Abstract
Historians
have called wartime Japan a racist polity and the Asia-Pacific War a “race
war” saturated by “race hate.” Narratives about racial hatred between Weste
rners and Japanese during the war tend to be predicated on the assumption t
hat propaganda issued by both sides was effective in fostering roughly anal
ogous forms of racial hostility. Given the inseparability of war and hatred
generally\, one would be surprised if widespread racial enmity did not cry
stalize between Japan and the Allies\, as well as between their respective
citizenries. This talk will challenge the “race war” thesis in two ways. Fi
rst\, it will argue that “wartime Japan” was a more ideologically divided p
olity than is generally recognized. Second\, it will use the experiences of
resident Eurasians to demonstrate a pervasive racial ambivalence among Jap
anese citizens.
About the Speaker
W. Puck Brech
er specializes in early modern and modern Japanese social and cultural hist
ory. His past research projects have focused on early modern Japanese thoug
ht\, aesthetics\, and urban history\, as well as contemporary environmental
issues. His current research pertains to race relations during the Asia-Pa
cific War and Japan’s conceptualization of leisure during the Meiji era. He
is the author of Honored and Dishonored Guests: Westerners in Wartime Japa
n (Harvard University Asia Center\, 2017)\, The Aesthetics of Strangeness:
Eccentricity and Madness in Early Modern Japan (University of Hawaii Press\
, 2013)\, and numerous articles.
