Panel 31: Midwest Japan Seminar #1

Chair: Charo D'Etcheverry, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Kazue Harada, Miami University, Ohio, “Symptomatic Absence: Ethical Writing of History and Science in Ueda Sayuri’s The King of Ruin”

Ueda Sayuri (1964-)’s Naoki Prize-nominated historical novel, Hametsu no ō (The King of Ruin, 2017) attempts to critique the atrocities committed by the Kwangtung Army’s Unit 731 and unethical way to gain scientific knowledge, wealth, and power through human experimentation in biological warfare. In addressing these war atrocities, Ueda is committed to “not to alter history” in her historical fiction while weaving fictional elements into the novel. Ueda’s novel centers on actual historical events and figures surrounding the Shanghai Science Research Institute (Shanhai shizen kagaku kenkyūjo, SSRI) during 1931-1945, while incorporating the quasi-fictional biological weapon, R2v, and fictional characters. This intricate blend of history and fiction can create dual or even paradoxical effects of reading, offering insights into the author’s ethical approach to historical fiction and ethics of science—such as the role of natural science, the misuse of biological weapons, and the human cost of such pursuits. However, this paper argues that these fictional elements, despite the author’s respectful intentions, risk diverting the attention away from its historicity. Therefore, The King of Ruin reveals the limitations of presenting war atrocities from a colonial viewpoint and highlight the symptomatic absence and suppression of actual perpetrators’ narratives and the lived experiences of victims in transnational history. Instead, this novel provides ethical reflections on historical fiction and the use of science, the lingering anxieties in post-3.11. neoliberal Japan, and even potentially redemptive undertones to alleviate Japanese guilt.