The historical significance of the japanese textbook lawsuit

Abstract

In 1960, Ienaga Saburō, Professor of Japanese History at Tokyo University of Education and the author of many books on Japanese history, began a long series of court actions to have the Ministry of Education's system of certifying all textbooks used in Japanese schools declared unconstitutional. In the following essay, written exclusively for the Bulletin Professor Ienaga provides an historical background to government control of education in Japan and reviews his long struggle against government censorship of books used in Japan's schools.     

Ameyuki-San No Uta: Yamada Waka No Satsuki Naru Shōgai

Abstract

Yamada Waka was a leader in Japan's feminist movement during the 1920s and 1930s. The wife of a well-known professor, she had access to the most progressive social and intellectual circles in Tokyo at the time . While Japan moved through the post–World War I decades with an upsurge of democratic thought and then a slow march toward the militarism that was to result in World War II, Yamada labored to raise the consciousness of Japanese women about their potential to contribute to the building of a better world and about the narrow roles society had decreed for them. She published a number of books, lectured widely in Japan and the United States, and opened a half-way house for the rehabilitation of prostitutes.     

Fighting the Korean War in pacifist Japan: Korean and Japanese leftist solidarity and American Cold War containment

Where does “pacifist” Japan fit within the history of the Korean War? Was Japan simply the beneficiary of the wartime boom – a case best exemplified by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru’s characterization of the Korean War as “a gift of the gods”? When North Korean troops crossed the thirty-eighth parallel and launched a full-scale attack against South Korea, the U.S. occupation in Japan quickly transformed the pacifist nation into the indispensable rear base of United Nations military intervention in the Korean War. The Japanese Communist Party and leftist groups organized by zainichi Koreans (Korean residents in Japan) launched an antiwar movement to stop Japan from producing and sending arms to UN forces in Korea. The U.S. occupation responded with determined efforts to contain every antiwar voice emerging from the streets of the pacifist country. By examining the political dynamics of zainichi Korean and Japanese leftist solidarity and U.S. countermeasures, this article shows how the Korean War was fought in pacifist Japan. It also illuminates how the practice of Cold War containment was mutually linked on the ground between occupied Japan and South Korea.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEATH CULT IN 1930s JAPAN AND THE DECISION TO DROP THE ATOM BOMB

In the 1930s Japan developed a death cult which had a profound effect on the conduct of the Japanese armed forces in the Pacific War, 1941–1945. As a result of government directed propaganda campaign after the overthrow of the Shogunate in 1868, the ruling military cliques restored an Imperial system of government which placed Emperor Meiji as the Godhead central to the constitution and spiritual life of the Japanese nation. A bastardised Bushido cult emerged. It combined with a Social-Darwinist belief in Japan's manifest destiny to dominate Asia. The result was a murderous brutality that became synonymous with Japanese treatment of prisoners of war and conquered civilians. Japan's death cult was equally driven by a belief in self-sacrifice characterised by suicidal Banzai charges and kamikaze attacks. The result was kill ratios of Japanese troops in the Pacific War that were unique in the history of warfare. Even Japanese civilians were expected to sacrifice their lives in equal measure in the defence of the homeland. It was for this reason that American war planners came to the shocking estimate that as many as 900,000 Allied troops could die in the conquest of mainland Japan – Operation DOWNFALL. Contrary to the view of numbers of revisionist historians in the post-war period, who have variously argued that the atom bombs were used to prevent Soviet entry into the war against Japan, Francis Pike, author of Hirohito's War, The Pacific War, 1941 – 1945 [Bloomsbury 2015] reaffirms that the nuclear weapon was used for one purpose alone – to bring the war to a speedy end and to save the lives of American troops.     

