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「空白の輪郭」を埋める : 『古都の占領』によせて

Silhouette of blank: a book-review of Occupied Ancient Capital

Japanese (日本語)

国際文化学研究 : 神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科紀要

50

77*-92*

神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科

2018-07

2018-08-21

This book Occupied Ancient Capital (『古都の占領』 by Yuko Nishikawa, 2017, Tokyo:Heibonsha) tells the history of Kyoto when it was occupied by the Allied Powers from September 1945 to April 1952. Great amount of carefully-chosen references from interviews, written (both official and private) documents, maps, novels and newspapers will lead you to rambling in the town of Kyoto, the well-known ancient capital of Japan that survived from the air major raids during the Pacific War. Combination of detailed description of everyday lives of ordinary people in Kyoto and larger pictures of occupation policies in Japan relives past, when people believed the advent of peace but the war still continued. The hidden theme of the book is Japan's post-war regime, namely, democracy and its components; liberty, equality, fraternity. The most startling point of this book lies, however, not in what is written but in not written. The lack of reference in historical sources signifies missing pieces in post-war Japan, namely, various minorities such as Koreans in Japan. This book gives us experience with life in occupied Kyoto, including forgetting continuing war and minorities in the same society, and lets us indulging in peace in the international post-war regime.

紀要論文