Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 28 - November 3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Abe Cabinet shutting ears to criticism

Akahata ‘current’ column

The government apparently intends to eliminate humanities departments at national universities. The word, “humanity” comes from the term, “Renaissance Humanism”. The avoidance of the abuse of power by rulers, the very principle of “constitutionalism”, was established through historical experience in modern society.

Scholars at 149 universities and colleges across Japan have formed a group opposing the war legislation which undermines constitutionalism. The number of scholars and researchers objecting to the legislation has topped 14,000. So many academics are raising their voices and joining in activities based on their conscience. This has created a whole new experience for the Japanese nation.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party is adopting a highly biased stance toward academics. Hirowatari Seigo, former Science Council of Japan president, fiercely criticized the Abe Cabinet, saying that it praises academics who agree with the government as “experts” while discarding criticism from academics as just “lay opinion”. He labelled the Abe Cabinet as “anti-intellectual cabinet” which ignores objectivity and logical thinking.

Humanities deans at 17 national universities on October 26 jointly submitted to the education minister a statement in protest against the government plan to discontinue humanities courses. The statement underlines the fact that discontinuing study in the fields of humanities and social sciences could weaken the very foundation of human resources development.

The Abe Cabinet, unwilling to listen to “advice” from scholars on issues of the war legislation and the elimination of humanities courses, appears to be anti-intellectual.

Past related article:
> National university deans issue protest against gov’t call for closure of humanities and social sciences courses [October 27, 2015]