Sven Saaler
Biographic Data
| ID | 247865 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sven Saaler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sven |
| FAMILY NAME | Saaler |
| SIGNATURE | SAALER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sophia University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9569-6650 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Yasukuni Fundamentalism
Journal Article Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration Get access Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration by Mark R. MullinsHonolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2021, 270 pp., $64.00 (ISBN 9780824889012) Sven Saaler Sven Saaler Sophia University [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9569-6650 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Schola…
Japanese and Korean Perspectives on the Issue of Forced Labor in the Asia-Pacific War
The issue of forced labor during the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945) remains a stone of contention in Japanese-Korean relations. While the governments of the two countries seem to put the issue aside in order to improve economic and military ties, civil society in both countries remains suspicious. The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus here introduces the positions of representatives of two civil society organizations from South Korea and Japan, res…
Demolition Men
For almost two decades, Gunma Prefecture has been the site of an intense political struggle over the public representation of the history of wartime forced labor in Japan's public sphere. Following an initiative by a private group, and with the unanimous consent of the prefectural assembly, a memorial dedicated to Korean wartime laborers was set up in a prefectural park in the city of Takasaki in 2004. However, in 2014, the prefecture announced i…
Men in Metal
In his pioneering study, Men in Metal, Sven Saaler examines Japanese public statuary as a central site of historical memory from its beginnings in the Meiji period through the twenty-first century. Saaler shows how the elites of the modern Japanese nation-state went about constructing an iconography of national heroes to serve their agenda of instilling national (and nationalist) thinking into the masses. Based on a wide range of hitherto untappe…
Dissecting the Wave of Books on Nippon Kaigi, the Rightwing Mass Movement that Threatens Japan's Future
In 2018, a number of events in Japan and Europe have reassessed the legacy of the 1968 student movement and related phenomena. Generally speaking, "1968"-still considered a symbol of a critique of capitalism, imperialism, and the Cold War world order-is usually associated with left-wing forces. Only in recent years has attention been paid to student organizations opposed to the 1968 left-wing movement. This facet of "1968" is particularly importa…
History and the State in Postwar Japan
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History, a concise introduction to Japanese history between the middle of the nineteenth century and the end of the twentieth, was published in late 2017. In preparing the work, the editors were fortunate to obtain the cooperation of 30 historians from Japan, Europe, Australia and the U.S., who provided succinct yet comprehensive overviews of their field of expertise
A New Modern History of East Asia
Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860-2010
Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860–2010 examines the mutual images formed between Japan and Germany from the mid-nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, and the influence of these images on the development of bilateral relations. Unlike earlier research on Japanese-German relations, which focused on the similarity of these countries’ historical trajectories, this publication presents a more nuanced picture. It relativi…
Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History
Public Statuary and Nationalism in Modern and Contemporary Japan
In recent years we have seen a worldwide increase in debates surrounding memorials that celebrate historical personalities. In the United States, statues of generals who commanded the troops of the Confederacy in the Civil War (1861-65) have been demolished or strongly criticized as inappropriate. In Oxford, students have demanded the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) because of the role he played in British imperialism and his advo…
Nationalism and History in Contemporary Japan
What are the characteristics of contemporary Japanese nationalism? And is there a “surge of nationalism in Japan,” as so often claimed (Kitaoka 2001; Sasaki 2001; Hasegawa and Togo 2008; NYT 2013), or even a “drift to the right” in the country (Kato 2014; Nakano 2015)? Distinguishing between elite maneuverings and popular attitudes, in this article I first identify what I consider to be the major topics of current nationalist discourse, and then …
