Japanese History Textbook Controversy Research Articles

Japanese history textbook controversy at a crossroads?: joint history research, politicization of textbook adoption process, and apology fatigue in Japan

ABSTRACTJapan’s kyōkasho mondai (history textbook controversy) is at a crossroads. This article tries to exemplify it through the analysis of three issue areas at three levels (international, domestic, and societal). Internationally, the study looks into the failure of much anticipated joint history writing projects with China (2006–2010) and South Korea (2002–2005, 2007–2010). Domestically, this study problematises the recent politicisation of the textbook adoption system through the analysis of the Yokohama and Tokyo cases. The article also discusses the role of Nippon Kaigi (The Japan Conference), an influential rightist lobbying group, in this process. In this conjunction, at the societal level, there seems to have been the growing sense of frustration and resignation with China / South Korea among the Japanese public (i.e. apology fatigue). All these suggest that there has been an underlying change in the landscape of history textbook controversy in Japan, which also cogently shows the on-going practical difficulty in building trustworthy relationships between Japan and China / South Korea. This study tries to offer a contextual understanding about the underlying conditions for (and, hence, the changing societal expectations about) textbook production, content and reception.

Media Discourse on the Japanese History Textbook Controversy of 1982 From the Perspective of Foreign Policy and Media Frame

This paper’s purpose is to consider a media-foreign policy nexus on the history perception issues of Japan-South Korea relations. Previous studies demonstrate that the media tends to cover the pronouncements of political elites and that the media faces certain difficulties when covering secret foreign policy processes. This proves that the media has a negligible effect on the foreign policy process. However, in terms of a linkage between foreign and domestic politics, the media more likely focuses on public opinion in its coverage of foreign policy. With regard to Japan–Korea relations, previous studies indicated the importance of the media in the issue of history perception. This paper focuses on the Japanese history textbook controversy of 1982 and examines how the media covered the debate from the perspective of justification.

An Alternative Explanation for Anti-Japanese Sentiment in China: Shifting State-Society Interaction in China's Japan Policy

The historical turbulence between China and Japan started from the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, and culminated in Japan's invasion of China during World War Two (the Second Sino-Japanese War) between 1937 and 1945. A series of wars caused huge human and material losses in both countries, and both experienced comprehensive transformations during and after the wars. The impact of this historical turbulence is so long-lasting that it still influences both countries' social psyche. Moreover, it continues casting a long shadow upon the current Sino-Japanese relations. The recent turbulence in Sino-Japanese relations partly stems from the historical turbulence. It is much less violent but can also be emotional and worrisome. It started from the early 1980s (the Japanese history textbook controversy in 1982 and the 1985 anti-Japanese student protests in China), and culminated in the anti-Japanese mass demonstrations in multiple Chinese cities in 2005 (Bush 2010; Gries 2005; Reilly 2012; Stockmann 2010; Weiss 2008). In addition to dramatic demonstrations on streets, there are also other forms of movements, such as war reparations movements, in which Chinese war victims demand reparations from the Japanese state and companies (Rose 2005; Xu and Fine 2010; Xu and Pu 2010). Although the tension has existed for many years and surfaced from time to time, the eruption of the nationwide anti-Japanese movements in China in 2005 still shocked many outside observers. Many scholars have tried to explain the anti-Japanese sentiment within current Chinese society that underlies and drives these social movements. Through careful reexamination of the existing literature, this article proposes an explanation for the anti-Japanese sentiment from a perspective that stresses the shifting state-society interaction in China's Japan policy. Specifically, the totalitarian Chinese state's neglect and suppression of genuine social concerns regarding Japan in earlier years, followed by a relatively liberalized state that tolerates societal participation in Sino-Japanese relations, are an importance source of the anti-Japanese sentiment recently observed in China.

Yoshiko Nozaki. War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges. New York: Routledge, 2008. 224 pp. Paperback $39.60. Hardback $150.00.

Yoshiko Nozaki. War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges. New York: Routledge, 2008. 224 pp. Paperback $39.60. Hardback $150.00.

War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges by Yoshiko Nozaki. New York: Routledge, 2008. 198 pp. $150.00 (cloth); $34.00 (paper). ISBN 978‐0‐415‐37147‐6.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewWar Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges by Yoshiko Nozaki. New York: Routledge, 2008. 198 pp. $150.00 (cloth); $34.00 (paper). ISBN 978‐0‐415‐37147‐6.David Blake WillisDavid Blake WillisSoai UniversityFielding Graduate University Search for more articles by this author Soai UniversityFielding Graduate UniversityPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 54, Number 1February 2010 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/650713 Views: 83Total views on this site © 2010 by The Comparative and International Education Society. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburō's Court Challenges (review)

War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburō's Court Challenges (review)

NOZAKI, Yoshiko, <i>War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945-2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges</i>

NOZAKI, Yoshiko, <i>War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945-2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges</i>

War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges (review)

War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo's Court Challenges (review)

Globalizing critical studies of ‘official’ knowledge: lessons from the Japanese history textbook controversy over ‘comfort women’

This paper discusses the Japanese history textbook controversy over ‘comfort women’ to tease out insights that help globalize the existing theoretical discussion of politics of school knowledge. I begin by documenting how the domestic struggles over Japanese history textbooks are empowered and disempowered by the regional and international power relations. Using the Japanese case, I first problematize the use of hegemony in critical scholarship wherein struggles over school knowledge have been defined within the framework of a nation‐state. Second, I call for situating the discussion of counter‐hegemonic strategies in the increasingly internationalized politics of education witnessed around the world. In sum, this study calls for broadening the application of the notions of hegemony and counter‐hegemony in critical education scholarship to take full account of the complex political dynamics of globalizations.

War memory, nationalism, and education in postwar Japan, 1945-2007: the Japanese history textbook controversy and Ienaga Saburo's court challenges

War memory, nationalism, and education in postwar Japan, 1945-2007: the Japanese history textbook controversy and Ienaga Saburo's court challenges

The Japanese History Textbook Controversy in East Asian Perspective

Controversy over the inadequate presentation of Japan's colonial and wartime past in the country's history textbooks is one of the most protracted, notorious, and politically relevant “history problems” currently troubling East Asia. This article provides an overview of the controversy's evolution since 1982, situating it in changing domestic and regional contexts, analyzing its particularities and interrelations with other controversial issues, and evaluating its impacts on textbooks and societies at large. It shows how increased domestic and foreign scrutiny and contestation have triggered cycles of greater openness, conservative counterreactions, subsequent backlashes, and renewed debate in the field of textbooks and have overall contributed both to reinforcements and to reconsiderations of foreign relations in the region.

Japanese politics and the history textbook controversy, 1982–2001

In recent years, there has been a good deal of media and academic interest in the ways in which Japanese history textbooks represent Japan's wartime past. However, the discussion has tended to revolve primarily around a number of symbolic textbook issues, such as government censorship of the term ‘aggression,’ without much consideration of divisions and conflict within the state and the ruling bloc itself. Consequently, no real analysis has emerged concerning the ways in which right-wing nationalist elements have exploited the textbook issue with the aim of reinforcing their political and cultural dominance over contemporary Japan. This article presents the Japanese history textbook controversy as an ongoing cultural and political struggle. It attempts to understand the process of the textbook struggle historically, and the relations between political parties and actors, the state bureaucracy, and right-wing nationalists. In particular, the study examines the ways in which the power of right-wing nationalism has been appropriated and negotiated by the leaders and members of the Liberal Democratic Party and bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education. It also looks at the ways in which such power has been resisted by textbook authors, educators, and certain segments of public opinion.