Japanese version here
JOHA (Japan Oral History Association) 4th Annual Conference
23th September(Sat)
12:00 Registration
12:45 Welcome Room 115
Atsushi Sakurai (president of JOHA)
Takeshi Fujii (The 21st Century COE Programme, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Centre for Documentation & Area-Transucultural Studies Director)
13:00- 16:00 Symposium Room 115
Voices from the War and Colonial Era – from the perspective of Oral History method
Panelists
War-Experience Preserving Society (Junko NAKATA, and two veterans)
Toyomitsu HIGA (Society of Recording Ryukyu Area)
Masanori NAKAMURA
(Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture. Kanagawa University)
Discussant: Tomoyo NAKAO
16:00-16:15 Refreshment Break
16:15- 18:00 Exchange Forum on Practicing Oral History Room 113 ・114
— methodology, practice, ideas, ,ethical problems, etc.
18:30- Party Restaurant on Campus
Poster Session Room 108
24th September (Sun)
09:00-12:00 Paper presentation
Session 1 Narrative of War experience: the Narratable/ the Unnnaratable
Room 114
Session 2 Colonial Occupation and on the use of oral/written resource
Room 113
12:00-13:00 Lunch / Annual General Meeting Room 115
13:00-17:00 Paper presentation
Session 3 Personal Memories / ‘National’ histories
Room 114
Session 4 Diversity of oral history: experiment and development
Room 113
Poster Session Room 108
*******************************************************************
Simposium
Panelists:
　
1)War-Experience Preserving Society
　Junko NAKATA, director-general
　Kinichiro INOKUCHI, veteran of JIA, infantry.
　Tokuro INOKUMA, veteran fo JIA, aeroradio.
Theme
“Trial to inherit/archive the WWII war experience: intergenerational
activity amongst three generations – video-library and web-TV.”
Outline
1. Why we, veterans, are preserving our war experiences now, more
than 61 years later?
2. Grand scheme of our activity : Oral history archives covering all
fronts of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Overview of
organizational structure, techniques for interview, classification
methods, and issues for public viewing on the Web.
3. The three basic principles : politically-free, nonprofit, for the public.
The urgent necessity to preserve war-experiences of the veterans and
civilian workers of JIA&N.
２）Toyomitsu HIGA, Society to Record the RYUKYUSOULS
‘War time experience narrated with Okinawa Islanders’ languages:
time-warp to the ‘present’ moment/61 years ago’
The War in Okinawa narrated in Okinawan language: Narrate the NOW of 61 years ago. We have been collecting the war memories of , which varies from island to island in Okinawa Prefecture and their photos/images. Their various dialects are transcribed and translated into ‘common’　or ‘standard’ Japanese, The ‘Grannies’ narrate their war time exprience, and go back to ‘then and there’, talking in their lively mother tongue. In front of the interviewer, they somehow whisk back, 60 years in time, in such a miraculous way, which is only possible for those who were there and experienced it. I wish to share what I felt in my interviews with other oral historians.
3)Nakamura MASANORI (Historian)
The narrative of those placed in the ultimate situation: focusing on the case of Manchuria, Okinawa, Hiroshima etc. — the risks/gains of using oral resources.First I wish to talk about the Japanese women who were taken as nurses by the Chinese Eighth Route army in North East China. With their oral testimonies and other narratives by the Hiroshima survivors/ Okinawa war survivors, I shall analyse these narratives of those placed in the ultimate peak moment in their lives. These will clarify the merit and limitation (joy and awe) of Oral History, including ‘false memories’, truths and lies, interviewer/interviewee relations, ethical codes, personal history/history in its entirety, and cross check of oral/written sources. I wish to share these issues with the participants.
*****************************papers
Session 1: Narrative of War experience —the Narratable and the Unnarratable
1. Makoto TAKAYAMA: How survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bombing tell their experience of ‘Hibaku’ —Based on the testimonies/lifestories of the Nagasaki survivors.
2. Yoshihiro YAGI: The relationship of the interviewer and the interviewee based on eht qualitative reseatch in the case of Hibakusha—Victims of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic bombing.
3. Zhang LAN: The narratives of the ‘Japanese orphans’ who were left in China at the end of WWII in Manchuria : how they narrate their motivations to return to the’ home-country’ ,Japan.
4. Yoko YAMADA: Findings from the narrative of a guarantor who survived World War II —focusing on his experience as a Japanese soldier and volunteer work for ‘returnees from China’
5. Chizuko SAKAMOTO: Understanding the Trauma of Survivors of Sexual Slavery by the Japanese　Military: A Comparative Study of the Korean and Philippine Experience
6. Hiroshi SHIMIZU: An interview with war wounded officers / civilian employees suffering from mental disorder
Session 2: Colonial occupation / how can we use the oral evidence?
1. Yuka KAWAJI: Cross examination of oral testimonies and documentary evidence: based on the case of ‘Invited Thai students in Japan’ from 1942-1943.
2. Aiko KASHIMURA: Japanese Language Education in Occupied Singapore　during WW2.
3. Sadao OHBA: Experiences of having been interviewed on JSPs (Japanese Surrendered Personnel) and Anglo-Japanese trade imbalance issues by the British and the Dutch.
4. Tomohiro SHINKAI: On the Interview Research of the Forced labourers of the Koreans/Chinese in Nagasaki during WWII.
5. Takuya ONODERA: How to read ‘War Letters’ written by the German soldiers during WWII as historical documents.
6. Tomomi TAKEDA: Methodology of Showashi no Tenno: how they collected the oral/written material and how we can use them.
Session 3: Individual memories/National histories
1. Hiroshi KADOIKE: Life stories of Japanese　Americans who served in Japanese Military -torn between the mother-land and home-land.
2. Shuko NAKATA: On the identity of Japanese Peruvians who were interned during WWII
3. Syoko TAKITA: On the Possibility of an Oral History without a “Community of Memory”: the Case of Tokio Yamane, a Japanese American Renunciant from the American Concentration Camp.
4. Noriko WATANABE: On the limitation/possibility of individual oral testimony: based on the oral history of myself and the Korean-Japanese Buddhist monk.
5. Kozue TERAUCHI: “A prison without walls”:how they narrate the era of the Khmer Rouge.
6. Tadahito YAMAMOTO: How can we inherit the war memories and ‘immaterial’ expressions – based on the activities of the Center for Documenting the Tokyo Raids and War Damages
7. Tomoko SAKAI: Strategies over individual narratives—Analysis of the practices of　collection/editing/dissemination of life stories in ‘post conflict’ Northern Ireland
Session 4: Diversity of oral history – experiences and development
1 Youko AOYAMA: The family in a Hansen’s disease sanatorium –The form of married couple of an isolation lif
2　　 Bokhhan KIM: The Zainichi Chosenjin (Japan-resident Koreans) war wound and interviews in a Hansenbyo　(leprosy) sanatorium
3　　. Mikiko OHNO: Village formation process in Dong Thap Muoi area, Mekong delta
4　　Eiko FUNADA: Wie der Modernisierungsprozess in einem Alpendorf anhand derErhebung über Brotbacken fassbar wird
5　　 Koichi OIKAWA: Oral Tradition of the artisan/craftsmanship: A case of Boatwright
6　　 Kaoru AOYAMA: Situating Interviewees’ Lies in a Social Structure: from a Case Study of Interviewing a Sex Worker
7　　 Naoko KATO/Naoki ABE: Concerns about Systematically conducted Oral History Interviews in Japan