 Right-wing forces attempt to delete 'forced group suicides' during Okinawa battle from history textbooks People who survived the battle of Okinawa are keeping a sharp eye on an attempt to delete from history textbooks descriptions of "forced group suicides" committed by civilians during the battle of Okinawa. Right-wing forces' demand On June 4, the Research Institute of Liberalistic View of History held a symposium and adopted a resolution demanding that the Education Ministry and publishing companies eliminate descriptions of "forced group suicides" from history textbooks and other history publications. The symposium conducted a mock class teaching students that the argument that the Japanese Army ordered Okinawan residents to commit group suicide was not true. The Research Institute is headed by Fujioka Nobukatsu, who is the vice-chair of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. The society's textbook uses only two lines to describe the battle of Okinawa and does not mention the "forced group suicides." While other textbooks write about the death of more than 120,000 civilians during the battle, it claims that the number was 94,000. Root cause is government's policy On June 5, the Tokyo area branch of the Okinawa Peace Network held a meeting to help people understand the "forced group suicides." Nonfiction writer Shimojima Tetsuro in his lecture said that residents were educated to believe that it was an honor to die for the emperor, pointing out that the root cause of their group suicides was the education policy of the government. He said, "The argument whether or not there was a military order is aimed at distracting attention from the truth and trivializing the issue." 'Don't become a prisoner' A 75-year-old participant, who was mobilized as a nurse for the "Himeyuri" (lily) Students Corps, said, "Since I was an elementary school student, I had been taught that it was natural to die for the Emperor and that the U.S. forces would humiliate us so that we must never become a prisoner. We carried around a hand grenade that an officer gave us." The meeting introduced a message it received from Miyagi Harumi who wrote about her mother's testimony to the group suicides. She criticized the research institute for failing to investigate the root cause of the tragedy and for trying to provide children with education similar to the one the prewar generation had received. - Akahata, June 6, 2005 |