Overview
Soka Institute for Global Solutions held the first Soka symposium “Peace and Reconciliation in East Asia” on April 19-20 at Soka University of America. More than 20 scholars, including presenters, moderators, and commentators, gathered, and each session had at least 50 attendees. The symposium began with a pre-symposium talk by Professor Prazniack and a pre-symposium by the SUA student Club’s orchestra and koto performance. Each session had intense discussions and Q&A by the audience. One student shared that attending this symposium inspired a new goal related to reconciliation in world peace, while many others expressed that it was a great opportunity to learn about issues in East Asia.
April 19, 2024
Day 1
The first day of the symposium opened with a welcome remark by SUA president Ed M. Feasel, highlighting the SUA founder Daisaku Ikeda’s efforts to bridge the Soviet Union and China during the Cold War. The symposium featured two film screenings, followed by director’s talks, which moved the audience. The first day was concluded with Student Fellow’s presentations. During break times, presenters and the audience engaged in lively conversations about various topics.
Untold by Bora Lee-Kil
Title of Talk: “Untold, the Story of the Day We Don’t Remember” (via Zoom)
This film depicts the previously undisclosed massacre of Vietnamese civilians by South Korean troops who fought in Vietnam as part of the US coalition. It records the historical content of a survivor, a woman who worked for an official apology from Korea.
In Mates by Yuki Iiyama
Title of Talk: “Cultural Genocide and Narratives”
(Translator: Hiromi Nitaguchi)
This movie features the voice of Zainichi Koreans, inspired by the medical journals of two Korean patients at a private mental hospital. Ms. Iiyama discussed her struggle with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Human Rights Department to screen her film.
Round Table Discussion by SIGS Student Research Fellows
Student Research Fellows gave presentations on various topics, including “Apology and the Comfort Women Issue” and the “Role of History Education to Establish Peace and Reconciliation in East Asia.” The Q&A session, facilitated by Soka Graduate Student, Emma Sherbine, provided deep insights into the audience.
April 20, 2024
Day 2
The symposium held a total of 3 sessions to discuss Peace and Reconciliation in East Asia, comprising 4 speakers, a moderator, and a commentator in each session: 1) History, Memory, Pan-Asian/Anti-Japan Sentiments, 2) Grassroots and Transnational Practices for Reconciliation, and 3) Diplomacy, Apology/Forgiveness, and Politics of Memory. After the three sessions, the symposium was concluded with an engaging and inspiring Q&A session from the audience.
Session I: History, Memory, Pan-Asian/Anti-Japan Sentiments
- Rumi Sakamoto (University of Auckland): “The Truth of Battleship Island’: Memory Activism over Wartime Forced Labour by the National Congress of Industrial Heritage” Abstract
- Leo Ching (Duke University): “Another Taiwan is Possible: Toward an Archipelagic East Asia.”
- Yuka Kishida (Bridgewater College): “Wielding a Pen and Carrying on a Dialogue amid Colonialism and War: Youth Interchanges in Japanese-Occupied Manchuria in the 1930s and 1940s” Abstract
- Xiaokui Wang (SUSTECH, PRC): “The Chinese Memory of the Anti-Japanese War: History and Characteristics” Abstract
Moderator: Xiaoxing Liu (SUA)
Commentator: Sijia Yao (SUA)
Session II: Grassroots and Transnational Practices for Reconciliation
- Akiko Takenaka (University of Kentucky): “Mothers Against War: Gender, Motherhood, and Peace Activism in Cold War Japan” Abstract
- Jimin Kim (Yonsei Univ. and CARE): “Empowering Change: Grassroots Initiative for the ‘Comfort Women’ Issue” Abstract
- Tetsushi Ogata (SUA): “A Structural Void in Public Memory: The Case of Japan’s Wartime Atrocities” Abstract
- Jin-kyung Lee (UCSD): “Remembering ‘Comfort Women’ in Three Wars: WW II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War” Abstract
Moderator: Danielle Denardo (SUA)
Commentator: Sunyoung Park (University of Southern California)
Session III : Diplomacy, Apology/Forgiveness, and Politics of Memory
- Tom Le (Pomona College): “Injustice as Debt: Recommendations for Japan-South Korea Reconciliation” Abstract
- Daniel Nagashima (U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: A Two-Level Analysis of Japan’s Post-Cold War Security Identity” Abstract
- Seiji Takaku (SUA): “The Psychology of Offering an Apology: Understanding the Benefits of and Barriers to Offering an Apology” Abstract
- Tatsushi Arai (Kent State University): “International Conflict Resolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Toward a Theory of Contextual Transformation” Abstract
Moderator: Esther Chang (SUA)
Commentator: Minju Kwon (Chapman University)
Organizing Committee
- Dongyoun Hwang (Chair), Professor of Asian Studies, SUA
- Roxann Prazniak, Professor of History, University of Oregon
- Seiji Takaku, Professor of Psychology, SUA
- Xiaoxing Liu, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Language and Culture, SUA
Student Research Fellows
2025
- Taehyeong Kim (Graduate School)
- Yuji Ishiyama (SUA)
- Taeyeon Kim (SUA)
- Hiroshi Nonaka (SUA)
- Mikiko Fujino (SUA)
- Miyuki Sase (SUA)
- Thao-Linh (Jenny) Vo (SUA)
- Miki Kawamura (SUA)
- Seongyun Kim (SUA)
2024
- Emma Sherbine (SUA, Graduate School)
- Kenta Okazaki (SUA)
- Judy Li (SUA)
- Kayoko Shimomura (SUA)
- Miki Kawamura (SUA)
- Sakura Arai (SUA)
- Yuji Ishiyama (SUA)
- Takumi Yabune (SUA)
- Ayano Tanaka (SUA)
- Haruka Nakata (SUA)
- Kailash Pariyar (SUA)
- Sofiia Lobas (SUA)
Student Assistants
- Gabriel Boldizsár
- Marina Taemi Inoue
- Sakiko Ochiai
- Viki Lohk