Washington Times reporter Takehiko Kambayashi interviewed Yoshifumi Tawara, secretary general of Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21, a Tokyo-based civic group, about the government’s efforts to soften or delete accounts of Japan’s wartime atrocities in textbooks.
Question: Why does Japan downplay its wartime atrocities in textbooks?
Answer: Hawkish politicians such as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, a group of nationalist scholars and journalists want to recover the reputations of the Imperial Army in the process of Japan’s remilitarization. They especially want to deny three main issues: “comfort women,” [sex slavery during World War II], Nanjing Massacre and “mass suicide” in Okinawa. They want to eliminate references to the Imperial Army that coerced Okinawans to commit “mass suicides.” That is because Okinawans always say the lesson they learned from the Battle of Okinawa is that the military does not protect civilians.
Q: How has Japan’s academic community responded to this controversy?
A: In the mainland, we have very few experts on the Battle of Okinawa, while there are many in Okinawa. We don’t have many experts on issues of “comfort women” or Nanjing Massacre, either. Researchers tend to avoid an area that has earlier studies. They also don’t want to work on a research area that right-wingers are likely to make a fuss over. That seems to be the bottom line. That’s why only the naysayers stand out.
Q: How much do you think average Japanese university and high-school students understand the history of “comfort women,” the Nanjing Massacre or Okinawa’s mass suicide?
A: Very little. … They lack an understanding of history. Students have very few history classes. Junior high school students learn history three hours a week. History is taught as an elective in high school. Some high school students don’t learn history at all. Moreover, I don’t believe schools offer classes that make students care deeply about victims or those who were killed, whether it is an issue of “comfort women,” Nanjing Massacre and “mass suicide” in Okinawa.
