Gender Perspectives on How Japan is Represented in the USS Arizona Memorial

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  • ハワイ・アリゾナ記念碑における日本の表象とジェンダー
  • ハワイ ・ アリゾナ キネンヒ ニ オケル ニホン ノ ヒョウショウ ト ジェンダー

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Abstract

<p>The USS Arizona Memorial commemorates the American battleship sunk in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which triggered the Pacific War. This paper examines the memorial’s presentation of Japan, focusing on imageries of “peace” and “violence” as part of the symposium’s theme of “rethinking postwar democracy” in the context of Japan-U.S. relations.</p><p>After World War II, there was no public consensus on what should be done with the remains of the USS Arizona. However, after negotiations involving multiple stakeholders, the USS Arizona Memorial was built as a cautionary reminder of military defeat. It is a military cemetery, but also plays other roles –including promoting Hawaii’s tourist industry and helping to restore the prestige of the American military after the Vietnam War.</p><p>The USS Arizona Memorial became a popular sightseeing spot, and museums and a visitors’ center were later added on. The museums originally set forth an image of the Japanese military as “savage” and uncivilized.” However, the exhibits were later modified, tracing the history of Japan-U.S. relations from a global perspective, including coverage of Hawaii’s Nikkei community. Particularly noteworthy, the display included hitherto taboo references to the atomic bombing of Japan, in the shape of an origami crane made by Sasaki Sadako, an atomic bomb child-victim , whose story has developed into a peace narrative – the “Sadako story.”</p><p>While the USS Arizona Memorial symbolizes America’s recovery following the country’s emasculation after its first military defeat, postwar Japan is rendered in feminized metaphors such as a “young girl praying for peace.”</p><p>Here, we can see Japan-U.S. gender politics becoming manifest: the United States personifies a nation of “real democracy” maintained by “domination through strength,” while Japan –with its “rejection of violence in all forms” – constitutes a nation of “fake democracy.”</p>

Journal

  • jenda shigaku

    jenda shigaku 13 (0), 21-36, 2017-10-20

    The Gender History Association of Japan

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