36th IARF Congress 2023, Day 2: Japanese-Korean Reconciliation by Prof. Kunihiko Terasawa

Description

Reconciliation between Korea and Japan Through Interreligious / Transnational Dialogue of Buddhism and Christianity

South Korea and Japan now share freedom and democracy in East Asia surrounded by authoritarian nations, North Korea, China, and Russia. However, the Korean-Japanese relationship has been difficult during modern times. Japan annexed Korea from 1910 until 1945. During that period, though Japan asserts they did it to promote modernization, Japan took an assimilation policy of Koreans in terms of language, religion, and culture. I explore the causes of the Japanese-Korean conflicts in hopes that; we can find how to heal and reconcile. I see this being possible through interreligious dialogue and transnational solidarity of Buddhism and Christianity and with the younger generation. Japan learned Buddhism and Confucianism from China through Korea around the 6th century. There had been significant communication between both through Buddhism during the Nara era and Confucianism during the Tokugawa era. These modern conflicts between the two nations began under the pressure of modernity, establishing Japan’s modern-nation-state during Meiji Restoration in 1868. This was meant to counter aggression of European colonialism after China’s defeat in the so-called, the Opium Wars, by which Japan employed new nationalistic policies through State Shinto and emperor ideology. To accelerate this process, the Meiji government ended Shinto-Buddhist synthesis by persecuting Buddhism nationwide to instead impose State Shinto through public school education. This interrupted the spiritual transnational solidarity of Buddhism, Confucianism, and later Christianity between Japan and Korea. I explore Japan’s State Shinto’s ideological justification for the annexation of Korea and how Buddhists and Christians in Japan and Korea resisted Japan’s ultra-nationalism and its imposition to Korea. They indeed failed, but I also explore the reasons behind this failure. These would give important historical lessen for Korea and Japan’s reconciliation efforts and a vision for future peace in East Asia.