Ch. 1: Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Japan

Synopsis

The chapter sets up the theoretical framework for the book. Drawing on war memory, media and cultural theory, and based on the evidence of opinion poll data about war issues in Japan, the chapter presents a detailed hypothesis concerning the nature of Japanese war memories and the reasons for their contested nature.

Online References

Public opinion poll data about Japan is typically found in isolated reports in the Japanese media or collected in Japanese-language books. The main place to find extensive data in English is JPOLL: Roper Center, University of Connecticut (JPOLL, registration necessary). Main collectors of opinion poll data are the media organizations. Particularly important is NHK, which has a research unit. Also important is the Cabinet Office, whose website contains much poll data. However, specifically war-related opinion poll data is often hard to find: individual polls are mixed in with (and heavily outnumbered by) other poll data.