Un-remembering the Massacre: How Japan’s "History Wars" are Challenging Research Integrity Domestically and Abroad

Current controversies surrounding the memory of a 1923 massacre of Koreans in and around Tokyo provide a starting point for examining the rise of historical denialism in Japan. The past two decades have witnessed the growing influence of small Japanese lobby groups who use techniques reminiscent of Holocaust denialism, in an effort to erase the memory of the inconvenient parts of Japan’s past. The country’s internal “history wars” are increasingly spilling over its national boundaries, creating challenges to scholarly integrity in other countries including the United States. International dialogue and collaboration are needed to respond to these challenges.