Newsletter

At the beginning of April, 2011, we are upset and disturbed by two events. The first one is the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeastern part of Japan as well as looming dangers of radioactivity. The second one is the Japanese government's approval for the new middle school textbooks, which is contributing to escalating tensions between Korea and Japan. While the earthquake and tsunami are natural disasters, the issue of Japanese textbooks is a manmade disaster due to unresolved issues after World War II.

Unlike previous years, there is highly likely that the controversies surrounding Dokdo will come to the forefront in this year's review of Japanese history textbooks. As such, it is worrisome that this will have an adverse impact on the growing friendship and exchanges between Korea and Japan. It was in 2005 when Japan began to aggressively reflect its sovereignty claims over Dokdo in its textbooks: Fusosha, a right-wing publisher, stated in its textbooks that Dokdo is Japanese territory both in terms of history and international law. In 2010, a textbook for elementary school students touched on the issue of Dokdo. Also, it is expected that many publishers will include Japan's claims over Dokdo in their textbooks, according to the guidelines from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced in 2008. This means that Japanese government is now taking a systemic approach to including the issue of Dokdo in its educational curriculum.

Balance between the Issue of Dokdo and Perception of History

So far, Japan's history distortions have been mainly focused on invasions in its colonies. In the 2000s, Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, consisting of right-wing researchers, businessmen and politicians, has led the history distortions, often called as "the third textbook attack". The Society has aggressively claimed that Japan's invasions were liberation wars, while criticizing that introspective view of history indicates the loss of pride over its history.

There are a number of things that deserve our attention when we look at the issue of Japanese textbooks this year. First of all, there is high possibility that our attention will drift from the overall perception of history in light of Japan's harsh colonial rule to the issue of Dokdo. For example, "comfort women", which is a euphemistic term for women exploited for Japanese military sexual slavery, were not discussed in the Fusosha textbook published in 2001, and the issue vanished from public attention. Although civic groups in Korea and Japan are making efforts to include the issue of "comfort women" in textbooks, the media and people seem indifferent. Taking this into consideration, we need to strike a balance between the issue of Dokdo and the overall perception of history.

Another is the Neighboring Countries Clause, which has almost lost its effect today. The Clause was announced by Japanese government in 1982 when tensions escalated between Korea and Japan due to Japan's attempts to distort history, which provided textbook authors a framework for writing about certain atrocities and events of Worl War II, in order to show that Japan made efforts to maintain amicable relations with neighboring countries. Sankei Shimbun, an influential daily newspaper in Japan, has made several attempts to nullify the clause, and it almost lost its effect as the textbooks made by Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform passed the government's screening process. Even Korea did not mention this issue. We need to rekindle public interest in and attention to the Neighboring Countries Clause, made and announced by Japanese government itself to minimize conflicts due to distortions in Japanese textbooks. In addition, we should closely examine the influence of the clause on describing historical events in Japanese textbooks. In particular, we need to look at how Japan describes its invasions and how it defines the agent who caused the invasions.

Solution Lies in Solidarity between Koreans and Japanese

The most urgent task in front of us is to prevent Japanese right-wing textbooks from being adopted in schools. When the screening results are announced in April, regional Education Committees and relevant people select and adopt textbooks by August. After 2005, Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform was divided by internal conflicts surrounding the responsibility for the dull selection. The Society published its textbook in Jiyusha, and Organization for Revitalization of Japanese Education (日本教育再生機構), established by a group of people who left the Society, chose Ikuhosha as its textbook publisher.

The emergence of such "twin textbooks" poses danger to us in that more right-wing textbooks could be adopted in Japanese schools. In 2008, Yokohama adopted Jiyusha's history textbook for use in public middle schools. A civic group in Japan says that the city may choose Ikuhosha textbook this year, instead of the lousy Jiyusha textbook with too many flaws. The adoption rate of textbook made by Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform is on the rise, from 0.039% in 2001 to 0.39% in 2005 and 1.7% in 2009. This year, the Society aims to raise the adoption rate to 5% at the least. This means that the combined target adoption rate of the twin right-wing textbooks could amount to 10%.

Against this backdrop, our ultimate task is to dissuade Japanese schools from using questionable textbooks. Based on past achievements made by Korean and Japanese civic groups, grassroot organizations across Japan are bracing themselves for fighting against right-wing textbooks. I could feel the sense of urgency when I went to Japan in February to participate in a forum organized by Korean and Japanese civic groups. Japanese activists' voices, claiming that we should end the war with right-wing textbooks, still ring in my ears.

Until recently, it has been difficult for conscious civic groups in Japan to voice their opinions regarding the issue of Dokdo, for it was considered as a very sensitive territorial dispute between Korea and Japan. Yet there are some signs of change, albeit the pace of change is slow. In Korean and Japanese intellectuals and citizens' joint declaration last year, which commemorated the centennial of Japan's forced annexation of Korea, included a paragraph on the overall perception of history as well as the Dokdo issue. In addition, a number of civic groups in Japan have held workshops to study the Dokdo issue since the issue was covered in Japanese textbooks. Some Japanese citizens came to share the understanding that the Dokdo issue stems from the fact that Japan forced to incorporate Dokdo into its territory in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. This contributed to the announcement of another joint statement between the two countries' activists and citizens on March 21.

What we need most is wisdom when we face grave challenges. We should clearly identify the forces that aggravate conflicts and fuel confrontation. In this respect, we need to fight against right-wing extremists in Japan while strengthening solidarity with conscious Japanese citizens. The joint fundraising activities are being carried out to provide support for Japanese people who are suffering due to the deadly earthquake, tsunami and the threat of radioactivity. This highlights the fact that Korea and Japan are close and friendly neighbors who are willing to help each other in times of need. Under these circumstances, our job is to further strengthen the ties between the two countries so that we can maintain mutual trust despite the issue of flawed textbooks, and prevent Japan's distortions of history.