This special issue showcases papers that articulate the link between mythology, history and politics in contemporary Japan. The contributions in this special issue were derived mainly from the entries submitted to the Japanese Studies Research Competition, an annual event co-organized by the Asian Center and The Japan Foundation Manila, and were complemented by other Japan-themed essays.
Engaging Japan and its place in Asia and the world through the interplay between myth, history and politics is both relevant and timely in an infodemic era where we are constantly challenged to distinguish between fact and ction. Myths are narratives and representations that function as popular and political discourses on a national identity (Burgess 2010). Carol Gluck prefers the term “mythistory” to emphasize how myth and history are recon gured in literature, multimedia, and museums in order to construct a national memory that transcends generations (Gluck 1990). This conflation of contradictory and fossilized clichés about the nation are etched in the imagination of the outside world.
Author
Jocelyn O. Celero, PhD is Associate Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. She has a PhD from Waseda University, Japan.
Article Info
Type of Article: Introduction Volume, Issue, Year: Volume 58, Issue 1, Year 2022 Pages: i–iv URL: https://asj.upd.edu.ph/index.php/archive/20-58-1-2022/174-myth-history-contemporary-politics-japan
