CJS Bento Box Series

Abstract

This penel hosts two of the best research papers that emerged in Fall 2021 from undergraduate research seminars on World War II and its legacies in Asia/Pacific (taught by CJS faculty, Professor Yuma Totani). In talking on major themes in the modern history of Japan, the two presenters apply contemporary sensibilities to understand and reassess the long-term impacts of the Allied undertaking in 1945-1952 of "transitional justice" - i.e. demilitarization and democratization of Japan - from which arose a peacefully included, prosperous Japan. The two papers show that, while the initial promises of the Allied remaking of Japan have been largely fulfilled, there still is much work to be done to strengthen Japan's commitment to protecting the rights of individual citizens - and especially women - on the one hand and, on the other, to reevaluate and redefine the role Japan is to play in the maintenance of international peace and security in the twenty-first century.