Khmer Rouge History educational app translated into Japanese

Update: Japanese version now available!
Download the iOS app
Download the Android app

In 2016, Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center began developing Khmer Rouge History, an educational smartphone app. The app supports the teaching of Cambodian history, particularly the Khmer Rouge era, to high school and university students, and it is available free of charge. It provides an account of the period before, during and after the Khmer Rouge, presented through archival photographs, video and text. The development of the app was supported by Rei Foundation and the European Union.

Students in Cambodia have long had limited access to comprehensive information about the Khmer Rouge. Until relatively recently, Cambodian history had long been absent from school curricula, and  the Khmer Rouge remains a taboo topic in many families. The app addresses this gap. A committee of scholars and historians reviewed and approved the content to ensure that it is as impartial and thorough as possible. The app has exceeded expectations, with more than 60,000 app downloads to date.

The Khmer Rouge was in power from 1975 until 1979, but for those affected, the end of the war in 1975 was not the end of its effects. The legacy of Khmer Rouge violence continues to affect later generations, including those among the Cambodian diaspora in Japan. 

Today’s people cannot be held responsible for past wars, but we do have a responsibility to think about how they can be prevented in the future. It is therefore essential to record people's experiences and pass them on to future generations. The Khmer Rouge History app is one way to achieve this. We believe that it will encourage conversations between survivors and younger generations. 

In recent years, Rei Foundation has been involved in supporting artistic and historical storytelling projects with Cambodian communities in Japan. The knowledge and understanding of these communities is inevitably distinct from that of Cambodians who remained. However, here too, there is a lack of information and discussion around the Khmer Rouge and its historical context among the Cambodian diaspora in Japan, particularly among those in the second and third generations. Cambodian community members of all ages responded enthusiastically to Kim Hak’s Alive IV project, and it is clear that there is desire to continue learning and sharing these difficult histories.

The Japanese version of the app will be shared through different channels than the originall Khmer. The initial Khmer app was introduced via public schools all over Cambodia; the Japanese iteration will be aimed at the Cambodian community in Japan and be available to all readers of Japanese. We also hope it encourages other communities in Japan to create projects that respond to their own histories and needs.

The app will be introduced at community events, and the project team will consider other ways to ensure it reaches as large an audience as possible.

We believe in the power of storytelling and the sharing of history to strengthen communities, and are therefore proud to support the translation of this app to make it accessible to the diaspora community in Japan.