Japanese textbooks to remove clause showing sensitivity to neighboring countries

Posted on : 2013-04-29 15:19 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Latest move in Japan’s rightward shift is likely to cause further uproar over Japan’s historical denials
 Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe (far left)
Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe (far left)

By Jeong Nam-ku, Tokyo correspondent

It is expected that the historical understanding of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who glorifies Japan’s past wars of aggression and tries to justify visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, will end up being reflected in Japanese textbooks. This is increasing the likelihood that Japan’s conflict with neighboring countries over its historical awareness will be prolonged and intensified.

On Apr. 24, the special committee of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan’s office for education renewal held its first meeting, Japan’s Kyodo News reported. Among the standards for textbook assessment, the committee decided to amend the so-called “neighboring countries clause,” Kyodo reported. This clause had been added out of consideration for Asian countries in the region.

The LDP is planning to draft a proposal to the government focusing on amending the neighboring countries clause in June 2013 and on including this in its campaign platform for the Upper House elections, which are scheduled for July 2013.

This clause in the standards for textbook assessment calls for textbooks to “be considerate of neighboring countries, the interest of the international community, and global cooperation.” It was added in 1982 as a result of the uproar caused by Japanese history textbooks.

The clause has only been applied one time, in 1991 during the process of assessing middle school social studies textbooks to change the sentence “we must not forget that there were times in the past when we caused harm to others” to read “we must not forget that were times in the past when we caused others to experience pain that was difficult to endure.” Nevertheless, the very fact that the clause exists has considerable diplomatic symbolism.

The Japanese government is also expressing a strong desire to revise the textbook examination guidelines.

On Apr. 10, a lawmaker asked Hakubun Shimomura, Japanese Minister of Education, whether he agreed that it was necessary to abolish the neighboring countries clause, saying that it limited the scope of what textbooks could cover. In response, Shimomura said, “The government is already considering whether to review the textbook examination standards.”

“It is important to help students establish their identity as people who are proud of being Japanese,” Shimomura said.

Abe apparently agrees, saying that “patriotism and love of one’s homeland, which are the spirit of the revised basic education law, are not to be found in the current examination standards.”

In Jan. 2013, Simomura appointed Takasaki Hidetsuku, a professor at the Japan University of Economics and the former chairman of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform that makes right-leaning textbooks, to the education renewal committee. The committee is a consultative organization for education policy.

There is also criticism inside Japan about the groups of cabinet members and representatives who have paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. However, this criticism does not directly call into question the historical understanding implicit in a visit to the shrine but rather focuses on the fact that such visits lead to unnecessary diplomatic conflict. This very fact suggests that the conflict over historical awareness will not end soon.

While the Asahi Shimbun printed an editorial on Apr. 24 criticizing visits to the shrine, the focus of this criticism was on politicians whose behavior reveals a lack of international awareness. Similarly, Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of the rightwing Japan Restoration Party, pointed out that “politicians must not fail to consider their diplomatic attitude.”

The Japanese government has indicated that it has a critical attitude toward South Korea and China. It claims that these countries are turning the issue of historical understanding into a diplomatic controversy.

“We do not want the issue of visits to the Yasukuni Shrine to have an impact on overall relations with South Korea and China, which are important neighbors to Japan,” said Yoshihide Suga, Japanese chief cabinet secretary, at a press briefing on Apr. 25. “We hope that the issue of historical awareness will not become a point of diplomatic or political contention.”

These remarks conveniently ignore the fact that the Dokdo issue and others are rooted in the problem of historical awareness.

 

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