Conserving the Heritage of Shame: War Remembrance and War-related Sites in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

This paper focuses on the formation of place-based war memories in contemporary Japan by examining the Japanese grassroots movements to preserve war-related sites within the local and national politics of “cultural property,” and the developments in which the Ichigayadai Building No. 1 in Tokyo and the Matsushiro Underground Imperial General Headquarters Complex in Nagano are conserved to recall the memories of the Asia-Pacific War in Japan. Both places embody the war of aggression carried out by Imperial Japan in the twentieth century. The Ichigaya site was home to the Imperial General Headquarters during the war. The Matsushiro site refers to gigantic underground shelters and tunnels built at the end of the war to relocate the Imperial General Headquarters of the Ichigaya site. Both sites gained social and national attention in the 1990s by raising questions of how to convey memories of suffering caused as well as suffering experienced to the next generation. By introducing the struggles to conserve war-related sites, I argue that contemporary Japan's public memory-making and -remaking processes are shaped by contestants to reclaim places.     

Communications

How do people handle their regret at having believed that a foolish war was not just acceptable but necessary? Japan after World War II provides an instructive example. Many contrite Japanese revisited the aesthetic realm, looking for ways to interpret culture that did not convey the values of fascism, such as glorifying willing surrender to a powerful leader. They saw their task as engendering an individual aesthetic and therefore political subjectivity, so that Japanese would in the future more bravely resist state violence at home and abroad. These individuals saw culture as intrinsically political rather than as a refuge from politics. Recognizing the difficulty in countering fascist culture through ideas alone, they also created what economists today call “capacity building” institutions to help them do so, such as Japan's first museum dedicated solely to modern art, the Kamakura Museum of Modern Art, established in 1951. The founders of the Kamakura Museum self-consciously set out to create a new institution that would embody a democratic aesthetic and so prevent—they hoped—Japan from repeating the disastrous experience of war. The curators argued for diverse and dynamic modernities, a concept that parried both the idea that artistically Japan was a pale copy of modern Europe and the notion of a single national culture in Japan or elsewhere. At the same time, however, the legacy of the war was visible in an entirely different and less admirable way in the museum curators’ stance toward Asian modernity beyond Japan and its evasion of Japan's responsibility for the wartime devastation of China.     

Japanese Cultural Diplomacy in Action: The Zenrin kyōkai in Inner Mongolia, 1933-45

In studies of Japanese “cultural diplomacy” between 1933 and 1945, the part played by the Zenrin kyōkai (Good Neighbour Association), a semi-official humanitarian organisation that provided medical assistance and educational opportunities to the Mongols and Hui (Han Chinese Muslims) living on the fringe of the Chinese Republic, has been largely overlooked. Dismissed by some as merely a front for intelligence-gathering operations, this article re-examines the operations of the Zenrin kyōkai, both in Inner Mongolia and in Japan, and argues that the relationship between it and the military was more complex than earlier studies have shown. In particular, the humanitarian activities of the Zenrin kyōkai went beyond military control and set the organisation apart from the other main agents of Japanese “cultural diplomacy” active in the region. Although not always successful in its attempts to woo the local population, the Zenrin kyōkai was a crucial instrument of the Japanese imperial project in the region and a reflexion of the complexity of that project.     

试论北一辉法西斯主义国际战略的演变与五四运动的关联

北一辉是二战前日本民间法西斯运动的理论指导者,他的代表作<日本改造法案大纲>被称为日本法西斯主义理论的"圣经".北一辉早年曾参加辛亥革命,与宋教仁、谭人凤等中国革命领导人相交莫逆,他所撰写的<支那革命外史>在二战后被誉为描绘日本人参与辛亥革命的最佳代表作之一.本文以北一辉的两部著作--<支那革命外史>和<日本改造法案大纲>为主要研究对象,通过探讨五四运动对北一辉有关亚洲国际战略构想的影响,以期揭示五四运动期间北一辉思想的变化在他的法西斯主义国家改造论形成过程中所起的作用.     

近二十年来国内学界的东北抗联研究

中国共产党领导的东北抗日联军及其在东北地区开展的对日斗争活动是中国抗战力量的重要组成部分,也是中华民族抗击日本法西斯侵略的坚定意志的体现。长期以来,对于东北抗联的研究是中国学界有关抗战研究的重要课题之一。特别是近二十年以来,相关研究不断拓宽和深入,形成了多个研究较为集中的领域,在长期的研究过程中涌现出了一大批有价值的成果。这些研究成果充分佐证了中国共产党从组织策划,宣传动员到武装斗争等方面领导了东北抗日联军,从而为"中国共产党在抗日战争中发挥了中流砥柱作用"作了有力注脚;同时,东北抗联及广大爱国民众在抵抗日本侵略的斗争中逐步形成了全国抗日民族统一战线的雏形。     

