Japanese Representation in Philippine Media 24

Japanese Representation in Philippine Media 24 Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua Contents Introduction ...................................................................................... 416 Representing the Japanese ....................................................................... 418 Children’s Literature ............................................................................. 418 Postwar Postscript ............................................................................... 423 My Father (?) .................................................................................... 424 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................ 425 Cross-References ................................................................................ 426 References ....................................................................................... 426 Abstract The Japanese are often depicted in as one of the countries worst villains in Filipino history textbooks despite the fact that they were in the Philippines for only 3 years, while Spanish colonial rule lasted almost 400 years, and the Americans, 40 years. However, when we look beyond formal education, at images of the occupation period in movies, memoirs, television shows, and other forms of popular media, different views of the Japanese often emerge. Instead of demonizing them, a number of accounts seek to distinguish “good” and “kind” Japanese from their “brutal” or “evil” compatriots. Popular Filipino accounts of the war thus convey complex and often contradictory images of Japan. This chapter aims to present how the Japanese were represented in the Philippine children’s literature in the present, when relations with Japan have K. I. U. Cheng Chua (*) History Department, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 415 S. Ratuva (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_27 416 K. I. U. Cheng Chua gradually softened. The findings of this investigation illustrate the evolution of Filipino images of the Japanese and the factors affecting these representations. Keywords Children’s literature · Representation · Historical memory · Japan · Philippines Introduction The recent years marked significant commemorations between the Philippines and Japan, with 2015 memorializing the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and the following year, 2016 honored the 60th year since the “normalization of diplomatic affairs” between the Philippines and Japan. This created much solemn fanfare with two nations whose relationship was marred by invasion and occupation of the Philippines by Japan. The highlight would be a state visit by the last Japanese Emperor and Empress of the Heisei year, which marked their second visit to the Philippines, who are personally committed to remembering his country’s past by making statements such as “renewed sense of sorrow” and “feeling of deep remorse of the last war” (Tatsumi 2016). Amidst the somber celebrations, Filipino impressions on Japan’s wartime actions are predominantly negative. In the same state visit, aging women from Lila Pilipina, an organization comprised primarily of comfort women and supporters of their plight, addressed then Philippine President Benigno Aquino, III that “the abuses against us must be addressed. We have yet to receive real justice. We were so young, but a lot was already taken from us. We lost our dignity. We weren’t able to go to school. We suffered under the Japanese soldiers” (Kyodo News 2016). This is just one of several negative impressions of Filipinos concerning the Japanese, as written accounts of the period focused on themes such as the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers. Setsuho mentions that “the victimization of the Philippines during this time in its history, however, extends far beyond the battlefield” (Ikehata and Jose 1999,1–2). The writing of Philippine history and its legitimacy has been a point of argument from historians of the Philippines who cite the oft repeated from Jose Rizal “He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.” which emphasized the importance of history towards nation building. The task proves to be more challenging after a country emerges from a difficult event, as the country struggles to understand what had just happened. To gain legitimacy, formal education in history took a nationalist turn to appeal to the people for support in the postindependence period. Historians wrote grand narratives which spoke of a Philippines “discovered”; and “civilized” by the Span- ish, “developed” by the Americans, and “destroyed” by the Japanese. While such an emplotment seemed apropos for the immediate postwar period, the problem of the grand narrative is that it has not changed much from its inception. That is why 24 Japanese Representation in Philippine Media 417 aside from establishing political and economic structures, participation of the education and media sectors were also integral towards the successful support these government-led projects. However, generations of postwar Filipinos are slowly distancing themselves from the memory and experience of the war. A number of individuals who lived through the occupation period are reassessing their relationship with the former colonial master. This was reflected in a closed survey conducted by Japanese government in 2016 regarding Japan-ASEAN relations which resulted in 90% of Filipino respondents perceived Japan as a friend of the country, an important and reliable partner. Furthermore, looking beyond school texts, different media have presented varied images of the Japanese. Instead of demonizing the Japanese, popular Filipino accounts of the war convey the complex and often contradictory images of Japan and the Japanese. In a previous study (Cheng Chua 2013), I charted the changing of visual representation of Japanese in Philippine komiks published in a popular magazine, Liwayway, which began in 1922 and has a wide semi-intellectual readership. The extent of readership expanded to major vernaculars with translated versions in Bisaya, Hiligaynon, Bikolano, and Ilokano. The study highlighted the shifting representation of Japanese addressing issues that Filipinos were coming to terms with from the immediate postwar up to the present. Children’s literature offers an interesting perspective as paired with the formal education of the classroom and the nonformal education of the home, the informal education offered through children’s media was a means by which young Filipinos were socialized and prepared for adult subjecthood. Through their consumption of the various works, their identities become unconsciously formed. The contents begin to shape their world view as well as how they see themselves, through the informa- tion they have learned and the illustrations they enjoyably consume. There are various forms of popular media available for society to consume. Media geared towards children seem to be the most influential as Children’s Literature scholars would claim. Kutzer in her work, Empire’s Children: Empire & Imperialism in Clasic British Children’s Books (Kutzer 2000), would identify children as future adults and will comprise future society, and it is through the education of these children, whether formally (in the form of schooling) or informally (through the reading of books), that the form of the future society is built. Furthermore, Griffiths would add that children’s media is the best way to understand the values of adults of the period, as well as the often yawing gap between what they say and do, by looking at the process by which they transmit knowledge of all types to children (Griffiths 2007). Thus as a medium of influence, children’s literature should not be ignored by scholars. With all this in mind, this researcher chose to look at how the Japanese were represented in the Philippines’ children’s literature of the present, when Japanese popular culture and other vehicles for “soft power” have permeated Filipino society. The findings of this investigation illustrate the consistent evolution of Filipino images of the Japanese. 418 K. I. U. Cheng Chua Representing the Japanese The study of the representation of Japanese in the Philippines is not new. Yu-Rivera has published two books entitled, Patterns of Continuity and Change: Imaging the Japanese in Philippine Editorial Cartoons, 1930–1941 and 1946–1956 (Yu-Rivera 2005) and A Satire of Two Nations: Exploring Images of the Japanese in Philippine Political Cartoons (2009). (Yu-Rivera 2009) and points out that editorial cartoons were immune from censorship, thus making them more powerful than the written text. The effectiveness of editorial cartoons partly relies on the fact that they are published in widely circulated tabloids and newspapers. Thus presenting impressions of public intellectuals concerning issues revolving around Japanese, and how they were able to influence general thought during the period. Terami-Wada has written two articles on the topic: “Japanese Images of Prewar Filipinos” (Terami-Wada 1991) and “Postwar Japanese Images in Liwayway Short Stories and Serialized Novels, 1946–1988” (Terami-Wada 1992) survey representations of the Japanese in the magazine’s short stories and serialized novels, identifying three main categories: (1) Japanese as main characters, (2) Japanese as supporting characters, and (3)

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