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As part of the foundation’s research activities on the cases of historical reconciliation, on April 17 - 20, three of the foundation’s co-researchers and I visited Ishikawa Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture where there are sites related to historical disputes between Korea and Japan. We had time to find clues pointing towards historical reconciliation through meetings with members of Japanese civic groups. We planned our trip centering around Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture because the city was a historic intersection. Kanazawa is where “extreme-right” patriotism is expressed, but it is also a place where there are signs of reconciliation. Therefore, we thought that Kanazawa would be a place through which we could intensively observe Japan’s complex images.

The starting point of our trip was Kanazawa Castle. We visited this castle in order to figure out the Japanese people’s complex psychology concerning the country’s course of modernization. What we encountered first on our way to Kanazawa Castle was the old main building of the Fourth Middle-High School, the symbol of education. The building appears as though it is bragging about its aspects of modernization. What Kanazawa Castle experienced in the course of modernization may be ironic. Kanazawa Castle was home to military units (7th Army Regiment in 1875, 9th Division Amy Headquarters in 1898) from the Meiji Restoration through the Pacific War, before becoming the campus of Kanazawa University in 1949 after Japan’s surrender. Kanazawa University was relocated to the suburbs in 1995 and the castle was restored in 2001, becoming Kanazawa Park. What really stood out to me was that an armory still remained in the Kanazawa Park. The fact that the armory, the legacy of army units, remained in the park, while the “military,” the symbol of Japan’s modernization, was changed into the “university” and restoring it to what it used to be before modern times, made me think about how this might reflect Kanazawa’s complexity in historical consciousness and refractions.

Kenrokuen, which is situated in front of Kanazawa Castle, is a garden encompassing factors such as expanse, silence, technique, antiquity, lakes and waterways, and views. There stands the statue of a Japanese military hero. A memorial built in 1880 to honor soldiers from Ishikawa Prefecture who died in the Seinan War in 1866 was also relocated to the garden in 1992. However, the two memorials did not befit the characteristics of Kenrokuen. The Holy Greater East Asia War Memorial, which represents Japan’s arbitrary superiority, is located in the Gokoku Shrine, a little way away from Kenrokuen. I noticed the exaggerated snobbery in its title, such as, “Greater East Asia,” and, “Holy War.” I had thoughts about how these words might contain anxiety, laboriously defending the purpose of war while not being recognized by others. Every country pays respect to the sacrifices of war veterans and honor patriotism. Yet I felt that modern Japan-triggered wars failed to win sympathy and resonance from the Japanese people themselves in terms of ends and means. This was because I could decipher the instability and imperfection of modern Japan from the country’s exaggerated citation of the holy war.

By contrast, signs of trying to reconcile with the outside world were detected as well. Most typically, Kanazawa created a park wishing peace by forming sisterhood ties with cities in seven of the world’s countries. In Korea, Jeonju has a close relationship with Kanazawa. Data from Jeonju were on display at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of History. If we look at Japan’s modern history from a more favorable perspective, desire to be a member of the world while being recognized as a country on the same par as other world powers may have been in the back of the Japanese people’s mind. If we set our sights on such a perspective, we will be able to move Japan further towards the outside world through these signs of reconciliation, drawing out an atmosphere of openness.

In a memorial cemetery in Ishikawa Prefecture stand monuments of Russian soldiers captured in the Russo-Japanese War, as well as those of Japanese troops. Korea felt it similarly, seeing the Japanese carry with them the concept of appeasing the souls of the deceased without distinguishing friend from foe. From there, we headed to the secret burial site of Yun Bong-gil and a monument dedicated to him. After being executed, Yun was said to have been buried secretly in an oblique passage leading to the cemetery. The location could be guarded at all times because it was right below the janitor’s office of the military police unit. We had a moment of silence at the secret burial site and then went to the monument dedicated to Yun located about 50 meters away from the site. It was a sunny day and the spring sunlight shone warmly on the monument. 

Martyr Yun Bong-gil was playing the role of uniting the ethnic Koreans living in Japan, as well as weaving these Koreans and Japanese together. We met with some Japanese people engaging in a peaceful civic movement about Yun. Most of them experienced the anti-war peace movement in the late 1960s and have been sincerely following the same path based on such experiences. Now these individuals are over 70 years old. However, they expressed anxiety over the fact that there will not be any descendants left to inherit their will. This is similar in Korean society, but experiences from the specific era will likely become historic diaspora unless historical experiences are generalized and shared. Therefore, it has become an urgent task to raise problems and find ways in which many people can share their historical experiences.

Issues such as ethnic Koreans in Japan struggling with discrimination both historically and today, rifts among compatriots that came to be with the division after liberation, young people’s identity problems, and pain experienced under Japan’s colonial rule, are slowly melting away. In particular, it is notable that more and more of the new generation of ethnic Koreans in Japan is becoming naturalized as Japanese, affected by Japan’s assimilation policy. We heard stories related to group habitation of Koreans in Kanazawa and relocation of residences after liberation. As Dr. Kim Jong-geun, who studied historical geography, identified the residences of Koreans on the map of Kanazawa made during the period of Imperial Japan, our conversation naturally moved towards discussing the lives of Koreans. At the time, Koreans did not have individual addresses and instead were all given one single address. If homes were washed away because of flooding, Koreans built homes again, capitalizing on Sundays when Japanese officers were off duty. Once construction was completed, Japanese officers did not demolish them. We also heard that the excavation of Yun Bong-gil’s remains and the movement to honor him played a role in bringing the compatriot society together. Discussions continued surrounding the process of excavating remains, the movement, and how the Japanese joined the movement. Our trip to historic sites ended with a visit to the site of Koreans’ forced labor. We felt as if we confronted a tangled ball of string related to the reconciliation of history throughout our trip.