The Go Masters And Turtleback Tombs And Japan's Impact Of War In Modern Japan

Much of what is considered modern Japan has been fundamentally shaped by its involvement in various wars throughout history. In particular, the events of World War II led to radical changes in Japanese society, both politically and socially. While much focus has been placed on the broad, overarching impacts of war on Japan, it is through careful inspection of literature and art that we can understand war’s impact on the lives of everyday people. The Go Masters, the first collaborative film between China and Japan post-WWII, and “Turtleback Tombs,” a short story by Okinawan author Oshiro Tatsuhiro, both give insight to how war can fundamentally change how a place is perceived, on both an abstract and concrete level.

Works depicting Japan in

Early in the film, we see the inside of Yishan’s house, shortly before he sends Aming to Japan. The scene is warmly lit, the music appropriately cheery, and, though the wife has a few complaints, there is no real sense of conflict. However, later in the film, the Yishans return to their old home after an attack by the Japanese troops and find it completely destroyed. As his wife picks up a few tattered objects from the wreckage, she blames Yishan for trusting the Japanese and tearfully begs for him to bring her son back. Though they had already witnessed the Japanese army firing at people in their village, it is not until they see their own home in ruins that they realize the true impact of the war on their family. For them, their home would never be again longer a place of nurture and life as it was in the beginning of the film. Instead, it is a place permanently tainted with the blood and destruction of war. Like in “Turtleback Tombs,” where the family “had been talking about ‘war’ and ‘the battle’ but none of it seemed real until they left home” (118), the Yishan family had not realized the true impact of the war until they see its effects on their home—on a