Demonstrating the Melbourne University Respirator

The First World War was a theatre for the demonstration of Australia's contribution to the Empire, and the role of science and technology. This paper explores this relationship by tracing the history of the Melbourne University Respirator, a gas mask developed by scientists at the University of Melbourne during the Great War. In the immediate post-war period, the Respirator was used as a political technology to educate citizens about the actual and potential contribution of scientific research to national and imperial defence. Scientists in this manner promoted national scientific and technological development and a more equal partnership with Britain. The political use of the Respirator was staged in the vivid medium of an exhibition, in which sentiment was conceivably used to motivate political action.     

大东亚会议的本质及其对伪满政权的影响

大东亚会议是日本为巩固和强化对占领地区的控制于1943年11月初主办的"首脑会议",是日本操纵下的一场徒具象征意义的检阅。对于伪满洲国来说,在大东亚会议的政治展示背后更具有深刻的内涵,标志着日本在太平洋战争后期对伪满洲国在其侵略体系中地位的强化与再确认。由此可见,日本精心策划的大东亚会议就是其在战局不利的情况下加紧强化对各仆从政权的控制而召开,并基本达到预期目的,促使伪满洲国进一步"国防国家化"。     

Shimizu Ikkō's “Silver sanctuary” (Gin no seiiki): A Japanese business novel

Abstract

“I want to describe lots of people who are directly involved in business,” says Shimizu Ikkō. Shimizu Ikkō (1931- )is the pioneer of Japanese “business novels” (kigyō shōsetsu) and one of the most prolific and popular novelists today. Born in Tokyo, Shimizu attended Waseda University and was active as a freelance writer contributing articles to weekly magazines until he was recognized as a novelist. His An Artery Archipelago (Dōmyaku rettō) was awarded the 28th Japanese Detective Story Writers Association Prize in 1975.     

Tempest in a Textbook: A Report on the New Middle-School History Textbook in Japan

How does a middle-school history textbook go about promoting nationalistic pride in adolescent Japanese? Trying to reconcile this goal with the sorry examples of Japan's military exploits before and during World War II has created considerable domestic and international concern, not to mention highly emotional protests. This report presents some of the provocative contents, strategies of presentation, and political repercussions of the “new history textbook,” approved by Japan's Ministry of Education and Science in 2001 for use in public and private middle schools nationwide. Sponsored and authored by the Japan Society for History Textbook Reform (Atarashii Rekishi Kyōkasho o Tsukuru Kai), the textbook's problematic rendition of history has produced an uproar over the government's screening and approval process, renewed concern about an upsurge of nationalistic activity in Japan, and adversely affected Japan's relations with China and South Korea.     

From princely fiefdoms to Soviet nations: interethnic border conflicts in the North Caucasus and the village of Lesken

This article examines interethnic border conflicts that accompanied the Soviet division of the North Caucasus into ethno-territorial autonomous districts after the Civil War. It traces the tumultuous, and often violent, events that led to the transfer of the ethnically Ossetian village of Lesken from the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast to the North-Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. The essay shows how the Soviet-sponsored ethnicization of territory exacerbated interethnic tensions in a multiethnic region that defied neat delimitation into coherent ethno-national administrative units. It highlights the ‘dual-assimilation’ that accompanied the introduction of the national principle and the delimitation of national borders. Ethno-national mobilization of populations in defence of their ‘national’ territory from neighbouring ethnic groups, though achieved for reasons of daily survival, represented an initial lesson in the importance of national identity in the modernizing Soviet state, as villagers learned to speak national and Bolshevik. In concluding, this paper seeks to understand the larger significance of Soviet border making in the North Caucasus by exploring issues of continuity and change, both in terms of imperial governance and the lived experience of ethnicity.     

