Hotline Asia Urgent Appeals -- UA010515(7)

Action Requested || Sample Letter || Background
update

Summary

In April 2000, the draft of a junior high school history textbook by a group of nationalist academics was submitted to the Education Ministry Panel for use in the 2002 school year, which begins in April 2002. In December 2000, the panel sent the textbook draft back to the publisher with recommendations for changes, saying it "should show consideration from the viewpoint of international understanding and cooperation in dealing with facts in modern and contemporary history concerning neighbouring Asian countries."

On 3 April 2001, the controversial junior high school history textbook was approved by the Education Ministry screening panel for publication to be used in April 2002. The new textbook not only denies the invasive nature of the war started by Japanese militarist, but also advocates the horrifying theory that the Japanese invasion helped liberate the Asian Countries. The textbook has drawn a storm of condemnation form South Korea and China, which says it distorts and justifies Japan's wartime aggression against Asian countries. Recently, the Christian and Catholic Churches in Japan have shown their concerns regarding the approval.

Write polite letters to express your concern about the attempt of Japan's Ministry of Education to re-write history. Request the authorities for honesty in historical interpretation and to stop concealing and distorting historical truths in the new officially-accepted junior high school history textbook.

Sample Letter

Background

Some facts that are missing from the textbook:

• Japan colonised Korea in 1910, forcing Koreans to use the Japanese language and to pledge loyalty to its emperor for the next 35 years. Tens of thousands of Koreans were forced into slavery in Japan during the war.

• Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and China were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese war and during World War II. The enslaved prostitutes were euphemistically called 'comfort women' in Japan.

• The Imperial Japanese Army's rampage of murder and rape after the fall of Nanjing in 1937 claimed the lives of more than 140,000 Chinese, making it one of the worst atrocities committed by Japanese troops during World War II, according to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. Some Chinese historians have estimated the death toll at 300,000.

Behind the Distortion:
The 'Society for Writing New History Textbooks' (or Japanese society for Textbook Reform) was organized in 1997 by scholars who wanted to delete passages concerning 'comfort women' from textbooks in use. The society mainly comprises teachers, professors, and right-wing activists. Hoping to cast a favorable light on Japan's imperialist war in East Asia, the society claimed that existing history textbooks are too 'masochistic' and 'biased' in acknowledging Japan's wrongdoings in modern times. They say that the traditional 'masochistic view of Japanese history' must be ended so that Japanese children may be given 'renewed pride' in their national history.

In the textbook, the war of aggression that Japan waged is romanticized as a war for the liberation of Asia. There is hardly any mention of the fact of the damage caused by Japanese aggression. The reality of colonial domination is treated in vague terms, and references to aggression in Asia are greatly reduced as compared with existing textbooks.

The controversial textbook says that Asian nations "benefited from wartime rule by Japan", preparing these countries for "independence from western colonialism." It also states that Japan's annexation of Korea was recognized by the international community at that time and was beneficial not only to Japan but also to Korea. The book deliberately fails to refer to 'comfort women.' It also replaces the word 'invasion' with 'advance' or 'rule' in describing the Japanese invasion in Asian countries.

The initial draft of the textbook also argued that the annexation of Korea in 1910 "was regarded as a natural course of events by the world in those days and if Japan had not annexed Korea, it would have been taken as surprising to the world." An activist concerned with the issue said that the textbook in question totally ignored the most up-to-date findings of historical research. What is worse, descriptions of 'comfort women' or wartime sex slaves, and their forcible recruitment by the Japanese military were deleted from four of the seven textbooks which were submitted to the ministry for approval. In a complete about-face, most of the textbook publishers made the contents of their textbooks concerning Japan's modern history return to what they were decades ago.

Concern Raised by Several Parties:

• National Christian Council in Japan (NCCJ)
  "We are deeply concerned with the official approval of new Japanese History textbooks which, by presenting Japan as a nation centered on the emperor, and using ancient myths and legends as real history, can plant jingoistic nationalism in the hearts of the young. It also emphasizes the importance of the nation over the individual and exalts Japan's invasion of Asia. Further, the Tsukuru Kai History Textbook is against democratic sovereignty, which is stipulated in our Constitution. It is also permeated with a similar ideology: the virtue of individuals sacrificing themselves for the nation and emperor, which clearly opposes the concepts of peace and human rights in the Constitution. ...We fear that ignoring what is happening now in Japan, will enable this very history to repeat itself..."
  

• Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan (7 May 2001)
  "This book has a number of references which condone Japan's history of invasion and colonial rule, and glorify the rule of the Emperor. The approval of such a textbook will certainly lead to the concealment, distortion and glorification of the history of invasions and atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Military. We are deeply worried such a situation might happen in the future. ...The historical viewpoint of the above-mentioned Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform creates a big obstacle to the achievement of the Asian peoples' deep aspirations for justice, peace, and respect for human rights. Therefore we wish to express our deepest concerns about the approval of their history textbook distorted by their wrong tenets."
  

• Foreign Ministry spokesman of the Peoples' Republic of China
  The textbook's approval for use in junior high schools "will have an adverse impact on Sino-Japanese relations." (Xinhua News Agency). He also condemned an "attempt to deny and whitewash the past history of aggression." Japan should handle the issue "so as not to damage the friendship between the two countries" President Jiang was quoted by Kyodo News as saying.
  

• South Korea
  Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister delivered a formal letter to the Japanese Ambassador requesting a further revision of the textbook (May 2001, Reuter). It says the textbook "justifies Japan's invasion of much of Asia in the early 20th century and fails to explain the plight of over 100,000 women most of them form Korea peninsula, forced to provide sex to Japanese troops during World War II."

Japan's Stance:

• "Japanese textbooks are not nationally authorised. We are strictly following the appropriate screening procedure," said former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (March 2001).

• Before the textbook's approval the Japanese government had often stated that the historic view of right-wing scholars did not represent the view of the general public and that it would handle the issue according to the documents in which Japan acknowledged its troubled past. At this point, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on 3 May 2001 that the Japanese Government has a responsibility because it has now approved the textbooks.

• So far (8 May 2001), Tokyo has said that it has no plans to revise the textbook, repeatedly saying that the historical perspectives in the approved textbook does not represent official views held by the government.

• Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on 11 May that his government does not intend to revise the history textbook that has provoked a diplomatic skirmish between Japan and its Asian neighbors, and that it could not nullify the official approval of a textbook. (May 2001, International Herald Tribune)

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