Japanese victimhood tends to be at the center of commemoration of the Asia-Pacific War on Japanese television, with Japanese imperialism across East Asia being only occasionally represented. During the administration of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (a known historical revisionist and prominent proponent of tighter media control), several changes in the narrative around Japanese imperialism could be observed on the small screen. Comparing several Japanese television dramas from the mid-2000s (when Abe was not in power) to 2015 (with him firmly in office), this paper will examine how representations of Japanese imperialism changed within that decade.

Introduction: Can television change the past?

The broadcasting of history is a lucrative business. For better or for worse, history and television are almost insolubly tied together. Particularly in countries with a public broadcasting system, and/or educational aims written into the broadcasting laws, television will aim to take the broadcasting of history “seriously.” Gary Edgerton (2001, 1, italics in original) asserts that “television is the principal means by which most people learn about history today.” Nonetheless, whether drama or documentary, television programs tend to put the “story” in history, focusing on narratives, satisfying our thirst for a coherent tale with heroes and villains and a clearly defined plotline. Even documentaries try to woo audiences by telling a gripping tale, to keep the audiences hooked in front of the screen and to remain discernible in the “flow” of televisual images. Because of the narrative structure that most television formats follow, more often than not the lines between fact and fiction can blur and genres converge. Nonetheless, the often-clichéd liveness of television, the sense of being there when “things” happen(ed) allows us to escape to the past, in the same way as Buonanno (2008, 70) establishes for “imaginary tourism;” but in this case, we can time-travel without leaving the security of our homes and the time we live in. Often enough, however, television is not taken as a serious competitor in the selling of history (Anderson 2001, 24), particularly if one looks at fiction, in spite of its pervasiveness and the point that Edgerton makes. And, as Holdsworth (2008, 139) also argues, DVD sales, online archives and online content providers make the past even more easily available to us.