Japan reviews history textbooks for its school...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing this article. I am very much interested in schools in both China and Japan. As a history teacher, I believe it is important to study both primary and secondary sources to discover the truth for oneself. This article is saying that the government in Japan is getting rid of history books that show a negative view of Japan. Well, while that is contraversial, we have to think about why.

The article mentions the fact that in 2007, "love of country" was made an educational objective. That is interesting. Well, if that is an objective, than you must only show the good part of the country's history.

[Anonymous]

As Dr. Dube discussed this evening, Japan has great difficulty owning up to their war time atrocities, much to the chagrin of their neighbors. Unlike Germany, which was invaded and dismantled by a multinational force, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally without a bloody invasion. MacArthur realized that a successful occupation of Japan would require continuity with existing traditions. Though some were executed for war crimes, the number was small. The Emperor Hirohito was not charged with war crimes, as many felt he should have been, and was not forced to abiticate. He symbolically represented continuity.
The Japanese did not engage in "soul searching" or contemplate in their guilt like the Germans. Rebuilding a devastated Japanese economy was more important to MacArthur and the American occupying forces, than further humiliation. The Soviet Union was a threat and a strong Japanese economy would assure that communism would not be as appealing a philosophy to the Japanese people as it was to the Chinese.

I have read that for the Germans countenancing their war crimes and embracing national guilt was easier. If Germany gave the world Hitler, they also gave us Beethoven, Goethe, Schiller, Luther, and Kant. They could accept the fact that they engaged in unimaginable atrocities and almost destroyed European more easily because they have also made such great contributions European culture.
The Japanese have accomplished much since the war. They have one of the world's largest economies. Perhaps it is time for them to do some soul searching and issue apologies. They are in a position of strength, not post war humiliation. A serious national conversation about their past would go far in building more cordial relations with their neighbors.
edited by kberg on 5/5/2015

[Anonymous]

I might add, in all fairness to the Japanese, it is not as if their Chinese critics are willing to engage in an honest soul searching conversation about their own recent past. See my post about the Chinese TV entertainer who was suspended from his job and had to issue an a public apology for criticizing Mao - also the subject of an Economist article. Discussion of the Tianamen Square massacre is still suppressed. I am sure that much is omitted or sugar coated in Chinese textbooks in order to promote patriotism and the official national narrative. I would venture to guess that Japanese textbooks are far more honest and balanced than their Chinese counterparts.
edited by kberg on 5/5/2015

[Anonymous]

I too was thinking about the article while Dr. Dube was lecturing about Japan and the lack of apology to the region. As he said it is not easy to apologize for the war atrocities. I think that no one likes to admit to wrong doing, and Japan doesn't apologize because of the "love of country".

[Anonymous]

My students use Wikipedia all the time. Sometimes they even copy and paste wiki articles and submit them as research paper assignments, including the footnotes. If students in Asian countries have access to the same information, then would language be the limiting factor in regards to how information is accessed?
Many people I talk to feel that high school history books in the US are filled with pro-American rhetoric, though they may be recollecting the books they read when they were in high school.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The Economist, April 10th

Japan's education ministrer, Hakubun Shimomura wants the children of Japan to be taught "correct" views of Japan's history and territory. The education ministry has approved new textbooks for geography, history and civics. Japanese children will learn about Japan's territorial disputes with neighbors. For example that the Senkakus and Takeshima Islands (occupied by South Korea, which they call Dokdo), are Japan's "inherent" territory.
Although some of the approved textbooks have replace some of the language to more softer words, for example, by swapping "massacre to "incident" to the atrocities committed in Nanjing in 1937.
New textbooks reflect changes in teaching guidelines set by the education ministry. The intentions are to relieve the country's guilt of its imperialistic past and make it proud again.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648157-japan-reviews-history-textbooks-its-schoolchildren-and-riles-its-neighbours-hearts-and-minds?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227

[Anonymous]

I don't think that the issue in Japan is "censorship," certainly accounts of Japanese atrocities are readily available to curious students. Government approved texts do represent an "official" historical narrative. They demonstrate what Japan thinks of itself. What I wonder is what value the Japanese place on critical inquiry and recognizing alternative views in their secondary education system? Are students encouraged to question what they read in their textbooks? Is there a lively debate in Japan about Japanese imperialism?

Let's turn the tables, is their a lively debate in America about our invading Iraq in 2003 on the mistaken (or false) pretext of weapons of mass destruction? We may recognize the truth but we don't always want to look at all of the ugly details under a microscope.

[Author]

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