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UID:458@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261201T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261201T130000
DTSTAMP:20261113T153613Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/sendai-and-the-asia-pacific-wa
 r-soldiers-civilians-occupation-and-memory/
SUMMARY:Sendai and the Asia-Pacific War: Soldiers\, Civilians\, Occupation\
 , and Memory
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored with the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies\
 n\nThe English-language historiography of the Second World War remains sha
 ped by stereotypes of fanatical Japanese soldiers and civilians. Moreover\
 , broad national narratives and macro-level accounts of military operation
 s have often rendered invisible the distinctive experiences of individual 
 units and the societies from which they emerged. Japanese Army divisions w
 ere rooted in their recruitment regions\, creating enduring and complicate
 d connections between military units\, soldiers\, their families\, and loc
 al communities. This talk explores the history of the Imperial Japanese Ar
 my's 2nd Division\, based in Sendai. At the tip of the spear in Japan's wa
 r of imperial expansion\, the division fought in Manchuria from 1931\, Chi
 na from 1937\, and Guadalcanal\, where it was nearly destroyed. Reconstitu
 ted\, it fought against British forces in Burma in 1944. After Japan's sur
 render\, remnants of the division became involved in the early stages of t
 he conflict in Vietnam. Meanwhile\, returning veterans encountered a bombe
 d-out and occupied Sendai\, where citizens and former soldiers embarked on
  a complex process of memory-making and remembrance. What happens when we 
 study the Imperial Japanese Army not simply as an instrument of the state\
 , but as a social institution embedded in regional society? How did frontl
 ine experiences strengthen or test the bonds between a division and its ho
 metown? How was war memory constructed locally\, during the war and after 
 defeat? By tracing this history\, the talk aims to shed fresh light on the
  social world of the Imperial Japanese Army.
CATEGORIES:Visiting Scholar Talks
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
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