Japan Society of Fairfield County
Culture Watch, Society Watch (19)
by Dr. Ikuko Anjo Jassey
The descriptions of the Battle of Okinawa
in authorized Japanese school textbooks have elicited much criticism in
Japan and neighboring countries. According to The New York Times (April
1,2007), the government mandated publishers to delete the depiction
clarifying who was responsible for civilian mass suicides during the
battle. Thus, the Ministry of Education again disclosed that it has no
pillar of educational philosophy. The government, it is apparent, has
not learned anything from Professor Ienage's bequest; namely, the
Ministry of Education's mandate to delete the well-researched
descriptions of historical events is illegal.
Against the world trend of seeking
freedom in textbook production, "a new backlash" rose again in Japan in
1996, after a political party's intervention in 1955 and 1980. Since
then, a group of people, including scholars, national and local
politicians, mass media, and radical rightists, have been criticizing
the textbooks depicting Japanese brutality during World War II. A
leader of this movement once declared that "Japanese troops are no
worse than those of any other fighting nation in World War II and
should not be singled out as especially brutal" and that current
history textbooks filled with self-loathing depictions and photographs
are nothing but a way to implant in pupils' minds national shame rather
than pride. Moreover, he asserted that since the educational aim was to
nurture a proud national identity in children's minds, any textbook
counterproductive to this purpose should not be authorized. The group
actually requested and demanded that the Ministry of Education and
publishing companies rewrite or eliminate "shameful" descriptions and
photographs of the wars in history textbooks. It is still fresh in our
memory that history textbooks glorifying Japan were published by the
same group. Thus, after a short period of time-approximately for ten
years-when Japanese textbooks were sensibly freed from government
censorship, the government manipulated the screening system, once again
pressing its interpretation of wartime crimes in the newest high school
history textbooks.
Indeed, no completely objective history
textbook exists. And it is natural for human nature to show hesitation
to cover the historical truths that reflect "the dark side" of their
nation. As James W. Loewen writes in his 1995 book, however, without
understanding our national past, we can neither understand ourselves
nor the world around us. In fact, textbooks in some countries, such as
Germany, France, Russia, and South Africa are said to have begun to
deal more honestly with unpalatable truths, thus encouraging critical
thinking. The United States has been moving toward that direction, too.
As far as I compared some newer American history textbooks (2003, 2005,
and 2006) with those published ten years ago, just for my curiosity, it
is obvious that these newer versions clearly attempted to deal more
honestly and bilaterally with war crimes Americans had committed.
Japan should not follow an educationally
wrong path, imitating or challenging any country that fabricates its
history with eliminating inconvenient truths as if they had never
occurred and with creating a wealth of fantastic stories for one's own
nation. A war is never glorious. Instead, a war is cruel, brutal, and
destructive. For this very reason, students have to be taught crucial
facts of historical events with moral compass as well as rational
thoughts so as to develop and sharpen their abilities to ponder, to
assess, and to value life. Concealing or twisting historical facts is
more shameful than teaching the grim realities.
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