日本“国家正常化”与美国的东亚地缘战略

战后,由于美军单独占领日本,美国占领当局直接主导了日本的非法西斯化改革,日本的对外政策也被纳入美国的东亚地缘战略框架内。正因如此,战后日本的"国家正常化"进程与美国的亚洲地缘战略密切联系在一起。冷战时期,日本充当美国在亚洲的"冷战"哨兵,日本在"旧金山体制"下获得"独立"和国际空间。冷战结束后,美国推行全球霸权战略,日本乘机加强与美国的军事同盟关系,扩展自主权。尤其进入21世纪,日本通过参与美国的"反恐"战争,实现了海外派兵。近年来美国实施战略东移和"亚太再平衡",日本借机加快修宪活动和军事"解禁",加速日本"国家正常化"的步伐。     

Sino‐Japanese relations: A Japanese perspective

Although Sino‐Japanese relations seem much improved in recent years, Tomoyuki Kojima, professor of political science at Keio University, still sees numerous problems that Japan must come to terms with before the two countries can develop a truly close relationship. Points of friction include Japan's past aggression in China, Chinese nuclear testing, regional security issues, and China's criticism of Japan. This paper was presented at the conference, “China and Japan in the Asia‐Pacific region since the Pacific War and Prospects for the Future,” held in Beijing on Nov. 12–13, 1995, by the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and the Australian National University.     

Dulles’s second visit to Japan: The Tokyo talks of 1951

In January–February 1951, intensive negotiations were conducted in Tokyo between the Japanese and American governments about Japan’s roles in American strategy in Asia. The United States expected Japan to play two vital roles in the cold war. The first was that Japan could act as a potential offensive base from which to mount warfare against Soviet Russia and communist. China. the second was that Japan would serve as a supplementary balancer in the maintenance of the balance of power in Northeast Asia through the reactivation of her defense forces. This article, examining the Japanese government’s preparations for the Tokyo talks, discusses Japanese-American negotiations on a bilateral base arrangement and rearmament. It is argued that, although the United States succeeded in securing Japan as a major strategic base in the cold war by obtaining Japanese agreement to the U.S. proposal for stationing requirements for post-treaty American bases and troops, it failed in having Japan accept a U.S. plan for the revitalization of Japanese power because of the Japanese government’s reservation about rearmament.     

Obtuaries

Hiromi Kinoshita is Exhibition Assistant for the First Emperor exhibition and a catalogue contributor. She was co-curator of the Royal Academy exhibition, China: The Three Emperors (1662–1722) held in 2005–6. A graduate of Wellesley College, Mass., she gained a PhD at Oxford University researching the hybrid burial practices of the Liao Khitan (907–1125).     

Shifting Domestic Politics and Security Policy in Japan and Taiwan: The Search for a Balancing Strategy between China and the US

This article examines the impact of the changed domestic political environment in Japan and Taiwan in the second half of the 2000s, namely the arrival of administrations with a more moderate China policy, on their respective relations with Beijing and Washington. It seeks to find out the extent to which Japan under the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Taiwan under the Kuomintang (KMT) may have attempted a policy shift towards accommodation of China at the expense of their respective security ties with America. The article also examines how much impact upon security policy can be traced to the changes in domestic politics in the two cases. The discussion suggests that, irrespective of the altered domestic political situation, the concern that China's growing military power may adversely affect national interests has largely trumped the political will for seeking accommodation, more so in the Japanese case than in the Taiwanese case. While both Tokyo and Taipei have avoided deferring to Beijing's interests, each has sought to strike a delicate balance between engaging China and maintaining defense ties with the US.     

Playing Base Politics in a Global Strategic Theater: Futenma Relocation,the G-8 Summit,and Okinawa

In late 1995, a culmination of events on Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa, home to over 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan, both threatened the future of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and posed a direct challenge to the contradictory legacies of Japan's postwar system of constitutional democracy. Almost five years later, in July 2000, in anticipation of the gathering of heads of state at the Okinawa 2000 G-8 Summit, Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit the island in over forty years. Speaking at the Cornerstone of Peace, a monument built in memory of the only ground war fought on Japanese soil between Japanese and U.S. forces in World War II, Clinton reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance – and Okinawa's role within it – to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. Yet in Okinawa the nature and constitution of peace itself has never been a political given. This article traces the politics surrounding the U.S. military presence over this period, delving into the deeper historical, political, and social issues at stake for both this small island prefecture and for parts of the world beyond.