Author: Karl Gustafsson, Institutionen för ekonomisk historia och internationella relationer (Department of Economic History and International Relations), Stockholms universitet (Stockholm University) - Academia.edu, Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »Since 2009, Japanese civil society groups have arranged exhibitions in China dealing with the so-called comfort women issue in cooperation with local Chinese organizers, including state-run war museums that function as patriotic education bases. Organizing these exhibitions has required much time and energy. A fundamental aim of these groups is to make the Japanese government compensate the victims. Why do these groups arrange exhibitions in China even though it is time and energy consuming instead of concentrating their activities in Japan? Why do these groups, who embrace a clear gender perspective and state that one of their principles is to be independent of any government, cooperate with Chinese government-run war museums that serve as patriotic education bases and clearly subsume gender-based identities to that of the nation?
Through an analysis based on key assumptions in theories on transnational advocacy and collective memory of material provided by the actors involved, it is demonstrated that activities in China are a means of exerting pressure on the Japanese government by institutionalizing the memory of the “comfort women” more firmly in China. At the same time, the exhibitions might be regarded as a “Trojan horse” as its emphasis on gender and international solidarity among women might potentially undermine the emphasis in official Chinese narratives about the past, which strongly stress national identity. The paper illustrates that civil society can play a role in the international politics of memory, something often ignored in elite-centred research on collective memory in Sino-Japanese relations« (Source: Working Paper)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 1)
	Civil society, transnational advocacy and the politics of memory (p. 2)
	The “comfort women” issue in China (p. 5)
	The Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) (p. 7)
	Exhibitions organized by Japanese civil society groups in China (p. 9)
	Conclusion (p. 18)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | History of Asia: History of China / History of the Republic of China, History of the People's Republic of China | Museum: Museums in China | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes