15mm 5mm 146mm 12mm 21mm 12mm 146mm 5mm 15mm 1 5 m m 5m m FRONTIERS OF MEMORY IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC IF N Difficult Heritage and the Transnational Politics R of Postcolonial Nationalism TO HN ‘Bringing together an excellent range of cases from diverse locations across the Asia Pacific, this ET book is an important contribution not only to this part of the world but to understandings of AI heritage struggles, especially in relation to colonial histories, more widely.’ E —Sharon Macdonald, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin SR IS ‘This collection is an important contribution to our understanding of the place of Asia within A global memory culture. Going beyond the “tunnel vision” of national memories, it provides us - O with a sophisticated examination of the ways the “difficult heritage” of colonialism, revolution, P F and war intersects with contemporary politics to produce an Asia-Pacific memory sphere.’ A —Ran Zwigenberg, Pennsylvania State University CM IE F Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific explores the making and consumption of conflict-related M I heritage throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Contributing to a growing literature on ‘difficult C O heritage’, this collection advances our understanding of how places of pain, shame, oppression, R and trauma have been appropriated and refashioned as ‘heritage’ in a number of societies in contemporary East and Southeast Asia and Oceania. The authors analyse how the repackaging Y of difficult pasts as heritage can serve either to reinforce borders, transcend them, or even achieve both simultaneously, depending on the political agendas that inform the heritage- FRONTIERS OF MEMORY making process. They also examine the ways in which these processes respond to colonialism, 2 3 5 decolonization, and nationalism. The volume shows how efforts to preserve various sites of m m ‘difficult heritage’ can involve the construction of new borders in the mind between what is commemorated and what is often deliberately obscured or forgotten. IN Taken together, the studies presented here suggest new directions for comparative research into difficult heritage across Asia and beyond, applying an interdisciplinary and critical THE ASIA-PACIFIC perspective that spans history, heritage studies, memory studies, urban studies, architecture, and international relations. Shu-Mei Huang is an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, National Taiwan University. Hyun Kyung Lee is a research professor in the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Hankuk Difficult Heritage and the Transnational Politics aS E University of Foreign Studies, South Korea. nh d Edward Vickers is professor of comparative education and holds the UNESCO Chair on Education d Edu-M ited b of Postcolonial Nationalism for Peace, Social Justice, and Global Citizenship at Kyushu University, Japan. we y ai H r du On the front cover: Large Shinto shrine dominating the top of Van Binlo tohde yd Nisotasnec Rei,d tgoe t hoen rPigehletl iouf, twhieth p thhoet oUgSr aMpahr.i n e Corps memorial History / Asian Studies ickeg, H ry Photograph by Edward Boyle, 2018. su n K y Edited by u n g Shu-Mei Huang, Hyun Kyung Lee, and Edward Vickers L e e Printed and bound in Hong Kong, China , 5m m 1 5 m m Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific Difficult Heritage and the Transnational Politics of Postcolonial Nationalism Edited by Shu-Mei Huang, Hyun Kyung Lee, and Edward Vickers Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong https://hkupress.hku.hk © 2022 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8754-14-4 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Hang Tai Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific: Difficult Heritage and the Transnational Politics of Postcolonial Nationalism 1 Shu-Mei Huang, Edward Vickers, and Hyun Kyung Lee Part I: Memory Politics, Colonialism, and Conflict 1. Lapped by the Tide: Borders of Memory on the Island of Peleliu, Palau 27 Edward Boyle 2. Whose Difficult Heritage? Contesting Indigenous Ainu Representations 45 Roslynn Ang 3. Taipei’s National Martyrs’ Shrine: The Past and Present Lives of a Difficult Monument 64 Lu Pan Part II: Making Heritage out of Memories of Incarceration 4. Unsettling the Familiar: Hong Kong’s Colonial Policing Heritage 83 Lachlan B. Barber 5. Beyond a Racialized Representation of Colonial Quarantine: Recollecting the Many Pasts of St John’s Island, Singapore 103 Desmond Hok-Man Sham 6. The Prison Gate as Leftist Heritage? Political Indifference and the Pursuit of ‘Healthy Nationalism’ in Japan 124 Tomoko Ako 7. Organic Heritage Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific Region: Reconciliatory Landscapes 143 Anoma Pieris vi Contents Part III: Nationalism, Transnationalism, and Difficult Heritage Making 8. Staking Claims to Difficult Memories: Diplomacy and Jewish Heritage in Shanghai and Beyond 165 Shu-Mei Huang 9. From Offshore Heritage to Shared Heritage: Transnational Difficult Heritage Making and the Shanghai Provisional Government of Korea 187 Hyun Kyung Lee 10. Mapping Kyushu’s War-Related Heritage: Hard and Soft Frontiers of Memory in Japan’s ‘Asian’ Gateway 209 Edward Vickers List of Contributors 233 Index 237 Figures On the cover: Large Shinto shrine dominating the top of Bloody Nose Ridge on Peleliu, with the US Marine Corps memorial in the distance, to the right of the photograph. Figure 0.1: The constellation of cases discussed in this volume. 9 Figure 1.1: Memorial sites and borders of memory on the island of Peleliu. 30 Figure 1.2: Makeshift wooden joists propping up the second storey of an old Japanese power plant. 34 Figure 3.1: Territorial map of the Imperial Shrine Taiwan Shrine, 1906. 69 Figure 3.2: A painting of Taiwan Grand Shrine during Japanese colonial rule, 1930. 70 Figure 3.3: The sanctuary of the Martyrs’ Shrine. 75 Figure 5.1: Location of St John’s Island and Lazarus Island in Singapore. 104 Figure 6.1: The main gate of Nakano Prison. 129 Figure 6.2: The design proposal of the PFES in which a four-storey school building turns its back to the gate and encloses the entire gate. 130 Figure 7.1: Cowra Japanese Garden. 157 Figure 7.2: Naoetsu Peace Memorial Park. 159 Figure 8.1: Ohel Moshe Synagogue was restored and converted into the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in 2007. 171 Figure 8.2: Ohel Rachel Synagogue in Shanghai was once the largest synagogue in the city. 176 Figure 9.1: The relocation route of the former Provisional Government of Korea before the end of the Second World War. 190 Figure 9.2: Left to right: a. the sign of the SPGK on Madang Road, Xintiandi; b. the main gate of the SPGK; c. the exhibition of the signatures of South Korean presidents on their state visit. 199 viii Figures Figure 10.1: Map of Kyushu. 215 Figure 10.2: Suffering innocents. Image of mother and child at exhibition commemorating postwar Japanese exiles in Siberia at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. 223 Figure 10.3: Peace Statue at the Gokoku Shrine, Fukuoka. 223 Acknowledgements We are indebted to a number of institutions and individuals for their help in bringing this edited volume to press. The book’s foundation was laid at a session titled Cross-border Reworking on Difficult Memories and Places in Asia at the 2018 Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference held in Hangzhou, China, where more than half of the chapter authors met and agreed to collaborate further in researching difficult heritage in the Asia-Pacific. The next year, several of us convened again in Bangkok, Thailand, for another panel discussion at the 2019 AAS-in-Asia (Association for Asian Studies) meeting where we met Joan Vicens Sard (former acquisitions editor of Hong Kong University Press), who invited us to consider submitting a book proposal. The three editors subsequently gathered at a 2019 conference in Fukuoka on the Politics of War-Related Heritage in Contemporary Asia. That conference was gener- ously funded by Kyushu University’s Progress 100 scheme, the Resona Asia-Oceania Foundation, and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. The War Memoryscapes in Asia Partnership (WARMAP), the main organizer of the Fukuoka conference, was originally established with funding from the Leverhulme Trust (UK). It was after the 2019 Fukuoka conference that we finalized our proposal and submitted it to Hong Kong University Press. As editors, we are greatly indebted to all contributors for working with us to finalize their various chapters. We would also like to acknowledge the travel grants provided by a number of institutions, including the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (109-2410-H-002-168-MY2), the Laboratory Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies under Grant (AKS-2016-LAB-2250005). Our gratitude also extends to Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, which funds Kyushu University’s interdisciplinary Taiwan Studies Program; Dr Shiho Maehara, attached to that Program, contributed to the organi- zation of the 2019 Fukuoka conference. Ms Kyoko Murooka provided invaluable administrative support. Student helpers who were key to ensuring the success of the