Japan Press Weekly

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2015 June 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

90 civic groups in Japan and S. Korea oppose war-glorifying, anti-constitutional publishers’ textbooks

Ninety Japanese and South Korean groups working on various issues, such as history education, peace, and women’s rights, on June 2 jointly released an appeal seeking to block the adoption of junior high school civics and history textbooks which distort history and criticize the Japanese Constitution.

On behalf of the 90 groups, representatives of the Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21 (the Kyokashonet), the international NGO Peace Boat, and the History Educationalist Conference of Japan held a press conference in the Diet building.

In Japan, local education commissions adopt textbooks to be used in public junior high schools every four years. The previous adoption took place in 2011.

Kyokashonet secretary general Tawara Yoshifumi pointed to the fact that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its allied organizations like the “Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi)” are trying to intervene in this year’s adoption across Japan by using their political influence. He said that the 90 groups announced this appeal in order to increase public awareness of the controversy involving history and civics textbooks written by rightist publishers, Ikuhosha and Jiyusha, as well as to develop grass-roots movements throughout the country to prevent these publishers’ textbooks from being adopted.

The appeal points out that Ikuhosha and Jiyusha in their history textbooks glorify Japan’s past aggressive wars and colonial rule, and that they are attempting to teach children to contribute to supporting the creation of a war capable Japan through these textbooks. It also criticizes their civics textbooks as distorting the spirit of the Japanese Constitution and promoting the Abe administration’s security and defense policies.

The appeal resolves to increase public efforts at the grass-roots level in order to block the rightward move and political pressure to have local education boards select the Ikuhosha and Jiyusha textbooks for public junior high school students.

Past related articles:
> Stop using controversial history textbooks and promote friendship with Asian countries [April 21, 2015]
> Rightist textbook and former TEPCO president [August 31, 2011]