Reconciliation

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Reconciliation is a long process. The obstacles to reconciliation in Asia have spawned a vast literature. The major academic research project in English is the Divided Memories and Reconciliation project run by Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel C. Sneider at Stanford University. Many of their publications are not open access, but a sample of the types of events and discussions is here. Another major work is the Routledge Handbook of Memory and Reconciliation in East Asia edited by Mikyoung Kim (albeit again not open access).

A scholar who has published extensively on issues of reconciliation is Tessa Morris-Suzuki. See for example:

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, “Long Journey Home: A Moment of Japan-Korea Remembrance and Reconciliation”.

Jennifer Lind has written an important book on the connections between apologies and reconciliation. Some of the key arguments are presented here:

Jennifer Lind, “Memory, Apology, and International Reconciliation”.

There are many other publications on this topic, and important international comparisons with reconciliation processes in places such as Germany/Poland, the former Yugoslavia, South Africa, and Rwanda.

My own publications on the topic of reconciliation are:

Lukasz Zablonski and Philip Seaton, ‘The Hokkaido Toyako Summit as a springboard for grassroots reconciliation initiatives: The “Peace, Reconciliation and Civil Society” symposium’The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Vol. 6, Issue 11 (2008).

‘Vietnam and Iraq in Japan: Japanese and American grassroots peace activism’The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Vol. 6, Issue 4 (2008).

Kurahashi Ayako and Philip Seaton, ‘War Responsibility and the Family in Japan: Kurahashi Ayako’s My Father’s Dying Wish’The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Vol. 8, Issue 32, Number 2 (2010).

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