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Strategic Dialogue and Exchange Program

Imphal Peace Museum commemorates third anniversary

Event celebrates the museum as a landmark of remembrance and reconciliation, premieres video collection of testimonies by community members who lived through the Battle of Imphal and Battle of Kohima

By Jackie Enzmann, Chief Editor


July 13, 2022
6 Min. Read
Group photo from 3rd anniversary celebration

The Imphal Peace Museum celebrated its third anniversary on June 22, 2022, with an in-person event welcoming guests from across Northeast India and Japan. After years of remote gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event — co-organized by the Manipur Tourism Forum and the 2nd WW Imphal Campaign Foundation — welcomed a full house to the museum in celebration of inter-community and international cooperation and a shared desire to overcome conflicts in pursuit of peace and reconciliation.
 
The Imphal Peace Museum stands at the base of Maibam Lokpa Ching (Red Hill) in the Northeast Indian state of Manipur. This area was the site of the Battle of Imphal, which is regarded as one of the fiercest clashes of WWII, or what the local community calls the Japan Lam (Japan War). To contextualize the history of the war, the museum features carefully curated exhibits that document the experience of the local community during the Battle of Imphal, while also celebrating the strength and rich cultural diversity of the state of Manipur from the 1940s to today.
 
Since opening in 2019, the museum has become one of the most popular destinations in Manipur state, welcoming nearly 30,000 visitors in spite of more than a year of closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Sunami and Mr. Sasakawa giving remarks

SPF President Atsushi Sunami (left) and The Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa (right) during remarks.

Dr. Atsushi Sunami, president of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, travelled to Imphal for the first time to attend the ceremony. During his remarks, he reflected on the impact the war had on the local community based on his experience touring the museum and the local area.
 
“Seventy eight years ago, while many died on the Japanese and Allied sides, great suffering was also inflicted upon the local people, as their peace was violently disrupted. Going through the museum, I was very much impressed with how this place narrates the stories of Manipur starting from those dark times.” He also expressed his hope that the museum “will become the symbol and the foundation of our commitment to work together with the people of Manipur for the prosperity and future of this region and India for the decades to come.”
 
The Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa, through video remarks, sent his wishes for future development of the museum, and celebrated the friendship between Manipur and Japan that was strengthened with the establishment of the museum. He noted that The Nippon Foundation’s donation of 100 oxygen concentrators and vital medical equipment to Manipur during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in July 2021 was made possible thanks to this close relationship.
Touring the museum

Museum Director Shri Haobam Joyremba (center) provided a tour of the museum for Governor Shri La Ganesan (right), Deputy Chief of Mission for Embassy of Japan to India Kawazu Kunihiko, and Dr. Sunami.

Manipur Governor Shri La Ganesan also pointed to the significance of the historical ties between India and Japan. “It is a matter of great satisfaction to note that the Imphal Peace Museum has become the hallmark and testimony of the strong historical connection that the people of Manipur have with Japan,” he said. He also hoped that the museum would continue to spread the message of peace to future generations, and said that he himself intends to return to the museum to spend more time studying the exhibits.
 
Charge d’Affaires and Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission for Embassy of Japan to India Kawazu Kunihiko also participated in the event, expressing his gratitude to the people of Manipur and remarking on the precious opportunity to deepen his understanding of the region.

Preserving voices of history

Presenting the video testimonies

(From left) Independent Researcher Thingnam Anjulika Samom, Governor Shri La Ganesan, Documentary Filmmaker Sesino Yhoshü, and SPF Senior Program Officer Yui Nakamura present the videos.

A centerpiece of the anniversary event was the premiere of video testimonies of people who experienced the Battle of Imphal in Manipur and the Battle of Kohima in Nagaland. Documentary filmmaker Sesino Yhoshü and independent researcher Thingnam Anjulika Samom collected more than 150 firsthand accounts as part of this initiative, supported by SPF and The Nippon Foundation, ensuring these stories will not be lost to time.

For Ms. Sesino, the experience allowed her to reflect on the importance of preserving narratives about the region in order to center the local community perceptive within history. “This generation that grew up with more focus on what the world is doing – learning the ABCs and how to speak English – and less focus on us,” she explained. Through this project, she and her team were able to capture “new narratives, which are not written in books and are not being told or passed on. That is something that is really precious.”
One of the videos

The video testimonies share the personal experiences of the people living in Manipur and Nagaland who bore witness to and fled from the fighting of WWII.

Ms. Anjulika noted that the collaboration uniting the neighboring states of Manipur and Nagaland provided an opportunity to reach across state lines and find commonalities between experiences. “The fact that those two stories came together, it’s like learning that there are two sides to a coin, and bringing these two narratives [from Imphal and Kohima] together, the coin becomes whole,” explained Ms. Anjulika. “What’s happening in Manipur might be different than what’s happening in Kohima, but when you hear those two stories together, the story becomes balanced.”

In the future, the video testimonies will be added to the collection in the Imphal Peace Museum to be screened in an audio-visual room. This addition comes as part of broader plans to run the facility as a “living museum” by updating the exhibits, including integrating donations of new artifacts from the local community, according to Museum Director Shri Haobam Joyremba.
 
“I think this is a very important chapter or period of time where we are still able to find some people who have witnessed the war and are able to narrate their stories,” said Mr. Joyremba. “The new videos that are coming up are going to be a great asset not only for the museum, but for the whole of the state and all of humanity.”

Strategic Dialogue and Exchange Program South Asia
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