There remains a huge gap in the historical perception between the people of Japan and China. When the two countries restored their diplomatic ties in 1972, it seemed as if they established a common historical perception to some extent. Yet, even in recent years, the perception gap is far from becoming eliminated, and is, in fact, widening visibly. How can we narrow the gap? Inter-governmental seminars might have successfully established networking between researchers, but building a common perception has proven to be too difficult a task to achieve thus far, and has been left over to be dealt with in the future.
In taking on this challenge, the SPF has taken the approach of having young researchers in the two nations become more broadly interested in each other's country. Even if it is impossible for them to immediately acquire shared historical understanding, it is worthwhile having them start from sharing the same research methodology and historical materials, and take slow yet steady steps to build a solid pipeline of communication as the base for future debate.
To this end, the Japan - China Young History Researchers Conference was launched in 2001, facilitating joint research between young researchers from Japan and China, publishing the outcomes of such joint research, and disseminating the information in English. After organizing the conference for ten years, we launched the five-year "Japan-China Young Historians Seminar" program in 2011, and are continuing to hold the annual seminar today.
The "Japan-China Young Historians Seminar" invites researchers in their 20s and 30s from the two countries in summer for research presentations and discussions. The sites of significance in terms of the bilateral history have been chosen to host the seminars, including Okinawa for the first seminar (FY2011), the Jinmen Islands / Amoy for the second seminar (FY2012) and Nagasaki for the third seminar (FY2013). Participants engaged in debates on themes such as the history of Okinawa during and after the war, the Taiwan Strait Crises, atomic bombing and overseas Chinese networks in settings that made those themes familiar.