ABSTRACT
Japan’s ‘third textbook offensive’1 of the 1990s has been the focus of much academic and media attention in recent years. In particular, the activities and publications of the Society for History Textbook Reform (Atarashii kyo¯kasho o tsukuru kai, hereafter Tsukuru kai) and the Liberal View of History Study Group (Jiyu¯shugi shikan kenkyu¯kai), represented by high-profile members such as Nishio Kanji, Fujioka Nobukatsu, and Kobayashi Yoshinori, have caused concern among many Japanese and Western observers and scholars who view the latest textbook campaign as an ominous sign of neo-nationalist resurgence. The attempts of the Ministry of Education (hereafter MoE)2 and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (hereafter LDP) to tighten up the curriculum and the textbook screening process, and place more emphasis on patriotic education, for example, through textbook content (emphasizing the role of the emperor, downplaying Japan’s aggression during the war, and so on) or through legislation (for example, making the raising of the national flag and singing of the national anthem compulsory) have also been the subject of much criticism within Japanese educational circles and beyond. More recent developments, such as the ongoing, heated debates over the government’s education reform package as a whole, proposals for revision of the Fundamental Law of Education, and the introduction of controversial teaching materials produced by the Ministry of Education – Kokoro no no¯to – have convinced many in Japan (and beyond) that neo-conservatism has taken hold and could lead inexorably to a more nationalistic education system reminiscent of the pre-war and war-time periods.
