This book argues that Hokkaido's experiences of war and its militarized post-war constitutes a local case study with a much greater national and international significance on both theoretical and empirical grounds than first impressions might suggest. Using Japanese-language sources presented for the first time in English and a number of detailed local history case studies, it offers a fascinating and hitherto little-known perspective on the Second World War. It also combines a comprehensive theory of how war memories operate at the local level within a broad historical context that explains Hokkaido's pivotal role within Japanese imperial history.

Philip A. Seaton is a Professor in the International Student Center at Hokkaido University, Japan, where he is the convenor of the Modern Japanese Studies Program. He is the author of Japan's Contested War Memories (Routledge, 2007), Voices from the Shifting Russo-Japanese Border (Routledge, 2015, co-edited with Svetlana Paichadze) and numerous articles on war and memory in Japan.

Introduction Part I Local war memories in Hokkaido 1. A theory of local war memories 2. Grand narratives of empire and development 3. Narratives of war in the Hokkaido media Part II Local history, local activism 4. There was a raid in Sapporo, too: unearthing the history of air raids in Hokkaido 5. Local Hokkaido and national memories of war horses 6. Unearthing the history of minshu in Hokkaido: the case study of the Okhotsk People's History Workshop 7. Unearthing takobeya labour in Hokkaido Part III Memories in militarized Hokkaido 8. Commemorating the war dead at Hokkaido Gokoku Shrine Philip A. Seaton 9. War memory, local history, gender: self-representation in exhibitions of the Ground Self-Defense Force 10. Building snow statues, building communities: the SDF and Hokkaido during the early Cold War decades. Epilogue