Neo‐nationalism and the ‘liberal school of history’

Abstract

1990s Japan appears to be in the grip of a revisionist trend which many people associate with the emergence of neo‐nationalism. This paper argues that, while the leading proponents of revisionist history in the 1990s are superficial and intellectually unpersuasive, they nonetheless ought to be taken seriously by Japan scholars. Through a study of the ‘Liberal School of History’ and the ideas and person of its figurehead, Fujioka Nobukatsu, the logic expounded by revisionists and the alleged historical antecedents for these ideas are identified. The tumultuous context of the 1990s, including the Gulf War, death of Hirohito and the fiftieth anniversary of defeat in 1945, have provided a fertile environment for arguments in favour of a more patriotic history education for Japanese junior and senior high‐school students. Conservative and rightist politicians across party lines have developed activist groups in support of Fujioka's programme, and he has received considerable financial backing from the private sector. Analysis of 1990s revisionism reveals a closer affinity with pre‐war and wartime nationalism than with any kind of ‘new’ post‐war nationalism. It has revived a State‐centred nationalism that explicitly regards post‐war democracy as its ideological enemy.