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from http://www.japantoday.com/ __________ U.K.-Japan wartime study group keeps experiences alive William Hollingworth LONDON - Former soldiers and prisoners of war, academics, scholars and ordinary members of the public have set up a "unique" organization in Britain designed to examine Japan and Britain's encounter in World War II and encourage schools in both countries to properly assess aspects of the conflict. The historical study group, named the Burma Campaign Society, was established in London last month and is, its founders claim, the only non-recriminatory forum for discussion of war-related issues between the two countries. The founders hope that their group will become a forum for young and old in both countries to exchange views, debate and examine historical material about the war. The group has already set up a Web site and there are plans for email exchange between the veterans and younger members. The group also hopes to try and incorporate factual material about the war into school curricula. At the group's inaugural meeting, it was felt by a number of members that there is a lack of information on the war in schools in both countries and that materials are sometimes unbalanced. The Burma Campaign Society is born out of the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, which officially closed last month. The fellowship group was set up in 1991 and was designed to promote reconciliation between British and Japanese veterans who fought in Burma, now Myanmar, during World War II. The veterans decided to close their organization because many of them are getting old and feel they have achieved their goal of reconciliation. Over the years, teams of veterans from both countries have exchanged visits, and a joint meeting has been held in Myanmar. Many of those who were in the fellowship group are expected to join the new organization. Phillida Purvis, who helped set up the new society, said that while living in Japan as a diplomat she had been puzzled as to why World War II was such a "taboo" subject. She said there are already a number of Anglo-Japanese organizations operating but they do not have promoting understanding about the war as their objective, and in some cases, talk of the war is specifically avoided. She said that so far the new group has around 40 members with a mixture of ages and a rough split between British and Japanese. Purvis, who is honorary secretary of the new society, said, "We will take different topics and involve the veterans and historians to lead the discussion and we will debate the subject and then put some of the information about the discussion on to a web site (<http://www.burmacampaignsociety.org>). We hope that we can have interactive discussions." The society's first meeting will be held May 9 when the subject up for discussion will be "Was the Pacific War inevitable?" Purvis added that she was hoping to ensure that Britain and Japan's encounter in the war would be included in the "citizenship" section of Britain's national curriculum. She added that there was also scope for more discussion about the war in Japan with the advent of a new "general studies" section in its curriculum. Veteran Philip Malins, aged 82, the new society's vice chairman, said, "We will concentrate more on the historical aspects of the American-Japan conflict and hope to improve the accuracy of the historical reports. It's also our hope that the younger generation will be taught the true facts about what happened in that conflict. We need to know what happened so that it won't be repeated again and so that we don't drift into a position where someone like Hitler comes to power." However, he added that the new group would still hold memorials for those who died in Burma and the group is also anxious to enlist Myanmarese living in Britain. Ryugo Matsui, associate professor at the faculty of intercultural communication at Ryukoku University in Japan's Shiga Prefecture said it is important for the younger generation in Japan to read via e-mail the experiences of the veterans. He said, "I hope that there will be a good response to this (the society) in Japan. There's a big conflict between right and left over the interpretation of the war but the problem is that both sides lack the information from those with first-hand experience of the war. If you provide such information to the Japanese people .. I hope that their views will become more balanced." Tomoyo Nakao, from Okayama University in Okayama Prefecture, said that there were a number of Japanese Internet sites which spoke of Westerners being "a race apart" and she said that it was important that web sites such as the one being proposed were set up to offer a counterbalance. April 18, 2002 ____________________ Click the link below to view this article and related discussions on Japan Today http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=feature&id=209 ____________________ ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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