104 Years Later, a Chinese Train Station Platform is Still the Site of Anti-Japanese Rancor

It is the morning of Oct. 26, 1909. Japan is tightening its grip on the Korean peninsula, and the Japanese governor of Korea, Hirobumi Ito, is due to arrive, by train, at the railway station in Harbin. Hiding on the platform is a Korean veteran of the anti-Japanese struggle, Ahn Jung-geun. He tucks himself into a line of soldiers, stashing his pistol in a lunch box. When Ito emerges, Ahn steps forward and shoots him dead.  For this, Ahn is later executed by the Japanese.

This sanguineous story is the subject of a new museum in the city of Harbin, in northeast China. A joint South Korean-Chinese effort, the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall stands in the V.I.P section of the city’s train station, not far from where Ito died.  Since its opening on Jan. 19, the project has been given fulsome praise from South Korea and China — and has been roundly denounced by the Japanese.

East Asia is at war over history. Amid ongoing territorial disputes and rising nationalist sentiment, Japan’s imperial expansion and wartime record have become a focal point for the region. In late December, Japan’s hawkish prime minister, Shinzo Abe, rankled neighbors by visiting Yasukuni shrine, the resting place of 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals. It was the first Prime Ministerial visit to the site since 2006....