뉴스레터

Question

How is Dokdo described in the Japanese high school textbooks? How will it be described in the textbooks to be authorized this year?

Answer

The Japanese high school textbooks authorization results are scheduled to be announced late March or early April. Japan's unreasonable claims over Dokdo are likely to be found again in the textbooks as they were in 2007 and 2008. Let us first examine how the current Japanese high school textbooks describe Dokdo.
The Japanese high school textbooks that include the descriptions of Dokdo are: Geography A/B, Modern Society, Politics and Economy, and Japanese History A/B.

The characteristics of the descriptions related to are as follows. First of all, the main line of argument is that 'there is a territorial dispute,' which is in contrast with the middle school textbooks authorized in 2011 that claimed that Dokdo was a Japanese territory. The percentages of the textbooks that make strong case for Dokdo being a Japanese territory by using such phrases as 'illegal occupation' and 'an inherent part of the territory of Japan' are: 50% of Geography A/B; 50% of Modern Society; 26% of Politics and Economy; 14% of Japanese History A; and 9% of Japanese History B. Secondly, Dokdo is described in one type each of Japanese History A/B as an open issue rather than a historical issue. Thirdly, they fail to provide specific grounds for their territorial claims over Dokdo. As for the middle school textbooks authorized in 2011, up to 3 types of society textbooks and 2 types of geography textbooks provided specific grounds based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan homepage ('The Issue of Takeshima (10 arguments on Dokdo)').

Next, let us examine the descriptions of Dokdo in the textbooks that are expected to be authorized this year. As the revised high school teaching guidelines will take effect from 2013, a majority of the textbooks to be authorized will be the Geography A, Japanese History A, and Modern Society textbooks that are primarily used in freshman year. And considering the situations below, it is expected that there will be more descriptions of Dokdo that reflect the territorial claims by the Japanese government. First of all, "based on the learning in middle school" is specified in the handbook for the high school teaching guidelines revised in 2008 (Geography A/B). The middle school geography and society textbooks that were authorized in 2011 had strongly reflected the Japanese government's claims, including the use of the term 'illegal occupation.' Secondly, the independent Japanese history course textbook 『From Edo to Tokyo』 published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government this January includes the description that Dokdo is 'illegally occupied' by Korea, reflecting the Japanese society's recently increasing interest in Dokdo.

The textbook is the mirror of the future that the given society moves toward. Obviously, the spreading descriptions of Dokdo in the Japanese textbooks will be an obstacles to not only Korea-Japan relations but the co-existence and prosperity of East Asia. To find the solution to the issue of the descriptions of Dokdo in the Japanese textbooks, one would have to approach it from the perspective of righting the wrongs of the history of colonial rule and of the peace and prosperity of East Asia.