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With Junichiro Koizumi paving the way, there appeared in Japan a string of extreme right-wing prime ministers?e.g. Shinzo Abe and Aso Taro, who brought with them a storm of historical conflicts to Northeast Asia. As there is sunshine after a storm, Northeast Asia is now seeing a new ray of hope. The inauguration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party put an end to the long-term rule of the Liberal Democratic Party and has heralded the beginning of the Northeast Asian era. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has even mentioned the creation and use of a "joint Korean-Chinese-Japanese textbook."

Will "Northeast Asia" move beyond mere discourse and become a reality? Where will we find hope and how will we begin the task of creating "Northeast Asia"? It was a middle school history textbook published by Fusosha that sparked the historical conflict in Northeast Asia today. Accordingly, it is in history textbooks and history education that we will also find a way to resolve the conflict.

There are two main reasons why Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform has homed in on middle school history textbooks. First is that middle school textbooks are selected by school districts rather than by individual schools. Thus, it is easier for the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform to influence the selection process. Second, middle school students are younger and more malleable. Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform intends to nurture students that do not have an aversion to war and that develop the will to engage in war. In 1996, Fujioka Nobukatsu made the following statement in a newspaper article: "The current status of history textbooks is a crucial political issue. It should become a key issue in the upcoming general elections so that the public can deliver a verdict on it." This comment implies the coupling of history education and politics.

The youth hold the key to peace in Northeast Asia

We should nurture "considerate" and "peace-oriented" youth and enable them to untangle the knots of historical conflicts. In my view, the objective of the Northeast Asian History Foundation's History/Culture Teacher Exchange Program was building a foundation for a shared future by expanding mutual cultural and historical understanding among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese students.

The truth is, not many schools applied to participate in the program. Planning and executing of any international exchange program is daunting. Some schools also had a hard time finding the right partner school. And then there were some schools that had come to a mutual agreement with a partner school but were unable to get approval from an authorizing organization. There are several such cases that I have personally confirmed. That is to say, East Asia still has many hurdles to overcome.

In the end, two schools each in Japan and China participated in the teacher exchange program. Hanyoung Foreign Language High School and Chengdu No. 2 Middle School kicked off the program. The Korean side used photos and music for a class on Korea's adoption of foreign cultures and an overview of Korean history. In the meantime, the Chinese side presented a class on understanding Chinese history and culture. Both classes made ample use of photographs and PowerPoint slide shows to pique the students' interest. The classes also served as an opportunity to raise the teachers' awareness in problematic issues in history teaching.

It is worth noting here that the revised history curriculum of 2007 included the following newly developed classes: "Korean Cultural History," "Understanding World History," and "Northeast Asian History." Japanese scholars with penetrating insight have long advocated a class on Northeast Asian history. While the curriculum is now in place, there are still many controversies surrounding its content, the narrative, and interpretation. Nevertheless, the launch of such a curriculum has the potential to bring a dramatic change to the framework for understanding East Asia. The teachers' awareness of various issues confronting history education that was revealed at the visitation classes can be regarded as a result of the process of cultivating an East Asian perspective.

Linking the classes to field trips will engender a significant synergy effect

Tokyo Gakugei University Senior High School and Yangjae High School became partner schools for the teacher exchange program. The Korean side offered a class on the Korean heating system through which students could gain insight into the mutual cultural understanding between the two nations and Korean climate and lifestyle. The Japanese side presented a class that dealt with culture in Japanese everyday life, Japanese geography, and an overview of Japanese history. Regarding heating systems, there was a discussion on Korean ondol and Japanese iori and tatami. It was chance for Japanese students to examine the richness and diversity of Korean culture. Separate from the geography class, there were special lecture classes, each of which dealt with a specific theme. Students that had been rather reserved in the beginning became more proactive in these special lecture classes. They were diligently taking down notes, revealing how serious they were about the classes.

In the meantime, the students of Yangchung High School and Japan's Kanto International Senior High School were treated the theme of "Histories of Japan and Korea and Bilateral Cultural Exchanges" in their visitation classes. The classes were an invaluable opportunity for the students to gain an understanding of the differences in the ways in which the two countries perceive history and to share a common future-oriented historical perspective.

The final theme explored in the teacher exchange program was "Baekjae: The Bridge between China and Japan." Gongju High School and China's Heifei No. 6 Middle School (actually a high school with a high school curriculum) conducted classes on this theme. Given how interesting the theme was, the classes, too, were engaging. By examining the history of the exchanges between Baekje and China's Southern and Northern Dynasties, the classes were design to uncover the linkages in the history of Korea-China-Japan relations. The students carried out a rather serious discussion and debate on the Chinese culture that blossomed from Baekje's influence, the driving force behind Baekje's ability to adopt Chinese culture but also develop its own unique culture, and how Chinese culture that was localized by Baekje spread to and flourished in Japan.

There is no arguing that the groundwork for a 21st-century Northeast Asian community must be laid down by history education. It is in this sense that the History/Culture Teacher Exchange Program was very meaningful.

I believe that linking this program with field trips will create a significant synergy effect. One teacher told me he had made all the necessary preparations to participate in the program and was only awaiting the approval from the head of his school. The school head, however, got an unfavorable impression of the program upon visiting the website of the Northeast Asian History Foundation and refused to sign off on the teacher's proposal. A thorough execution of a project is important. Exchange projects like the one discussed here require administrative support provided by the Korean side. They also need to produce meaningful results and successes. Taking these two requirements into consideration, the Foundation may want to consider providing only indirect support.

We cannot remain satisfied with a single instance of such an exchange program. Such teacher exchange programs are not simply about teachers visiting one another's countries for visitation classes. Physically, the visitation classes are limited to the classrooms. However, the students in the classes will get a more favorable image of their regional neighbors and come to regard them as potential partners. That is, what the students take away from these classes can be an invaluable asset for their future. In this sense, the Northeast Asian History Foundation's History/Culture Teacher Exchange Program could serve as a pioneering message of reconciliation to the government, scholarly communities, and societies of Japan and China.