Lecture: Strive for Peace from History in Asia

Five years after this picture Japan occupied almost everywhere on this map. It was not a military school but a normal high-school. What did he studied exactly at that time?        I also discovered his text and surprised: During the war I was ashamed that I could not fight like my classmates due to my sickness. When I heard on radio that the war was over, my first thought was that I failed to die for Japan." His classmates were soldiers even Kamikaze pilots. Also in the Netherland I hear often about the silence about the same war.

        Secondly amnesia in education. Children in both countries don't learn really about this history. A Japanese history teacher mentions to this point that, because Japan has more than 2000 years of history, there is no time for a war of 3 years against one country, Dutch East Indies. Nonsense, I thought, but a Dutch history teacher told me that they also have to cover so many subjects in the classes within limited time. In essence the both say the same. 

        I also had no idea about the Dutch East Indie during my first half of my life in Tokyo. In schools I learned about the same war, but only about suffering of Japanese: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, bombardments, Kamikaze, and hunger. Nothing about Japanese aggression.

        From Indisch Dutch people I hear about the Japanese occupation and Bersiap period just after that, but hardly about the period after and before them, the colonial period. "Selective forgetfulness about own history, especially the dark pages of it.

        About these dark pages of Dutch East Indies the tone of the Dutch media is too negative, according to Indisch Dutch people. There were also positive sides. This is again the same with what Japanese nationalist say: the image of Japan during the war is too negative on the international media. That is their reason behind their non-senses.

        Lastly lack of empathy for the others. Empathy on both countries are mostly limited to (ex-)victims of their own countries. Japanese don't have much empathy for you, your family, and other Asians, and Dutch for Indonesians.

• silence

• amnesia in education: children don't learn, not really.

• selective forgetfulness about own history, especially the dark pages

• "too dark painted dark pages on media", and 

• lack of empathy for the others

Now you can understand what I mean by the same problems both in Japan and the Netherland about this same history. According to a wise historian, a history that cannot be shared with others, cannot be called as the history. We don't have this one yet, the real history of Dutch East Indies, which the Netherland, Indonesia, and Japan can share. This cannot be done by a single person, but only in collaboration with all the relating groups. 

And we citizens shouldn't let historians and politicians do all the work. We should work with them. We should listen to them, but we should make the last decisions like we do with doctors and lawyers. We should make sure that they are working for us, the citizen, but not for themselves / the authorities / their donators, or for somebody else. So we should participate, check, and decide more for ourselves, in my view. Otherwise limited people with power keeps on defining our own history, as it happened too often until now.

• • Are you interested in this search for the real history of Dutch East Indies/Asia?

  • Do you know anyone, who would dare to do it?

  • Would you support this initiative and think about it together?

If I may have your time, I can show you my PowerPoint presentation to you. My vision is simple, transparent, and fair to everyone and every country.

I started this presentation to elementary school students (age 10) For them I focus on quarrels of their daily life in stead of history. I use cartoon, images and video's in PowerPoint, so that they also understand the essence of the problem.

Aim for Peace from History of War and Colony in Asia

1. History, which I was confronted personally, and which have influenced my life after that

   1. • experience of my best friends and his family, who went through the Japanese occupation of the former Dutch East Indies (present Indonesia), and who found reconciliation 55 years later

      • experience of my father, who lost his friends as Kamikaze

• 1. How can we deal with hate, shame about own faults, and the tension with others about it?

• • How can we fairly and honestly look at the history of Asia?

  • What are the challenges to share a vision between Netherland, Indonesia, and Japan?

  • What precisely can we do in order to build peace?

Under the photo below and a short text in Japanese you see a list of all the lectures until now. I've done it for small groups in living rooms or meeting rooms, as well as for larger groups at universities, schools, and a small hall. If you are interested in this presentation, don't hesitate to send me an e-mail.

I am also an architect. After studying and working for a few years in Tokyo, I moved to Holland in 1988. I worked on the design of Kunsthal Rotterdam and Dutch embassy in Jordan, among others.

Fumi Hoshino