Japanese history textbook controversies

The Japanese history textbook controversy refers to a long-running controversy over how historical events are presented in authorized Japanese school textbooks. The issue of textbooks in Japan has been a problematic one ever since Japan formally established its modern education system in 1890, and though the players and the details have changed with the passage of time, the fundamental basis of its controversiality--whether or not the Japanese government's authorization of a particular history textbook represents its official line towards its historical past--has remained the same.

Related Topics:
Japanese school - Textbook

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The present-day incarnation of the controversy, which is the focus of this article, centres on how a junior-high history textbook called the "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" or "New History Textbook" downplays or "whitewashes" the nature of Japan's military aggression in the Sino-Japanese War, in Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, and in World War II. The textbook was created by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a conservative Japanese organization, which, as its name implies, aims to revise Japanese history to suit its rightist ends. It glosses over wartime atrocities, de-emphasizes the subject of the Chinese and Korean comfort women, and avoids contemporary issues surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine in honor of dead Japanese soldiers, where the enshrined include the names of a number of convicted and executed war criminals.

Related Topics:
Whitewashes - Sino-Japanese War - World War II - Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform - Comfort women - Junichiro Koizumi - Yasukuni shrine - War criminal

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Since its official authorization in 2001, this textbook has only hampered relations between Japan and its East Asian neighbors, primarily Korea and Japan. Recently in 2005, news of the Japanese government's re-authorization of the "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" led to multinational public protest demonstrations. The textbook has been publicly denounced by Japan's leading teachers' union and, according to a CNN article in April of 2004, it is being used by only 18 of the nation's 11,102 junior high schools. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/japan.textbook.ap/. According to a recent Asahi Shimbun article from September of 2005 (Asahi is one of the three leading nationally-circulated Japanese newspapers (the others being Yomiuri and Mainichi), four years since its initial adoption, the textbook is only being used in 0.04% of Japan's junior high schools, which is far from the 10% penetration that its authors had aimed for http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/TKY200509020241.html.

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Critics in several countries, including the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Australia claim that the textbooks sanitize their reporting of the wartime event. These critics claim that it is not historically justifiable to glorify Japanese wartime activities or to omit alleged atrocities. The contemporary Japanese government has been criticised by Malaysia, Singapore and Germany, as well as organisations such as the United Nations. The textbook controversy plays a role in spurring demands by Northeast Asian nations for more Japanese government apologies for wartime atrocities, despite repeated apologies by Japanese officials and the Emperor in the past. See List of war apology statements issued by Japan

Related Topics:
People's Republic of China - Republic of China - Republic of Korea - Democratic People's Republic of Korea - Australia - Historically justifiable - Malaysia - Singapore - Germany - United Nations - Emperor - List of war apology statements issued by Japan

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The Japanese government has demanded an apology from China for the protests, claiming that the protests are primarily motivated by hostile or racist anti-Japanese sentiment.

Related Topics:
Racist - Anti-Japanese sentiment

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The focus of anti-Japanese sentiment in the 2005 protests was not confined to the textbook issue, but included wider Japan-related issues, such as the bid by Japan for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and territorial disputes. In the PRC, several Japanese-themed shops and malls were attacked and vandalized by protesters. Many of these were Chinese-owned and operated. Several Japanese nationals residing in China have been reported as injured.

Related Topics:
Bid by Japan - UN Security Council

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To date only Japanese history textbooks have been called into question. The treatment of historical issues in China and other countries that were subject to Japanese aggression is generally ignored. However, this broader context, which would inevitably put the focus on the systematic distortion of history by Chinese textbooks (including the issue of who really fought the Sino-Japanese war), may become more relevant if Japan presses its offer of a joint commission to review textbooks in both countries.

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