Office of International Research Promotion

Top＞Vol.20 - Takuma Melber

Name: Takuma Melber		Nationality: Germany

Affiliated research center/ school in Waseda	Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
Affiliated research institution	History Department, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz）
Period of stay at Waseda	From 09/2010 to 08/2011

Subject of research
The Japanese Occupation Policy in Southeast Asia, 1942-1945 (dissertation´s working title)

Me and my research

Researcher Office

Born to a German father and a Japanese mother I grow up in the small and idyllic South German town Schwäbisch Hall. After ending high school and the obligatory civilian service in my home town´s hospital, I entered the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz in 2003. At the University of Mainz, named after Johannes Gutenberg, who is noted for the invention of the letterpress with movable type, I studied medieval and modern history, ancient history and sociology as well. In summer 2006 I spent one semester abroad at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Two years later, in summer of 2008, I conducted research at the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the British Library and the Imperial War Museum in London. Based on there inspected allied primary sources I wrote my final thesis for M.A. degree (Magister Artium/Master of Arts) “Die japanische Besatzung der malaiischen Halbinsel und Singapurs, 1942-1945: Kollaboration und Widerstand“ („Malaya and Singapore under Japanese occupation, 1942-1945: Collaboration and Resistance“), awarded with the Wilhelm-Deist-Preis 2009 (Wilhelm-Deist-Award for Military Studies 2009), and graduated in 2009.

Granted the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, I get the chance to spend one year in Waseda as a visiting researcher from September 2010 on. I feel very grateful to the Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Wiesbaden, who nominated me for the scholarship program. Moreover I give cordial thanks for advice and assistance to my supervisor Professor Sönke Neitzel as far as the venerable Rotary Club of Tokyo, which is my so-called host club here in Japan and especially my Rotarian Counselor, Mr. Eijiro Tanaka, who assists me in word and deed all the time.

At Waseda University´s Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies I do at the moment some research for my dissertation entitled “The Japanese Occupation Policy in Southeast Asia, 1942-1945” (working title). I aim to enlarge the results of my MA-thesis under a comparative perspective, furthermore to use primary sources and publications written in Japanese, moreover consulting advices of Japanese historians, but also from other countries, whose field of research is close to mine. My host researcher at Waseda University is Professor Kenichi Goto, who is a renowned expert of the Japanese occupation period in World War II. His fields of research include the history of Indonesia and Portuguese Timor under Japanese administration, so that he was my first choice when I was looking for a host researcher in Japan. Today I am very happy to meet such a nice person like Professor Goto, who is most cooperative and supports me wherever he can. I am deeply grateful for his kindness and feel really honored to be advised by him.

Thanks to Professor Goto´s assistance, I hold my own desk in the visiting scholar´s office of the institute and gain access to materials of the Nishijima Collection. Most impressive is the Waseda University Library together with the library system in general, which is well-assorted, best organized and holds a lot of rare material concerning my subject. Thanks to Waseda University´s favourable location also a lot of other research institutes and archives are easy to reach, for example the National Archives of Japan or the National Institute for Defense Studies. Therefore it is unnecessary to underline, that my working and research conditions at Waseda University are excellent on the whole.

Learn about Japan means to learn about myself

Port of Yokohama

Nijūbashi (Double Bridges)

Due to the fact that I achieved beyond the support by my Japanese relatives a lot of guidance in and around Waseda, I adapted very quickly to live in Tokyo. Altough I am a Half-Japanese, it´s just my third time here in Japan, my first time as an adult and the first stay for more than just some weeks of summer vacation. Of course I am willing to use my stay here in Japan also to learn more about Japans history, society, culture and nature. For example I like the taste and preparation of 和食 (Washoku), the Japanese cuisine, so that I am learning a lot about Japanese food culture. More importantly I´m very interested in visiting historical places and museums. So concerning Tokyo, I can recommend visits of the National Museum in Ueno, the 遊就館 (Yushukan), a war museum located within the area of Yasukuni Shrine, and an almost unknown exhibition located in the Sumitomo Building focussing on Japan in World War II and the history of Japanese POWs in Sibiria. Fortunately I like traveling very much, so that I already visited historic sites like traditional buddhistic temples and shinto shrines in Kamakura and Kyoto as well as Yokohama harbor. For August 2011 I plan a trip southwestwards to take part in the Atomic Bomb Memorial Day and to visit Kure, former naval base of the 日本海軍 (Nihon Kaigun), the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Therefore exploring Japanese culture means to broaden my horizon, further to come to know better my own roots.

Heian Jingu (Heian Shrine)

Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion)

Beside academic activities and my general interest for history as well as modern Japanese history and the history of World War II in particular, I am also very interested in sport activities. On the one hand my personal interests include exercising. So I am in Germany a Handball team´s member. Unfortunately Handball isn´t very popular in Asian countries, so that I try to keep in shape by playing soccer with some Japanese friends. On the other hand I enjoy it to attend sport events like football matches of the German Bundesliga. In Tokyo I had already the pleasure to get to know Japanese sports culture by attending a baseball match of Waseda University and the Sumo Aki Basho. For my further stay at Waseda it´s needless to say, that I´ll keep on exercising and attending sport events like a J-League football match or hiking Mount Fuji.

