Nostalgia for a Lost Past: Colonial Nostalgia in Japanese Film and Television Drama Seminar

Abstract

The Japanese media have a tendency to focus on very select aspects of the Second World War; the notion of victimhood usually takes centre stage in historical dramas, with only very occasional hints at a somewhat different, and darker, past.  However, in that context, it is important to remember that the current Japanese government is headed by a known historical revisionist, Shinzō Abe, who would like to teach history in a way that is uncritical and designed to make the Japanese ‘love their country’ without questioning its history. At the same time, Abe is also one of the most prominent proponents of tighter media control. Looking at several examples within Japanese television drama and film from the mid-2000s to the present, I aim to work out how the ‘revision of history’ manifest itself in Japanese television and film, looking in particular at how representations of the Second World War have changed since Abe came to power, and at the emergence of a colonial nostalgia within these productions.