Canonisation of Nakajima Atsushi: From the Margins of the Japanese Empire to Postcolonial Spotlight
Keywords:
Japan literature, imperialism, postcolonialism, Micronesia, historical revisionism, collective memory, Nakajima, AtsushiAbstract
Although practically unknown outside Japan, Nakajima Atsushi (1909–1942) is sometimes labeled a forerunner of Japanese postcolonial literature even by some prominent Japanese literary historians. This fact is rather surprising for at least two reasons. Not only was Japan a colonial superpower for almost eighty years, but Nakajima also did not live to see the collapse of the Empire of Japan in 1945. As a teenager, Nakajima moved with his father to Keijō (now Seoul), the capital of Korea, which at that time was a Japanese colony. He was a bright student that showed his passion for literary pursuits while still in middle school. Nakajima wrote his first short stories while living in Korea; after moving back to the colonial metropolis, he could not stop dreaming about returning to the imperial periphery. – A few years before his premature death, Nakajima came across the literary works of Robert Louis Stevenson and instantly became an eager reader of the author. He even wrote a quasi-diary about this Scottish novelist. In addition to his recurring health problems, Nakajima’s fascination with Stevenson was undoubtedly among the reasons why he decided to move to Koror, Palau, when he was offered a position as a supervisor for elementary-school textbooks. However, he very quickly realized that the tropical climate would not heal his chronic asthma. While visiting schools on neighboring islands, he gradually realized that the Japanese colonial policy was focusing on the wrong aspects of the lives of the colonized people. In his diaries and letters to his family, he was critical of the Japanese colonial policies, yet he never directly opposed the imperial elites in Tokyo. In my opinion, Nakajima’s recent rediscovery should be placed in the broader perspective of the rediscovery of the Japanese imperial past after Hirohito’s death in 1989 – which, on the other hand, did not end the widespread belief among the Japanese that in the first half of the twentieth century they were actually victims, and not victimizers.References
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