ABSTRACT
Thus far, Japanese war memories have been discussed at various levels in a broadly ‘macro to micro’ order: from long-term and international overviews, to the national government and media, then sectional and regional narratives, and finally to the levels in this chapter, the individual and the family. But Japanese people’s historical consciousnesses typically evolve from the micro to the macro. For Japanese children, parents are the key role models who instil moral values from an early age, along with relatives and teachers. Knowledge of war history often starts from a family story: a grandfather saying ‘When I was your age…’ or an explanation of how grandma’s sister died during the war. At school, children start formal history education, but the focus may be regional as much as national: schools typically use some local history materials produced by a local board of education or conduct trips to local museums. As children become consumers of the media, they start picking up the ideological, sectional and regional narratives it presents alongside a heightened awareness of national identity. Unless the child has significant overseas experience or contact with non-Japanese, an international perspective of war issues is unlikely until adulthood, if at all.
