Japanese textbook dispute

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The association for the creation of new history textbooks

The term textbook dispute summarizes a number of public disputes in and with Japan over the thematic treatment of war crimes and colonial history in state-approved history books in secondary schools . In addition to the question of the extent to which the history of Japan in the 20th century was distorted or glossed over by the representation in school books, the constitutionality of the state licensing system for school books is also discussed.

Despite appeals from nationalists , Japanese textbooks dealt with war crimes such as the Nanking massacre , " consolation women " (forced prostitutes), the forced mass suicides of the people of Okinawa, and the human experiments by Unit 731 from the 1990s at the latest . According to a comparative study by Stanford University from 2012, Japanese textbooks are kept in a "calm, neutral, almost boring" tone and are the least likely to stimulate patriotism, while the nationalist textbooks mentioned in the media are almost never used. According to that study, Chinese textbooks are by comparison the most nationalistic with a strong ideological influence, South Korean textbooks neglect the larger context of World War II and mostly only deal with the Japanese occupation (for example, the atomic bombs on Japan are not mentioned), while US textbooks are overly patriotic , but would be the only ones to stimulate critical thinking.

The state approval process for school books

School books at Japanese elementary, middle and high schools are produced by private publishers and are subject to an approval process by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in accordance with the Education Foundation Act ( Japanese 教育 基本法 , kyōiku kihonhō ) - hereinafter briefly: Ministry of Education.

This process takes place in several steps. A first publisher's draft is checked by the Commission for the Examination and Approval of Textbooks ( 教科 用 図 書 検 定 調査 審議 会 , kyōkayō tosho kentei chōsa shingikai ) for conformity with the curriculum guidelines ( 学習 指導 要領 , gakushū shidō yōryō ) of the Ministry of Education require to be “objective, balanced and free from errors”. In the event of suspected violations of these guidelines, the Ministry of Education may give the publisher the opportunity to revise the draft. Thereafter, a textbook is considered approved by the Ministry of Education. Local school authorities then choose from the list of books approved for the schools in their area of ​​responsibility. The approval process is carried out continuously; the results are compiled every four years and published the following year.

Criticism of the approval process

Critics claim that the government approval process is used to reject schoolbooks with negative portrayals of the Japanese Empire . In one case in the 1960s, the description of the Nanking massacre and other Japanese war crimes during the Pacific War was rejected by the Ministry of Education. The author sued the ministry and was right decades later. Controversial recent revolved mainly around the of the new company to create history ( 新しい歴史教科書をつくる会, atarashii rekishi Kyokasho o tsukuru kai ) published textbooks, highlighting the achievements of the Empire before the Pacific War and the term Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere with less use more critical commentary than other Japanese history books.

The proponents of the procedure cite as a counter-argument that books that omitted certain negative statements about the Japanese Empire and the mention of war crimes could still not be admitted because they do not meet the criteria of the Ministry in other respects. In the aforementioned case of the Society's textbook for the creation of new history books, the author was forced to make changes several times before the final approval. In addition, during the Cold War the ministry rejected textbooks from left-wing publishers who attempted to portray the Soviet Union , the People's Republic of China , North Korea or other communist states in a positive light. Another argument by proponents of the trial is that the Ministry of Education did the right thing in the 1960s and 1970s by removing references to certain war crimes, such as the Nanking massacre, because the existence and extent of such crimes were still debated by Japanese historians. However, after this historical assessment resulted in consensus in the 1990s, the ministry insisted on mentioning such crimes. Another argument is that the main foreign critics, the People's Republic of China, North and South Korea , did not allow privately published textbooks and instead worked with a uniform history book for all schools; It is also pointed out that textbooks in these countries are subject to political censorship and self-aggrandizement to a far greater extent than in Japan .

Current situation

There are currently 30 different approved textbooks for social sciences ( 社会 , shakai ) in primary schools from five publishers . At secondary schools, eight textbooks from eight different publishers are used as part of the social and historical curriculum ( 社会 - 歴 史 的 分野 , shakai-rekishi teki bunya ). The high schools have over 50 different books to choose from for history lessons.

