China – Korea – Japan International Summer School 2008
Instructor:

Prof. Tsuneo AKAHA

Student:

Sae SHIMAUCHI (4007R330-3)
Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, International Relations, EducationalDevelopment (Prof.Kazuo KURODA)

Email:

saereal@hotmail.com

Date:

August 20th, 2008

This summer school gave me an opportunity to rethink about interactions
between State and Nationals. I as Japanese, had faced the differences among theothers through traveling or living in foreign counties for certain years in my life, andhad thought about how I should represent Japan as a Japanese citizen. I constantly
ask myself how I should react about the responsibility of Japanese involvement inthe wartime, especially in Asian countries. Through these experiences, I hadstrengthened my identity as a Japanese national and I realized that the relation
between state and nationals become stronger when we are under unfamiliar
circumstances and surrounded by foreign people and cultures. As one of theJapanese nationals, I could not be ignorant about the past residue from the 20 thcentury, but at the same time, I felt awkward to the framework which tied us to theborders.
In this Summer School, I stayed with other participants for 3 weeks, and it
was thought-provoking the whole time. The most interesting lectures which were1held during the program are about Korean Unification and Taiwan Strait issue.
These issues are in fact controversial and sensitive issues which we can see thevarious perspectives depending on nationalities and generations. We enjoyeddiscussing about these issues because everyone seemed to be stakeholders
regarding to these issues. For Japanese participants, these issues may not be as
relativity important when compared with other participants since they seem to notpose great effect on Japanese identity at all; however, these are crucial concerns
for Chinese and Korean students. Personally, I had huge interests toward Taiwanand Korea, when I look at the frame of nations; Taiwan is one of the special
countries which do not get international approval as a nation even though it seems
to establish its own democracy and civilized society after 1990’s. Regarding toSouth Korea, I was working in Seoul for 2 years as a lecturer of Social Science andJapanese language at prep-school where the Korean students prepare for theexaminations for entering universities in Japan. After returning to Japan, I still
worked in the same school at Japanese branch; therefore, I am confident tosay that I am more familiar to the Korean’s mindset than an average Japanese.
Regarding to Taiwan strait issue, one professor from Beijing University gave
us a lecture about Chinese security issue, and in that lecture he stated Taiwan issue
as an international security issue which concerns Chinese national sovereignty. He2

mentioned that Chinese people had been historically humiliated by the invasions
and occupation conducted by foreign countries. As the professor represented,Chinese government faces the political dissident; therefore, saving politicalownership and legitimacy of the communist party will be the most important concern
about Taiwan straits issue.
Secondly, one of the Korean professors from Seoul National University
gave us a lecture about Inter-Korean relations. In this lecture, we discussed about
the future unification between South and North Korea. The question I got was why
unification will be the precise measure to the inter-Korean relationship and what themain reason or motivation for current Korean people’s desire toward unification. I
understand the strong feeling towards unification, especially among oldergenerations; it also stimulated Korean nationals’ emotions especially when touching
documentaries, such as divided family, are broadcasted in South Korea. However,when we look at the younger generations, such as students whom I teach at school,
have more doubt about unification because there are many difficulties that theyneed to overcome and South Korea has not desire to observe decline in its
economic power inclining by the unification. If they do not rush for the preparation tounification, perhaps some decades later, believe and desire towards unification will
be weaker and weaker. Regarding to my question, professor answered as that3

National Identity is quite important to Korean people; therefore, unification is crucial
to maintain their national identity. Still, I strongly doubt about the Korean nationalidentity, because as professor mentioned, their national identity is mainly relying on“ethnicity”, which is such a vague notion at this globalized society.
Through these lectures and discussions in and outside of classes, I became
to think that sentiment in other countries toward their own nations is stronger thanthe ordinary Japanese. National sovereignty and national identity may not be theissues posing first degree threat, however, to some extent, it contradict withinternational interest and identity.
Some participants said, the state issues and personal issues are different, if
we can stimulate our interaction in personal level, East Asian Integration will not be
just a dream. However, I strongly doubt about this thinking. Even we can have“good relationship” on the personal level, without solving problems such as
historical dispute or territorial conflict, I do not think that we can establish stable
relationship in the region even at personal level in the long run. It is not an easy task
to integrate in Asian countries before overcoming the conflicts. On the other hand, I
strongly believe that interaction at personal level can stimulate mutual-learning andcooperation among nations, and bottom-up action led by citizens has potential toprovoke new governance.
4So, what will be the bottom-up approach to stimulate the interaction amongnations? One thing we can focus on is to educate people to have plural identity, notonly national identity, and to maintain well-balanced viewpoints. Well-balancedmeans deep understanding about their national history, culture and interests, andalso about their neighborhood nations’ standpoints. I will not deny patriotism but weneed to broaden our perspective not only on national interest but also on regional
and international interest.
For achieving above purpose for future Asian Integration, the mostimportant and practical step is increasing people’s mobility. I think thatinternationalization on higher education is one of the good examples. Experience inforeign country can bring new understanding toward this region. At the same time, I
also stress the importance of language policy in each country. English is obviously
an important language as a common language, but learning our own languages
may be more beneficial in our region. Since we shared similar derivation andcultures, we can understand each other much deeper by learning each other’slanguage besides English.

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