National Memory Production and Politics of “Warship Island”

The Warship Island located in Nagasaki, Japan, was once the place of historical reference and memory for Japan’s forced campaign against miners during World War II, and it is a “negative heritage” of history. Through media deformation, the image of Warship island has undergone multiple changes. It is not only a landscape memory, but also a heritage memory, from an island with a large population to a famous ghost town ruins; it is also a heritage memory, which is transformed into a “world cultural heritage” as a “Meiji industrial heritage” and developed into a double standard and obscure “black tourism”; then it is also an emotional memory—Warship Island, a South Korean film with the same name, reveals its dark history with a strong critical spirit and becomes a new symbol of Asian Anti Japanese films. Due to the polysemy of “negative heritage” and its historical changes, Warship island finally participated in the operation mechanism of nationalism in Japan and South Korea in the form of national memory, showing three aspects: ethical individuality, victim consciousness and memory polishing. Historical ruminants need to make a thorough historical liquidation in order to establish a real common historical consciousness.