Origin of the approval process

The current test procedure for Japanese school books was introduced in 1947 under American occupation by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers ( SCAP ) Douglas MacArthur . He instructed the civil transitional government to abandon the existing system of state textbooks ( 国 定 教科書 , kokutei kyōkasho ) and to allow the private sector to write school books. Teachers should then decide locally which books they wanted to use. Militarist and ultra-nationalist portrayals were removed and the concept of individual dignity ( 個人 の 尊 厳 , kojin no songen ) should be promoted. The new Education Fundamentals Act then stated that the Ministry of Education should issue curriculum guidelines; However, unlike in the era of militarism, these should not provide a rigid, uniform line, but rather allow flexible adjustments to the changed requirements of students and society as a whole.

Case law of the Supreme Court

Article 21, Paragraph 2 of the Japanese Constitution, like the German Basic Law, prohibits state censorship. In 1993 the Japanese Supreme Court had the opportunity to consider whether the approval process was censorship in this sense.

The decision does not see any violation of the ban on censorship. The reason given is that publishers are free to sell an unrecognized book on the general market.

Insofar as the procedure is associated with a restriction on freedom of expression, this is justified by the purpose of guaranteeing the neutrality, appropriateness and level of the teaching.

However, the author still has the option of reprimanding an abuse of discretion. In the opinion of the decision, this exists if the authority has made serious errors in the approval procedure with regard to facts, literature or the test guidelines.

Chronology of the greatest debates

"Pathetic Textbooks" (1955)

In the election campaign for the parliamentary elections of February 1955, the Democratic Party of Japan proposed stricter admission rules for school books: the private sector should continue to be left with the publishing of the books, but under stricter control and restriction to two textbooks per subject, which effectively means a return to state-level textbooks would have.

At a meeting of the Special Committee on Administrative Oversight ( 行政 監察 特別 委員会 , gyōsei kansetsu tokubetsu iinkai ) of the House of Commons in July 1955, Ishii Kazutomo ( 石井 一朝 ), a member of the Democratic Party, warned of the impending publication of textbooks on the principles of training in Japan. According to him, they have these properties:

  • They deliberately and exaggeratedly portray the condition of the Japanese working class as extraordinarily dire, to portray it as the result of an inadequate social system and the internal contradictions of capitalism .
  • They glorify the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China in a way that suggests submission of Japan to those countries.

Between August and October of the same year, the Democratic Party published three brochures under the title "Pathetic Textbooks" ( う れ う べ き 教科書 , ureubeki kyōkasho ). The first of the three names four "examples of biased education through textbooks":

  • Unconditional support of the Japanese teachers' union and their political activities: Seiichi Miyahara ( 宮 原 誠 一 ) (ed.), Ippan Shakai ( 一般 社会 ), Jikkyō Shuppan publishing house ( 実 教 出版 ), high school.
  • Depiction of the terrible situation of the workers and thus radicalization of the labor movement: Munakata Seiya ( 宗 像 誠 也 ) (Ed.), Shakai no Shikumi ( 社会 の し く み ), Publishing House Kyōiku Shuppan ( 教育 出版 ), middle school.
  • Glorification of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China at the expense of Japan: Sugo Hiroshi ( 周 郷 博 ) (Ed.): Akarui Shakai ( あ か る い 社会 ), Chūkyō Shuppan Publishing House ( 中 教 出版 ), 6th grade (elementary school).
  • Mediation of Marxist-Leninist, d. H. Communist ideas to children: Osada Arata ( 長 田 新 ) (Ed.): Mohan Chūgaku Shakai ( 模範 中学 社会 ), publishing house Jikkyō Shuppan ( 実 教 出版 ), middle school.