The Long Defeat
Reviewed by: The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan by Akiko Hashimoto Sven Saaler (bio) The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan. By Akiko Hashimoto. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015. xii, 192 pages. $99.00, cloth; $24.95, paper. When Abe Shinzō became prime minister of Japan in December 2012, he announced that he planned to change the government’s official position regarding Japan’s wartime p…
Nationalism and history in contemporary Japan
In this chapter, I analyze recent developments in discourse about nationalism and nationhood with respect to Japan. In the past few decades, much has been written about an alleged “(re)surgence of nationalism” (Kitaoka, 2001; Sasaki, 2001; Hasegawa and Togo 2008; NYT 2013) and a “drift to the right” in Japan (Kato 2014). While such developments should properly be considered as aligned with international trends (cf. Smith, 1996 for the global cont…
The Abe Government and the 2014 Screening of Japanese Junior High School History Textbooks
School textbooks constitute one significant arena in which dominant, oppositional, and alternative forces in society contest the past to shape the future. Textbook controversies can be a sign of democracy-or they can indicate efforts to suppress democracy. As Tawara Yoshifumi meticulously documents, recently announced results of the Japanese government's school textbook screening show clearly the Abe administration's success in imposing its views…
The Kokuryūkai (Black Dragon Society) and the Rise of Nationalism, Pan-Asianism, and Militarism in Japan, 1901–1925
In the conduct of prewar Japanese foreign relations, political associations ( seiji kessha ) – we might also call them pressure groups – exerted considerable political influence, particularly on Japan's relations with China and other Asian nations. One of the best known of these political associations is the Kokuryūkai (the “Amur Society,” also known as the “Black Dragon Society”), which was founded in 1901 and, in 1946, was banned as an ultranat…
Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present
Sven Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman's "Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present" deals with Pan-Asian ideas in a broad context, from the earliest encounters with Western imperialism and nationalism to contemporary concepts of "Asian Values." They argue that Pan-Asianism only became part of Japan's mainstream political vocabulary in the 1910s, and it was problematic from the start. Unresolved questions include…
Could Hosokawa Morihiro's political comeback restore sanity to Japanese politics
In the upcoming Tokyo gubernatorial elections, Hosokawa Morihiro could make an astonishing comeback more than a quarter of a century after retiring as Prime Minister. Mainstream and independent media have generally stressed his opposition to nuclear power and his support for green energy alternatives, in contrast to the national government of Abe Shinzō. However, Abe and Hosokawa also represent different poles in another controversial field of po…
Pan-Asianism
This first volume in a two-volume set provides the only comprehensive, Western-language history of Pan-Asianism through primary sources and commentaries. The book argues that Pan-Asianism, often—though unfairly—associated with the Yellow Peril, has been a powerful political and ideological force in modern Asia. It has shaped national identities and strongly influenced the development of international relations across Asia and the Pacific. Scholar…
Pan-Asianism
This second volume in a two-volume set provides the only comprehensive, Western-language history of Pan-Asianism through primary sources and commentaries. The book argues that Pan-Asianism, often—though unfairly—associated with the Yellow Peril, has been a powerful political and ideological force in modern Asia. It has shaped national identities and strongly influenced the development of international relations across Asia and the Pacific. Schola…
Das Deutsche Kaiserreich 1890-1914
Wilhelm II., der letzte deutsche Kaiser ist das Symbol eines Landes im Umbruch. Er prägte Politik und Gesellschaft - wurde aber noch viel mehr selber von diesen beeinflusst. Das Wilhelminische Reich verkörperte Rückwärtsgewandtheit und Moderne, Aufbruch und Stillstand gleichermaßen. Es hat daher immer wieder zu kontroversen Debatten herausgefordert. International renommierte Historiker entwerfen auf dem neuesten Forschungsstand ein differenzierte…
Political and Policy Repercussions of Japan's Nuclear and Natural Disasters in Germany
