ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the activities of the local history group Sapporo Kyodo wo Horukai. It examines how the results of Horukai's investigations into the takobeya indentured labour system in Sapporo played a formative role in the Society's understanding of Asia-Pacific War history, and the stance that Horukai has taken regarding the postwar Japanese constitution. The history of Horukai divides into three main phases. The first phase is 1982-7, when there was a focus on what may be called the prototype issue of Horukai: takobeya labour. The second period is from 1988 onwards, when investigations were mainly into the Asia-Pacific War. The third period has been since 2008, in which the lessons from the first period of research into takobeya labour and from the second period of research about the Asia-Pacific War have combined to enable a rethinking of both sets of issues.
