August 15 approaches, and once again Japan's neighbors are up in arms over the prospect of a prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine. In no other country do efforts to honor the victims of war arouse such controversy. But then, in no other country is such a visit shrouded with so many shades of meaning. If James Orr is right, though, Asian concerns are misplaced: The visits do not honor the deeds of the militarists. Rather, the Yasukuni Shrine ceremonies respond to a vital national psychological need to honor victimhood.
Putting an entire nation on the couch is always a hazardous enterprise. Nonetheless, Orr makes a powerful argument. Postwar history seems to bear out his claim that Japan honors its victims as much as it honors its heroes. Indeed, during the last half-century groups have competed to be labeled victims to ensure special political status. For Japan, the victim is a hero.
Orr is not the first to tread this ground. Takeo Doi's "The Anatomy of Dependence" is an essential foundation for Orr's theories. Ivan Morris' masterwork, "The Nobility of Failure," uses many of the same insights in a literary context. But "The Victim as Hero" is the first book to apply that framework to national politics.