Abstract: The domestic history of Taiwan has been well documented, especially since the establishment of a democratic regime in the mid-1990s and the fall of the KMT from monopolizing state power. However, the interaction of Taiwan on the international stage, especially in relation to the postwar fate as it relates to Japanese war crimes is less well examined. My aim in this presentation is to outline the connections of Taiwan to the region, particularly focusing on how it was affected by the sudden occlusion of the Japanese empire and the pursuit of BC class war crimes in China.

About the speaker: Barak Kushner teaches modern Japanese history at the University of Cambridge and has a PhD in History from Princeton University. He was recently awarded a 2012-2013 British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship which he used to complete his third book on the postwar adjudication of Japanese war crimes in China, entitled "Men to Devils and Devils to Men": Japanese War Crimes and Cold War Sino-Japan Relations (1945-1965). He has just launched a 5-year European Research Council funded project: “The Dissolution of the Japanese Empire and the Struggle for Legitimacy in Postwar East Asia, 1945–1965.” This 5-year grant will examine the impact of the fall of the Japanese empire in East Asia.

Kushner's work on the history of ramen was awarded the 2013 Sophie Coe Prize for Food History, the longest-running and most generous prize for writing in food history in the English language. The Thought War - Japanese Imperial Propaganda, Kushner's first book, delved into the history of wartime Japanese propaganda.