MEMORIES OF THE WWI AND INTERPRETATIONS OF JAPANESE ACTIVITIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ASIA

Abstract

This paper deals with the memories of the First World War related to Japanese operations. They are associated with Malta and India. Although the Japanese Navy committed to the War in both the Mediterranean region and Asia as one of the Allied forces, the Japanese have concealed the memories of their operations in these two regions for a long time. As for the Mediterranean operations, the shifting interests of the Japanese public’s usage of the past encourage them to retrieve the WWI memory which reassures Japanese role as a British ally and which reminds contemporary Japanese of keeping the spirit of humanity and philanthropy at any time, regardless of danger. The First World War presented the Japanese empowerment which encouraged Indians attempting the liberation of their country from the British colonial occupation. Some Indian revolutionaries had a considerable amount of influence over Japanese intellectuals. They developed the idea of ‘Pan-Asianism,’ which the Japanese later transformed into the imperialistic idea of Greater East Asia Co-prosperity, for emphasizing the Asian unity and justifying Japanese invasion into Asian counties. Contemporary Japanese concealed such war memories. By introducing the cases of Malta and Asia, the author analyses how the war memory of Malta stresses the Japanese role as one of the Allied forces, and how the latter conceals the ideological links between Japan and India espousing the movements against the Western colonial occupation of Asia.