Overview
This forward-looking three-year project explores perspectives and practices that regenerate cooperative dialogue and mutual trust in the aftermath of deep human traumas resulting from historical disasters, such as war, colonialism, and political injustice. Our goal is to create a forum for the interdisciplinary discussion of peace and reconciliation in East Asia with specific reference to conflicts over contested histories in which targeted individuals and communities suffered horrific acts of violence. It will approach the question of peace and reconciliation from various levels and disciplines and suggest a framework to specify differing memories/histories and imagine viable steps and paths toward peaceful resilience and conflict resolution in the region. Peace and reconciliation in East Asia, in other words, we believe, require a long, continuous, and open process that needs grassroots approaches as well as national level involvements, which we call Soka Steps. Our hope is to begin a meaningful discussion that will subsequently grow to include additional academic and non-governmental venues. We invite participation across the disciplines by students, scholars, activists, creative artists, and peace-making professionals, and contributions that are scholarship based, activist positioned, and youth oriented.
Pre-Symposium Event 1
Documentary Photographer, Seunghwan Cheon presented his powerful photo exhibition, “The Massacre Sites of ‘Rebellious Koreans’ during the 1923 Kantō Great Earthquake, followed by a Q & A session. Audience members then explored the exhibition, engaging with the images at their own pace. The experience offered a moment of quiet reflection on memory, history, and how we choose to remember the past.
Pre-Symposium Event 2
Virginia Moon, Associate Curator of Korean art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, presented“An Unexpected Task: Redirecting Korean Art in the Early 20th Century.” She introduced key historical shifts in Korea during Japanese colonization and explored how these political changes shaped the development of modern Korean art. She emphasized how art from this period held deep emotional resonance and reflected the complexities of Korean identity, modernity, and foreign influence.
Pre-Symposium Event 3
Pre-symposium started with a Poetry reading by Yuan Liang (SUA librarian) and a music performance of “Beautiful Land” by Gloria Takahashi (SIGS assistant). Three student groups presented on reconciliation and resistance within the East Asia diaspora, preschool in three cultures (China, Korea, and Japan), and voices and memories of abandoned people in East Asia.
April 18, 2025
Day 1
The first day of the symposium opened with a welcome remark by SUA president Ed M. Feasel, highlighting the efforts of Soka University of Japan to be the first university to accept exchange students from China. The symposium featured two opening talks with the film screening of Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima. The first day was concluded with students’ round table discussion, from SUA, Seoul National University, and University of California, Irvine (UCI).
Opening Talk 1
Seunghwan Cheon presented on “Reflecting on the Future of Korea-Japan Relations through the Photographic Documentation of Monuments Commemorating the Massacre of Koreans during the 1923 Kantō Earthquake.” He shared overlooked perspectives on the 1923 tragedy, where Koreans were discriminated against and massacred. Cheon introduced his multi-year documentation project—covering data research, on-site work, and archiving—which records monuments, sites, and stories. His project aims to promote historical understanding and reconciliation between Korea and Japan.
Opening Talk 2
Tomoko Watanabe presented “The Journey to Find Hiroshima: Learning from Dialogues and Encounters with A-bomb Survivors and Asian People of All Backgrounds.” The daughter of an atomic bomb survivor in Hiroshima, Watanabe deepened her understanding of the tragedy by engaging with people affected by war, poverty, and displacement. She emphasized the importance of learning not only from textbooks but also through first-hand experiences and courageous sharing.
Student Round Table Discussion
“Rethinking the Memory of Korea’s Liberation at the Edge Korean Literature,” “Korean Perceptions of Zainichi and the Boundaries of Koreanness in the Novel “Yuhi”,” and “Shaping Memory: Japan’s History Education.”
April 29, 2025
Day 2
The second day of the symposium featured three insightful sessions centered on the theme of Peace and Reconciliation in East Asia. Each session included four distinguished speakers, a moderator, and a commentator, fostering rich, multi-perspective discussions. The sessions were organized into three themes: 1) The Past as Legacy and Project, 2) Culture, Gender, and Politics in Reconciliation, and 3) Legal and Transnational Approaches to Reconciliation. The day concluded with closing reflections from Roxanne, followed by a dynamic and inspiring Q&A session, where audience members engaged directly with the speakers, deepening the dialogue on reconciliation and peacebuilding in the region.
Session I: The Past As Legacy and Project
- Stella Xu (Roanoke College): “Seventh and Twentieth Centuries in East Asia—A Historical Parallel” Abstract coming soon.
- Masako Nozaki (Waseda University): “The Evolution of External Perceptions in Japanese Language Education: Continuity and Change from Wartime and Postwar Japan” Abstract coming soon.
- Soonyi Lee (Mercy University): “Reframing China from a South Korean Perspective: Overcoming Anti-China Sentiment and Seeking Symbiosis in Twenty-First Century East Asia” Abstract coming soon.
- Dong Ju Seo (Seoul National University): “The Monster and the Question of Pacifism: Two Recent Godzilla Films and Their Cultural Implications in Contemporary Japan” Abstract coming soon.
Commentator: Zachary Gottesman (SUA)
Student Respondents: Taeyeon Kim (SUA) and Yuji Ishiyama (SUA) Moderator: Hyon Moon (SUA)
Session II: Culture, Gender, and Politics in Reconciliation
- I Jonathan Kief (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill): “Literatures of the April Revolution between North Korea, South Korea, and Japan” Abstract coming soon.
- Hyewon Song (Osaka Metropolitan University): “Pioneering the History of First-Generation Zainichi Korean Women’s Studies: Hisae Hirabayashi and the Oral History Movement of the 1960s” Abstract coming soon.
- Joowhee Lee (Yonsei University): “Creating Nostalgic Hometowns – A Case of Escaped Zainichi Korean Returnees from North Korea” Abstract coming soon.
Commentator: Jin-kyung Lee (University of California, San Diego)
Student Respondents: Inhye (Blossom) Jeong (UCI) and Thao-Linh (Jenny) Vo (SUA) Moderator: Osamu Ishiyama (SUA)
Session III: Legal and Transnational Approaches to Reconciliation
- Kyung Sin Park (Korea University): “State Immunity as Applied to Colonial Racism and the Japanese Military as Purchaser and Joint Tortfeasor: Case of Korean ‘Comfort Women’” Abstract coming soon.
- Jenyu Peng (Academia Sinica): “The Shareability of Political Trauma as a Precursor to Reconciliation” Abstract coming soon.
- Sijia Yao (SUA): “Unrequited AI Love in Post-Mao Chinese Science Fiction”
Commentator: Minju Kwon (Chapman University) Student Respondent: Miyuki Sase (SUA) Moderator: Peter Burns (SUA)
