"Collecting Fragments of War: Receding Soldiers and Our Historical Practice"

2024/10/29

I have been conducting research with an interest in "connections." In my book "Sociology of the 'Yokaren' Veterans' Association" (Shinyosha, 2022), which was based on my doctoral dissertation, I explored the process of forming cross-generational connections among former child soldiers who survived the war. More than 70 years after the war, interviews with those who experienced it are no longer enough. There was a need for the practice of searching for documents and photographs left behind by those who have already passed away.

Former soldiers are a minor theme, but looking around, there were researchers of the same generation pursuing similar studies. From those connections, the project for this co-edited book began. This book was created by 11 researchers who have connected with former soldiers in various ways and explored their wartime and postwar experiences.

For example, Keio University alumni Shuichi Tsukada examines the life of Takanori Nakajo, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy who became a business elite at Asahi Breweries after the war, and the connections within veterans' associations. Miyuki Endo, whose book was introduced in the "Writing Notes" section of the March issue of this magazine, wrote about the process of taking over the "Association of Soldiers Against War," which was founded by former soldiers acting for anti-war peace.

More than half of the authors, including the three editors, were born in the 1990s. For example, Marika Tsukahara attended a memorial service for the battleship Kongo in search of clues about her great-uncle who died in the war, and Yuna Horikawa organizes and carefully deciphers the vast amount of notebooks and memos left behind by Siberian detainees.

That war 79 years ago is now becoming history. However, through historical materials, objects, and secondary testimonies, it is possible to connect with those who experienced it and are now deceased, depending on the ingenuity and methods used. To that end, it is also important to share the experiences and practices accumulated by the postwar generations who have faced the war. On the other hand, it is also a time to think about what can be seen by having temporal distance. With such a message in mind, I chose "historical practice"—referring to the act of connecting with the past in daily life—as the keyword throughout the book, rather than face-to-face or direct "inheritance of experience."

I also took up my post at SFC in April, and my days are filled with new connections and stimulation. I have also begun fieldwork in Fujisawa City and learned that the Tsujido Coast in Shonan was once a training ground for the former Imperial Navy and the U.S. military, and that there were nine small underground bunkers dug by the military at SFC at the end of the war. We just don't notice them, but fragments of war are scattered everywhere.

"Collecting Fragments of War: Receding Soldiers and Our Historical Practice"

Ryo Shimizu (Co-editor/author)

Tosho Shuppan Migiwa

302 pages, 3,520 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.