Hong Kong and Japan: Commerce, Culture and Contention
This article analyses the nature of contemporary Hong Kong–Japan relations in their economic, political and cultural dimensions, setting the relationship within the broader context of Sino-Japanese relations, concerns about identity and nationalism within Hong Kong, and changing Japanese commercial priorities. While the commercial and popular cultural ties between Japan and Hong Kong remain dominant, since the mid-1990s political issues have become more visible in Hong Kong–Japan relations. Changing moods within Hong Kong about the handover and, after 1997, about the nature of the redefined relationship with China have had an important influence on the political economy of Hong Kong–Japan relations.
GHOSTS OF THE PAST: THE JAPANESE HISTORY TEXTBOOK CONTROVERSY
This paper brings together three perspectives on the textbook controversy ‐ Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The first is particularly important because whilst the issue is commonly portrayed as a conflict between ‘Japan’ and its neighbours, in fact the Japanese themselves are deeply divided. In the present situation the publication of the New History Textbook represents a victory for the nationalist right, but this is counterbalanced by the overwhelming rejection by Japanese local education authorities and teachers. This schism is not confined to Japan; it also exists elsewhere, most noticeably in South Korea, where description of the Japanese colonial period raises awkward questions of collaboration. 1 The textbook controversy is but one of a range of issues ‐ comfort women, Unit 731 (biological warfare), reparations, government and imperial ‘apologies’, Yasukuni shrine visits, peace constitution and rearmament ‐ that all form part of the unresolved heritage of Japanese colonialism. The Japanese assessment of its past is often contrasted with Germany’s. There are a number of crucial differences. 2 Whilst Germany did not capitulate until it had been overrun, Japan surrendered while it still had control of extensive areas of Asia. In some places, notably South Korea, this enabled collaborators to pass through into the new administration. The countries most affected by Japanese colonialism, China, Korea and to a lesser extent Vietnam, were divided and so Japan could to some degree play one off against the other. Even today, China and the two Koreas cannot coordinate their protests about the textbooks. 3 However, the crucial difference was that in the case of Germany the sins of the past were largely heaped on the Nazi
Thailand's Muslim Minorities: Assimilation, Secession, or Coexistence?
THAILAND is a predominantly Buddhist country. For most people its very name conjures up images of saffron-robed monks, temple bells, and statues of the Buddha-images that travel brochures or impressions gained during a fleeting visit do little to dispel. Yet a more careful scrutiny of the Thai scene reveals signs of a very different religious tradition existing side-by-side with the Theravada Buddhist establishment. For Thai Islam, its presence indicated equally by the halal foodstall in a crowded Bangkok market or by the silhouette of a minaret against a rural skyline, continues to flourish throughout much of the country. Today an estimated 1,750,000 people, about 4% of the total population, are Muslims, making Islam the second religion of Thailand.' This article briefly outlines the historical background and geographical distribution of Islam in Thailand, drawing particular attention to the ethnic diversity of the various Thai Muslim peoples, before analyzing the nature of contemporary political relationships between the Thai Buddhist establishment and Thailand's Muslim minority. Even though there can be no precise date for the introduction of Islam to Thailand, it is evident that Arab and Persian Muslims en route to