History by FUMIGRAPHIK_Photography [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0].