Reconciliation In The Asia Pacific

History has left many scars in the Asia-Pacific. Injuries inflicted generations ago are still fresh in the collective memories of the peoples of the region, hobbling efforts to repair relationships between old adversaries. But recently the spirit of reconciliation seems to have acquired new life. From Korea to Japan to China, longtime enemies are trading apologies and looking ahead. In this remarkably timely volume, Yoichi Funabashi, one of Japan's most influential journalists, and seven authors from throughout the Asia-Pacific shine the spotlight on the prospects for reconciliation in the region. Looking at instances of inter-ethnic as well as international strife, this book lays out the background to each case, analyzes the impact of unresolved and sometimes unacknowledged grievances, and weighs the prospects for overcoming the burden of history. Not all the cases inspire optimism, at least in the short term, for bitter memories have burrowed deep into society and are intertwined with issues of political power and ethnic identity. But in some parts of the region, palpable progress toward reconciliation is being made. In his conclusion, Funabashi identifies the key steps that governments and publics must take if they are to come to terms with the past.

This book focuses on the formal and informal reconciliation processes during conflict and post-conflict periods in various locations in the Asia-Pacific, and includes cases studies based on primary research conducted in countries such as Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, South Thailand, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. It offers insights to further our understanding of the social and political processes of reconciliation in a region that has witnessed numerous armed conflicts, many of them perpetuating over generations. The book also draws lessons from the richness arising from diversity in terms of religious and cultural practices, social life, and forms of government and governance, and through the exploration of theories and practices of reconciliation in conflict and post-conflict contexts in the region. It provides useful reference material for researchers, academics, policy makers and students working in the areas of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, reconciliation, social cohesion, development, transitional justice and human rights in the Asia and Pacific region.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. This edited collection focuses on theories, language and migration in relation to multiculturalism in Japan and the Asia-Pacific. Each chapter aims to provide alternative understandings to current conflicts that have arisen due to immigration and policies related to education, politics, language, work, citizenship and identity.

Asia, so often seen from a Eurocentric perspective as exotic, other and different, is now manifestly an economic and political powerhouse. Shaped by the West, it is now playing its part in shaping the West.The third volume in the RIPAR series on "Societies in Transition" turns its focus on reconciliation to Asia-Pacific. Case studies are drawn from New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and China, including comparative case studies from Central Asia, East Asia and Germany and the U.S.Contributions by Jude Lal Fernando, Leo D. Lefebure, Martin Leiner, Liu Liangjian, Seiko Mimaki. Ann-Sophie Schöpfel, Sentot Setyasiswanto, Christoph Sperfeldt, Deborah Stevens, Bo-Hyuk Suh, Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, Farrah Tek, Phillip Tolliday, Annette Weinke and Maung Maung Yin.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. Japan has recently promoted a number of initiatives that can be termed an opening to the world and the Asia-Pacific in particular. These have origins in Japan's globalization generally and multicultural policies more specifically. The chapters in this book are grouped in three parts—theories, language, and migration—and they explicate details of multiculturalism in the Asia-Pacific, largely focused on Japan, but including cases that extend beyond Japan as well. Alternative understandings based on analyzing conflicts and moving towards reconciliation underscore the urgency of viewing multiculturalism in Japan and the Asia-Pacific from perspectives that are firmly based in the region. Themes such as immigration, identity, foreign language education, politics and language, English language policies, dual citizenship, foreign labor policies and movements, and higher education are all addressed in the individual chapters. This book will be of interest to scholars of multiculturalism in a wide variety of fields.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. Japan has recently promoted a number of initiatives that can be termed an opening to the world and the Asia-Pacific in particular. These have origins in Japan's globalization generally and multicultural policies more specifically. The chapters in this book are grouped in three parts-theories, language, and migration-and they explicate details of multiculturalism in the Asia-Pacific, largely focused on Japan, but including cases that extend beyond Japan as well. Alternative understandings based on analyzing conflicts and moving towards reconciliation underscore the urgency of viewing multiculturalism in Japan and the Asia-Pacific from perspectives that are firmly based in the region. Themes such as immigration, identity, foreign language education, politics and language, English language policies, dual citizenship, foreign labor policies and movements, and higher education are all addressed in the individual chapters. This book will be of interest to scholars of multiculturalism in a wide variety of fields. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This book explores the key developments of the contentious political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific that share a common foundation in the post-war disposition of Japan, particularly the San Francisco Peace Treaty. These include both tangible and intangible issues, such as disputes over territories and "history" problems. Taking the San Francisco System as its conceptual grounding, the contributors examine how these issues developed and have remained contentious long after the San Francisco arrangements.

This is the first book to provide an overview of the processes and practices of transitional justice in the Asia-Pacific region.