The Democratic Party branded these books as "Red Textbooks" ( 赤 い 教科書 , akai kyōkasho ). The authors and editors tried to defend themselves with public statements and protest notes, but without receiving a response from the Democratic Party. After these events, a larger number of textbooks were rejected as one-sided ( 偏向 , henkō ).

As a result, a third of the existing textbooks in Japanese schools were banned. The Ministry of Education henceforth required new textbooks to avoid criticism of the Japanese role in the Pacific War and also not to mention the invasion of China and the second Sino-Japanese war at all.

The Section F Purges (1956)

In September 1955 the commission for the study and approval of textbooks was reshuffled; in the following year, six schoolbook drafts were rejected, significantly more than in previous years. The respective assessments of individual committee members were identified by the letters A to E. In the evaluation process of 1955, the six rejections were marked with the letter F, which was presumably assigned to the newly arrived Commissioner Takayama Iwao ( 高山 岩 男 ), a philosopher at Japan University ( 日本 大学 , Nihon Daigaku ). The media reported on the rejections of the school books as Section F purges (F 項 パ ー ジ , F-kō purge ).

The Ienaga Trials (1965-1967)

In 1953, the Ministry of Education allowed a history book by the historian Ienaga Saburo , but censored some parts, citing factual errors and the inclusion of personal opinions on war crimes as grounds. Ienaga led a number of lawsuits alleging a violation of freedom of expression .

In 2001 Ienaga was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Noam Chomsky, among others .

The Neighboring States Clause (1982)

On June 26, 1982, the authorization system first became a diplomatic dispute. At that time, the Asahi Shimbun , one of Japan's three major newspapers, reported that the Ministry of Education had called for the term advance ( 進行 , shinkō ) instead of the term invasion ( 侵略 , shinryaku ) in a textbook to describe the occupation of northern China . The government of the People's Republic of China protested. In response, Cabinet Secretary Kiichi Miyazawa made the following statement:

  1. “The Japanese government and people are deeply aware that past actions by our country have caused tremendous suffering and damage to Asian countries, including [South Korea] and China, and they have come with remorse and determination of a pacifist state so that such acts are never repeated. Japan recognized in the joint Japanese-Korean communiqué of 1965 that "the relations of the past are deplorable and that Japan feels deep remorse" and in the joint Japanese-Chinese communiqué recognized that "Japan is utterly responsible for the difficult Is aware of the damage that Japan has inflicted on China in the past through war, and Japan is deeply blaming itself ". These statements confirm the repentance and determination mentioned earlier, and that recognition remains unchanged to this day.
  2. The spirit of the joint Japanese-Korean and Japanese-Chinese explanations should of course also be respected in the Japanese school system and when authorizing textbooks. More recently, however, the Republic of Korea, China, and others have criticized some descriptions in Japanese textbooks. From the standpoint of building friendship and good relations with neighboring countries, Japan will closely follow this criticism and make corrections under the responsibility of the government.
  3. To this end, in relation to future textbook approval procedures, the government will, after discussions with the Textbook Examination and Approval Commission, amend the approval guidelines, taking into account the above considerations. With regard to textbooks that have already been approved, the government will quickly take appropriate steps. As an immediate measure, the Minister of Education will express his point of view and ensure that the ideas mentioned in point 2 are adequately recognized in educational institutions.
  4. Japan intends to continue efforts to promote mutual understanding and to develop peaceful and cooperative relations with neighboring countries and to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia and thus the world. "

In November 1982, the Ministry of Education passed a new authorization criterion , the so-called Neighboring States Clause ( 近隣 諸国 条 項 , kinrin shokoku jōkō ): Textbooks should show understanding in their treatment of events in modern and contemporary history that affect neighboring Asian states and should strive for international harmony . ( 近隣 の ア ジ ア 諸国 と の 間 の 近 現代 の 歴 史 的 事 ​​象 の 扱 い に 国際 理解 と と 国際 協調 の 見地 か か ら 必要 な 配 慮 が さ れ て い る こ と )

The New History Book (2000)

