The administration of former Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III pursued a policy of “lay[ing] the groundwork for a potential web of inter-locking strategic partnerships” (Philippine NSC 2011, 29), essentially “expand[ing]... defense and security engagements” (Del Rosario 2013a) with other countries apart from the United States. The Aquino government broadened relations with other nations, including Japan, the country’s first strategic partner. This study aims to determine the conditions under which small powers undertake strategic partnerships. Focusing on the Philippines- Japan strategic partnership, this study argues that the said partnership is driven by the need to support the current international order, promote capacity-building, and enhance the existing multilateral architecture.
Bionote
Mico A. Galang (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) is a researcher at the National Defense College of the Philippines. He is also a lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), and at the Department of International Studies of De La Salle University (DLSU). He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UST, and graduated from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a Master in International Studies.
Article Info
Type of Manuscript: Article Volume, Issue, Year: Volume 58, Issue 1, Year 2022 Pages: 37–68 URL: https://asj.upd.edu.ph/index.php/archive/20-58-1-2022/175-security-pursuits-small-power-philippines-japan-strategic-partnership
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
My book, “Bengetto Imin” no Kyozo to Jitsuzo: Kindai Nihon-Tonan Ajia Kankei-shi no Ichi-Kosatsu (Myth and Reality of the Japanese “Benguet Emigrants” in the Philippines, 1903-1905: A Study of the History on Modern Japan-Southeast Asian Relations), was published 30 years ago in 1989. As I mentioned in the book, “I was apprehensive about the ‘myth’ deriving from a ‘false image’ because it could become a reason for cultural friction between the two countries” (Hayase 1989a, 250). So far, no noticeable cultural friction has occurred in the past three decades. However, when I visited Baguio for the first time after the publication of the book, my apprehension was reaffirmed when I saw the monuments and museum exhibitions regarding Japan and the Japanese. I recognized the differences in historical perception among the people concerned. This paper first introduces how the monuments for the so-called “Benguet Migrants”—who engaged in the construction of the road to the “summer capital,” Baguio—were erected. Taking into consideration that Baguio was built as an American colonial city, I will proceed to discuss the differences in historical views with reference to museum exhibitions.
Author
Shinzo Hayase (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) is a professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan. He has a Ph.D. in History from Murdoch University, Australia. He has published several books and journal articles on the history of Asia, maritime Southeast Asian history, modern history of Asia-Japan relations, ethnohistory, and modern history of Philippine-Japan relations. Some of his works are Parallel Historical Recognition (in Japanese, 2022), Sports and Nationalism in Southeast Asia: SEAP Games/SEA Games, 1959-2019 (in Japanese, 2020), Globalizing Yasukuni Controversy from the Perspective of Southeast Asia (in Japanese, 2018), A Walk Through War Memories in Southeast Asia (2010), and Mindanao Ethnohistory beyond Nations (2007).
Article Information
Type of Article: Special Article Volume, Issue, Year: Volume 58, Issue 1, Year 2022 Pages: 1–36 URL: https://asj.upd.edu.ph/index.php/archive/20-58-1-2022/173-continuing-japanese-myth-benguet-migrants-philippines-baguio-hayase
