The User (II)

The site invites contention among potential learners, hoping to create an environment in which dialogue and debate become the norm. To this end, the site opens with an essay addresssed to its Japanese audience--a group representing only a fraction of the intended whole--asking that they consider the question of "history" in terms of origins and causes (e.g., Pearl Harbor).

This device indicates that the designers of the site hope to raise the level of the discussion, elevating it from the level of "assigning blame" to a metahistorical framework. The external links, many of which provide contradictory or contrasting information, underscore this goal by continuing to complicate the situation. Instead of focusing exclusively on the legacy of suffering, the site poses difficult questions about what came before, allowing for ambiguity where once there was certainty. In effect, the site imagines a heterogenous population, one capable of critical thought, and asks how differences may be accommodated in the future.