Global history in two chronotopes: time, identity and the practical past in Nagasaki, Japan, 1990 and 2006

ABSTRACT This article compares two recent expositions held in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1990 and 2006. Both expositions responded to structural economic changes related to deindustrialization that prompted reidentifications with the city’s history as a maritime trade hub in early modern Japan. To compare two temporally laced identities that emerged from this turning point, I distinguish each exposition’s dominant chronotope. The 1990 Journey Exposition is characterized by Tabi (Journey)-time, which departs from a distant past to transit through a disappearing present towards a utopian future where Nagasaki has once again become an international port. The 2006 Saruku Expo is characterized by Saruku (Strolling)-time, which introspectively rediscovers Nagasaki’s local heritage within the present while imagining a changeless future, erasing the temporal divisions formative of Tabi-time. If Tabi-time is national time derived from national expositions, Saruku-time is local time derived from heritage and memory. These chronotopes are characterized by different arrangements of exposition grounds and different mobilities that visitors were expected to perform on their fairgrounds. The Journey Exposition spatially delineated Nagasaki into future and past zones, whereas the Saruku Expo featured a series of wandering strolls that drew no clear temporal boundaries. Visitors in Tabi-time engaged in epic, romantic voyages across national borders, whereas visitors in Saruku-time displaced themselves locally in an inquisitive, slow-paced manner. The article draws from exposition documents like guides and official records as well as a local town magazine to argue that the formal organization of time can be practically utilized for economic and identity-building purposes as well as politically contested between different parties. It also develops recent scholarship in Theory of History such as Hayden White’s concept of the ‘practical past’ and recent theorizations on the disorder of postmodern time.