Kawanishi Hideya argues that the symbolic emperor serves as a custodian of Japan's remembrance of WWII, standing in marked contrast to conservative security policies while reviving public awareness and transmitting wartime memory to future generations. apjjf.org/2025/8/kawan...

Xi Min Ling shows how Japan’s recent improving image among the Singaporean public regarding World War II "comes at a time when ordinary citizens are starting to play a larger role in steering the nation’s public history." apjjf.org/2025/8/ling

M.G. Sheftall laments apparent shifts in attitudes towards Japan's actions in World War II and nuclear weapons amongst students and younger generations in Japan: "History has heard rhetoric like this before...and it has never ended well." apjjf.org/2025/8/sheft...

Kevin Blackburn stresses that different national narratives of the war should not be allowed to overshadow the most important shared legacy of World War II: "the hope that the bloodiest conflict in human history not be repeated in the 21st century." apjjf.org/2025/8/black...

Gi-Wook Shin outlines obstacles to reconciliation as "in an era dominated by strongmen who weaponize nationalism and manipulate historical memory for political gain, the distortion of the past has become a common tool of division and confrontation." apjjf.org/2025/8/shin

Tessa Morris-Suzuki points to recent re-definitions of "self defense," increases in defense spending, and the popularity of the far-right Sanseitō in Japan to ask how long until the next world war? apjjf.org/2025/8/morri...