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Osaka Castle

The Japanese government is considering Osaka Castle as a backdrop for a commemorative photograph from the upcoming G20 summit, Japanese news outlets reported. The castle served in the past as the headquarters of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the figure behind the Imjin Invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598.

In a report citing unnamed South Korean and Japanese foreign affairs sources on May 23, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper noted the “possibility that the photograph site could be adjusted amid anticipated objections from South Korea.” If Osaka Castle is used as a backdrop for the photograph, South Korean President Moon Jae-in appears unlikely to participate as the leader of a country that experienced great suffering as a result of the invasions.

The main tower of Osaka Castle was built by Hideyoshi between 1583 and 1589. He would subsequently use it as a headquarters for unifying Japan; the Imjin Invasions began in 1592, three years after the tower’s completion. After Toyotomi’s death, his son Hideyori also ruled Japan from the castle. The structure eventually collapsed and was set on fire in 1615 by Ieyasu Tokugawa, who ushered in the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (1603–1867). Hideyori subsequently committed suicide, and the Toyotomi clan was wiped out.

The Tokugawa Shogunate later rebuilt the castle in the 1620s. In 1868, it burned once again during the Boshin War between supporters of the old shogunate and new government forces centering on the Satsuma and Choshu Domains. The current Osaka Castle was restored with reinforced concrete in 1931 and has undergone several restorations since then; today, it even has elevators installed inside.

Issues with summit venues have surfaced in the past due to historical issues between South Korea and Japan, the Asahi Shimbun noted. In December 2004, a summit between then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was held in Ibusuki, a city in Kagoshima Prefecture. Kagoshima was the home prefecture of Takamori Saigo – a proponent of the so-called Seikanron debate advocating a punitive expedition to Korea, which surfaced in Japan after the Meiji Restoration – and the summit venue was located near the Chiran Peace Museum, which is connected with kamikaze missions by special forces during the Pacific War. While the summit did go ahead, an event planned by the Japanese government with the region’s specialty sand baths was not held after Roh balked at wearing a yukata (a traditional Japanese bathing gown).

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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