The Fukushima nuclear reactor accident has had an immense economic and political impact worldwide, leading many countries to rethink their nuclear policies and programmes. Germany is a striking case in point, as the two statements introduced here show. Published in mid-March by IG Metall (the German metal workers' union), and updated for this translated release, the documents are in reaction to the disasters in Japan. The first policy paper is an…
Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present
Sven Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman's "Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present" deals with Pan-Asian ideas in a broad context, from the earliest encounters with Western imperialism and nationalism to contemporary concepts of "Asian Values." They argue that Pan-Asianism only became part of Japan's mainstream political vocabulary in the 1910s, and it was problematic from the start. Unresolved questions include…
Power of Memory in Modern Japan
The Russo-Japanese War And The Emergence Of The Notion Of The ‘Clash Of Races’ In Japanese Foreign Policy
This chapter analyses the roots of racial notions in Japanese foreign policy and examines the effects of European 'Yellow Peril' propaganda on and in Japan. It discusses the following questions: How, if at all, did Japan react to this kind of propaganda? How did Japanese foreign policy change as a consequence of it? Race played an important role in the Pacific War, and not much attention has been paid to the emergence of racial notions in Japanes…
The Power of Memory in Modern Japan
Due to their symbolic and iconographic meanings, expressions of ‘collective memory’ constitute the mental topography of a society and make a powerful contribution to its cultural, political and social identity. In Japan, the subject of ‘memory’ has prompted a huge response in recent years. Indeed, it has been and continues to be debated at many levels of Japan’s political, social, economic and cultural life. For the historian and social scientist…
The Construction of Regionalism in Modern Japan
Around a century ago, in his "The Ideals of the East", Okakura Tenshin (Kakuzô) proclaimed that "Asia is one". This phrase, quoted repeatedly ever since, has been interpreted as representative of the ideology of Pan-Asianism (Han-Ajiashugi) or Asianism (Ajiashugi) in Japan. However, Okakura's writings were not widely read in Japan during the Meiji era and his originally English writings were translated into Japanese only in the 1930s. It must hav…
Nationalism and History in Contemporary Japan
What are the characteristics of contemporary Japanese nationalism? And is there a “surge of nationalism in Japan,” as so often claimed (Kitaoka 2001; Sasaki 2001; Hasegawa and Togo 2008; NYT 2013), or even a “drift to the right” in the country (Kato 2014; Nakano 2015)? Distinguishing between elite maneuverings and popular attitudes, in this article I first identify what I consider to be the major topics of current nationalist discourse, and then …
Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present
Sven Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman's "Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present" deals with Pan-Asian ideas in a broad context, from the earliest encounters with Western imperialism and nationalism to contemporary concepts of "Asian Values." They argue that Pan-Asianism only became part of Japan's mainstream political vocabulary in the 1910s, and it was problematic from the start. Unresolved questions include…
Die Bedeutung der Epochenmarke 1868 in der Japanischen Geschichte
Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History
1.Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History: Overcoming the Nation, Creating a Region, Forging an Empire Sven Saaler Part I Creating a Regional Identity: Ideal and Reality 2. Pan-Asianism in Modern Japan: Nationalism, Regionalism and Universalism Miwa Kimitada 3. The Asianism of the Koa-kai and the Ajia Kyokai: Reconsidering the Ambiguity of Asianism Kuroki Morifumi 4. Universal Values and Pan-Asianism: the Vision of Omotokyo Li Narangoa 5. Pan-Asi…
The Construction of Regionalism in Modern Japan
Around a century ago, in his "The Ideals of the East", Okakura Tenshin (Kakuzô) proclaimed that "Asia is one". This phrase, quoted repeatedly ever since, has been interpreted as representative of the ideology of Pan-Asianism (Han-Ajiashugi) or Asianism (Ajiashugi) in Japan. However, Okakura's writings were not widely read in Japan during the Meiji era and his originally English writings were translated into Japanese only in the 1930s. It must hav…
Power of Memory in Modern Japan
The Russo-Japanese War And The Emergence Of The Notion Of The ‘Clash Of Races’ In Japanese Foreign Policy
