[S1E46] 🏞️ Gardens of War Memory with Prof Toshio Watanabe

Beyond Japan with Oliver Moxham

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4+ y ago 54:46

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For the series finale, Oliver is joined by Toshio Watanabe, Professor of Japanese Art and Cultural Heritage at the Sainsbury Institute, to discuss gardens of war memory, going over his latest project of transnational gardens across the Pacific with ties to the Asia-Pacific War (1937-45). Toshio invites us to consider gardens as spaces of memory and healing, but also as reminders of colonialism past and present across former territories of the Japanese empire throughout Asia. We also look at gardens as peopled places, looking at the motives for visitors coming to these places: do they come for the memories or just to enjoy nature?

For a comprehensive list of Japanese time periods, please see Japanese History: A Timeline of Periods and Events

Toshio's recommendations for Japanese gardens:

War in Japan

Yasukuni gardens dedicated to Japanese military war dead, Tokyo
Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery for Japanese war dead, both military & civilian, Tokyo
Kaiten Memorial Museum, Ōzushima

Peace in Japan

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Parks
Aoto Peace Park, Tokyo
Fukuchiyama Peace Park, Kyoto Prefecture

War memory of a place still under colonial conditions

Various parks of Okinawa

Image and audio credits

Intro audio: hase-dera, kamakura, japan - garden path by OR poiesis

Outro audio: jasonszklarek / MotionElements.com

[L] Nagasaki Peace Park monument by MShades is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

[R] Sakura at Chidorigafuchi Park by Yoshikazu TAKADA is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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#Podcasting Education #Japan #Centre for Japanese Studies at UEA