Legacies of World War II in South and East Asia

"Sixty years after the end of World War II, the political and social fallout from the War is alive and divisive, as scholars in this volume show. One example is how former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine preveneted China, Japan and South Korea from sitting down together to talk about Northeast Asia integration, and wider Asian intergration, Another example is the question of comfort women. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's statement - that there is no evidence that Japan's government or army forced women to work in military brothels during the War - appeared to go back on a 1993 apology for the comfort women. How such issues of history are delt with by contries of this region had an effect on contemporary relations among the major powerws contending for leadership in East Asia."--Backcover.