This chapter analyses the roots of racial notions in Japanese foreign policy and examines the effects of European 'Yellow Peril' propaganda on and in Japan. It discusses the following questions: How, if at all, did Japan react to this kind of propaganda? How did Japanese foreign policy change as a consequence of it? Race played an important role in the Pacific War, and not much attention has been paid to the emergence of racial notions in Japanes…
The Power of Memory in Modern Japan
Due to their symbolic and iconographic meanings, expressions of ‘collective memory’ constitute the mental topography of a society and make a powerful contribution to its cultural, political and social identity. In Japan, the subject of ‘memory’ has prompted a huge response in recent years. Indeed, it has been and continues to be debated at many levels of Japan’s political, social, economic and cultural life. For the historian and social scientist…
War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945-2005
Journal Article War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005 Get access War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005, by Franziska Seraphim. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006, 409 pp., $49.95 (hardcover ISBN 0-674-02271-8), $22.95 (paperback ISBN 0-674-02830-9) Sven SAALER Sven SAALER The University of Tokyo Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Science Japan Journal, …
Pan-Asianism
This first volume in a two-volume set provides the only comprehensive, Western-language history of Pan-Asianism through primary sources and commentaries. The book argues that Pan-Asianism, often—though unfairly—associated with the Yellow Peril, has been a powerful political and ideological force in modern Asia. It has shaped national identities and strongly influenced the development of international relations across Asia and the Pacific. Scholar…
Pan-Asianism
This second volume in a two-volume set provides the only comprehensive, Western-language history of Pan-Asianism through primary sources and commentaries. The book argues that Pan-Asianism, often—though unfairly—associated with the Yellow Peril, has been a powerful political and ideological force in modern Asia. It has shaped national identities and strongly influenced the development of international relations across Asia and the Pacific. Schola…
Das Deutsche Kaiserreich 1890-1914
Wilhelm II., der letzte deutsche Kaiser ist das Symbol eines Landes im Umbruch. Er prägte Politik und Gesellschaft - wurde aber noch viel mehr selber von diesen beeinflusst. Das Wilhelminische Reich verkörperte Rückwärtsgewandtheit und Moderne, Aufbruch und Stillstand gleichermaßen. Es hat daher immer wieder zu kontroversen Debatten herausgefordert. International renommierte Historiker entwerfen auf dem neuesten Forschungsstand ein differenzierte…
Political and Policy Repercussions of Japan's Nuclear and Natural Disasters in Germany
The Fukushima nuclear reactor accident has had an immense economic and political impact worldwide, leading many countries to rethink their nuclear policies and programmes. Germany is a striking case in point, as the two statements introduced here show. Published in mid-March by IG Metall (the German metal workers' union), and updated for this translated release, the documents are in reaction to the disasters in Japan. The first policy paper is an…
Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present
Sven Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman's "Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present" deals with Pan-Asian ideas in a broad context, from the earliest encounters with Western imperialism and nationalism to contemporary concepts of "Asian Values." They argue that Pan-Asianism only became part of Japan's mainstream political vocabulary in the 1910s, and it was problematic from the start. Unresolved questions include…
The Kokuryūkai (Black Dragon Society) and the Rise of Nationalism, Pan-Asianism, and Militarism in Japan, 1901–1925
In the conduct of prewar Japanese foreign relations, political associations ( seiji kessha ) – we might also call them pressure groups – exerted considerable political influence, particularly on Japan's relations with China and other Asian nations. One of the best known of these political associations is the Kokuryūkai (the “Amur Society,” also known as the “Black Dragon Society”), which was founded in 1901 and, in 1946, was banned as an ultranat…
Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present
Sven Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman's "Pan-Asianism as an Ideal of Asian Identity and Solidarity, 1850-Present" deals with Pan-Asian ideas in a broad context, from the earliest encounters with Western imperialism and nationalism to contemporary concepts of "Asian Values." They argue that Pan-Asianism only became part of Japan's mainstream political vocabulary in the 1910s, and it was problematic from the start. Unresolved questions include…
Could Hosokawa Morihiro's political comeback restore sanity to Japanese politics
In the upcoming Tokyo gubernatorial elections, Hosokawa Morihiro could make an astonishing comeback more than a quarter of a century after retiring as Prime Minister. Mainstream and independent media have generally stressed his opposition to nuclear power and his support for green energy alternatives, in contrast to the national government of Abe Shinzō. However, Abe and Hosokawa also represent different poles in another controversial field of po…
Nationalism and history in contemporary Japan
In this chapter, I analyze recent developments in discourse about nationalism and nationhood with respect to Japan. In the past few decades, much has been written about an alleged “(re)surgence of nationalism” (Kitaoka, 2001; Sasaki, 2001; Hasegawa and Togo 2008; NYT 2013) and a “drift to the right” in Japan (Kato 2014). While such developments should properly be considered as aligned with international trends (cf. Smith, 1996 for the global cont…
The Abe Government and the 2014 Screening of Japanese Junior High School History Textbooks
School textbooks constitute one significant arena in which dominant, oppositional, and alternative forces in society contest the past to shape the future. Textbook controversies can be a sign of democracy-or they can indicate efforts to suppress democracy. As Tawara Yoshifumi meticulously documents, recently announced results of the Japanese government's school textbook screening show clearly the Abe administration's success in imposing its views…
Nationalism and History in Contemporary Japan
What are the characteristics of contemporary Japanese nationalism? And is there a “surge of nationalism in Japan,” as so often claimed (Kitaoka 2001; Sasaki 2001; Hasegawa and Togo 2008; NYT 2013), or even a “drift to the right” in the country (Kato 2014; Nakano 2015)? Distinguishing between elite maneuverings and popular attitudes, in this article I first identify what I consider to be the major topics of current nationalist discourse, and then …
The Long Defeat
Reviewed by: The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan by Akiko Hashimoto Sven Saaler (bio) The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan. By Akiko Hashimoto. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015. xii, 192 pages. $99.00, cloth; $24.95, paper. When Abe Shinzō became prime minister of Japan in December 2012, he announced that he planned to change the government’s official position regarding Japan’s wartime p…
A New Modern History of East Asia
Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860-2010
Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860–2010 examines the mutual images formed between Japan and Germany from the mid-nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, and the influence of these images on the development of bilateral relations. Unlike earlier research on Japanese-German relations, which focused on the similarity of these countries’ historical trajectories, this publication presents a more nuanced picture. It relativi…
Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History
Public Statuary and Nationalism in Modern and Contemporary Japan
In recent years we have seen a worldwide increase in debates surrounding memorials that celebrate historical personalities. In the United States, statues of generals who commanded the troops of the Confederacy in the Civil War (1861-65) have been demolished or strongly criticized as inappropriate. In Oxford, students have demanded the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) because of the role he played in British imperialism and his advo…
Dissecting the Wave of Books on Nippon Kaigi, the Rightwing Mass Movement that Threatens Japan's Future
In 2018, a number of events in Japan and Europe have reassessed the legacy of the 1968 student movement and related phenomena. Generally speaking, "1968"-still considered a symbol of a critique of capitalism, imperialism, and the Cold War world order-is usually associated with left-wing forces. Only in recent years has attention been paid to student organizations opposed to the 1968 left-wing movement. This facet of "1968" is particularly importa…
History and the State in Postwar Japan
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History, a concise introduction to Japanese history between the middle of the nineteenth century and the end of the twentieth, was published in late 2017. In preparing the work, the editors were fortunate to obtain the cooperation of 30 historians from Japan, Europe, Australia and the U.S., who provided succinct yet comprehensive overviews of their field of expertise
Japanese History and Culture (23 works) · History (21 works) · Political science (21 works) · Law (15 works) · Politics (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Art (8 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (6 works) · Economic history (6 works) · Aesthetics (5 works)