The “Spirit of Waseda”

Furthermore, I want to underline that I am pleasantly surprised from the warmhearted, welcoming manner and lasting support whether by Waseda scholars or staff members. From the first day on I am enjoying Waseda University´s campus life as well as Waseda´s events and services. Especially events, like the bowling evening or the Christmas meeting, well-organized by the very kind and extremely cooperative staff of Waseda´s International Affairs Office, provide us scholars from all over the world an opportunity not only to establish interdisciplinary and international connections, but also having nice talks and fun together. So it is this special mix of hardworking studies, highly qualified advices, all-embracing support, wonderful add-on programm and friendliness at any time, what makes Waseda Life for me an unforgettable experience.

Finally I realized that Waseda University isn´t just a random university among so many other universities in the world, at least since standing in November days in front of the main stage at the Waseda Festival 2010 celebrating and singing all together - students, scholars, professors and members of staff arm in arm - Waseda University´s hymn. I feel honored and grateful to be part of this familiar community and to experience everyday what I would call the “spirit of Waseda”.

While writing my dissertation in Germany, I am willing to keep up contact to Waseda University and to deepen the cooperation with Japanese historians, too. Certainly, if another chance for a research stay at Waseda University arises in the future, I will not hesitate to return.

with Prof. Goto

Conference Papers:

1. Zwangskollaboration und Widerstand: Überseechinesen in Malaya und Singapur unter japanischer Besatzung. Workshop Der Zweite Weltkrieg als Globaler Konflikt des Deutschen Komitees für die Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität in Hamburg, 9./10. Oktober 2009. (Coercive-Collaboration and Resistance: Overseas Chinese in Malaya and Singapore under Japanese occupation. Workshop The Second World War as a Global Conflict hosted by the German Committee for the History of the Second World War, Helmut-Schmidt-University in Hamburg, 9./10. October 2009).

2. Militärischer Widerstand gegen die japanische Besatzung der malaiischen Halbinsel, 1942-1945: Die Malayan People´s Anti-Japanese Army. Workshop Strategien gegen imperiale Herrschaft. Wissenstransfers, Informationswege und Formen des Widerstandes, Universität Bern, 3.-5. Juni 2010. (Military Resistance against the Japanese Occupation of the Malayan Peninsula, 1942-1945: The Malayan People´s Anti-Japanese Army. Workshop Strategies against imperial leadership. Transfer of knowledge, lines of communication and forms of resistance, University of Bern, 3.-5. June 2010).

3. Living between coercive collaboration and resistance: The Overseas Chinese community in Malaya and Singapore under the rising sun. 21st International Congress of Historical Sciences: Conference of the International Committee for the History of the Second World War: The experience of occupation, 1931-1949. Comparative Perspectives on the Asian and European Theatres of War, Amsterdam, 25./26. August 2010.

Upcoming:
Allied studies concerning morale, psychology and mindset of Japanese POWs in World War II. The Fifteenth Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ 2011), International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo, 25./26. June 2011.

In addition
Rotarian speeches concerning Germany and Japan, hold and will be hold in several Rotary Clubs in Germany and Japan (in English, German and Japanese)

Publications:

In conjunction with Alexander Röllig: Auf Rommels Spuren im Ersten Weltkrieg: Exkursion ins italienisch-slowenische Grenzgebiet am Isonzo (20.-24.Juni 2007). In: Newsletter Arbeitskreis Militärgeschichte e.V., Band 29, Düsseldorf 2007. (On Rommel´s trails in the First World War: Field trip to the Italian-Slovenian borderland on the Isonzo)

Die Schlacht: Konzeptionen und Ziele. In: Josef Johannes Schmid (Hg.): Waterloo – 18.Juni 1815. Vorgeschichte, Verlauf und Folgen einer europäischen Schlacht. Bonn 2008. (The Battle: Conceptions and objectives (The Battle of Waterloo, 18th June 1815)).

Die Kelheimer Befreiungshalle Ludwigs I. von Bayern: Ein bayrisch - deutsches Monument der Freiheit. In: Verhandlungen des Historischen Vereins für Niederbayern, Band 133. Landshut 2008. (Kelheim´s Hall of Liberation built by Louis I. of Bavaria: A Bavarian-German Monument of Liberty).

Upcoming soon:
Mangas als Impulsgeber für die Geschichtswissenschaft?! Das Beispiel Barfuss durch Hiroshima. In: Klaus Farin, Ralf Palandt (Hg.): Rechtsextremismus, Rassismus und Antisemitismus in Comics, Berlin 2011. (Manga as pulser for the science of history? The example Barefoot Gen.)

Verhört: Alliierte Studien zu Moral und Psyche japanischer Soldaten im Zweiten Weltkrieg. In: Christian Gudehus, Sönke Neitzel, Harald Welzer (Hg.): „Der Führer war wieder viel zu human, viel zu gefühlvoll.“ Der Zweite Weltkrieg aus der Sicht deutscher und italienischer Soldaten. Frankfurt am Main 2011. (Interrogated: Allied studies concerning morale and psychology of Japanese POWs in World War II.)