Cultural Memories

A wide range of views regarding the war are expressed in the Japanese media. This section of the website looks at Japanese cultural representations of the war in various media. It supplements and extends the arguments in my books Japan’s Contested War Memories (Routledge 2007) and Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido (Routledge 2016).

Art

Expressions of war in art.

Films and Dramas

From blockbusters to little-known documentary films.

Games and Play

Computer games and their (cos)players.

Internet and Social Media

Memories and entertainment online.

Literature and Novels

Famous war stories.

Magazines

Weekly news magazines and monthly opinion magazines.

Manga and Anime

War in educational and/or entertainment formats.

Museums

War museums and exhibitions

Music

From classical to vocaloid.

Newspapers

National dailies to local broadsheets.

Poetry

War in haiku, tanka and other forms.

Radio and Podcasts

The postwar began on the radio …

Research

Scholarship and archives.

Sport

Sporting soldiers and the trope of the athlete.

Television

Still arguably the most powerful influence on Japanese war memories.

Testimony

The many people who have talked on the record about their war experiences.

Theatre

Performing for an audience.

Tourist Sites as Media

Texts, images, and messages.

Photo gallery and captions for the photos on this page.