In 2000, the Society for the Creation of New History Books published the New History Book ( 新 し い 歴 at 教科書 , atarashii rekishi kyokasho ) which presented a revisionist view of Japan. The textbook was approved by the Ministry of Education in 2001 and sparked major debates in Japan as well as in China and South Korea. Large numbers of Japanese historians and teachers protested the contents of the New History Book and its treatment of Japanese actions in war. Radio China International reported that the government of the People's Republic of China was "very outraged and disappointed with the new Japanese history book for 2002 created by right-wing Japanese scholars". The New History Book was also denounced in the anti-Japanese demonstrations of 2005 in China and South Korea for glossing over Japanese aggression during the Second Sino-Japanese War with China and the colonization of Korea .

The New History Book was used in only 0.039% of high schools after its approval as of August 2001 and, according to a report by the Mainichi Shimbun from September 2004, only in eight public, one private middle schools and five public schools for the disabled.

The Representation of the Okinawa Mass Suicide (2007)

In the summer of 2007, after the Department of Education issued instructions to gloss over the depiction of military-ordered mass suicides during the Battle of Okinawa , the Okinawa Prefectural Parliament urged the government to withdraw that instruction. Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and large parts of the population of Okinawa support the demand and expressed this in a large demonstration with over 100,000 participants at the end of September. The mention of the role of the military was then reinstated in the school books at the request of the publishers.

literature

  • Christopher Barnard: Language, ideology and Japanese history textbooks . Routledge Shorton, London 2000, ISBN 0-415-29797-4 .
  • Sven Saaler: Politics, Memory and Public Opinion. The History Textbook Controversy and Japanese Society . University of Applied Sciences, Munich 2005.
  • David Baumgart: Society. A Japanese history textbook for 6th grade elementary school. Fourth section: From the Manchurian Incident (1931) to the present . In: Kleine Reihe , No. 39, 2006. ISSN  1435-0351
  • Laura Hein, Mark Selden (Eds.): Censoring history: citizenship and memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States . ME Shape, Armonk (NY) 2003, ISBN 0-7656-0446-9
  • Saburō Ienaga: Japan's past, Japan's future: one historian's odyssey . Rowman & Littlefield, Boston 2001.
    (Especially the chapter The textbook trials and the struggle at Tokyo University of Education ; pp. 175–196.)
  • Susanne Petersen: History Politics in Japanese School Books . In: Christoph Cornelßen, Lutz Klinkhammer & Wolfgang Schwentker (eds.): Cultures of memory: Germany, Italy and Japan since 1945 . Fischer TBV, Frankfurt a. M. 2003, ISBN 3-596-15219-4 , pp. 285-298.
  • Wolfgang Höpken & Steffi Richter: The Past in Social Conflict: A Historians' Dispute in Japan . Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-14402-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kathleen Woods Masalski: Examining the Japanese History Textbook Controversies. In: SPICE - Examining the Japanese History Textbook Controversies. November 2001, accessed July 11, 2016 .
  2. ^ Daniel Sneider: Divided Memories: History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia. May 29, 2012, accessed July 11, 2016 .
  3. ↑ See Narushima in: Takahashi u. a. (Ed.) Kenpo hanrei hyakusen (100 selected decisions on constitutional law), Yuhikaku, Tokyo 5th edition 2007, p. 196 f.
  4. ^ Website of the Supreme Court
  5. ↑ Joseph Chapel, Denial of the Holocaust and Rape of Nanking (English)
  6. ↑ MOFA : 「歴 史 教科書」 に 関 す る 宮 沢 内閣 官 房 長官 談話 (English version: Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kiichi Miyazawa on History Textbooks )
  7. ^ Deutsche Welle, April 10, 2005: Protests against Japanese textbooks
  8. ↑ BBC News, September 29, 2007: Huge Japan protest over textbook
  9. ^ Texts to restore army Okinawa mass suicide role. In: The Japan Times . October 19, 2007, accessed June 17, 2009 .

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