Parallels in Japan

[Brian Akers]

The winter issue of the AAS's _Asian Studies Newsletter_ contains an article
by Takashi Yoshida about textbook revisionism in Japan (mostly in regard to
Japanese behavior during WWII). Here are a few snippets.

"According to Nishio [a revisionist professor at the University of
Electro-Communications], an editor of the history text, his book has improved
upon previous texts in a number of ways. For instance, it heavily emphasizes
Japanese cultural uniqueness in the Neolithic period; the influence of
early-modern Japanese arts on modern Western arts . . . The leaders of the
Society maintain that this textbook places a strong and healthy emphasis on
"Japaneseness" . . . Tawara [an anti-revisionist] also questions the
Society's editorial policy, which gave lay historians such as Fujioka and
Nishio more authority over the text than professional historians. . . . In
the past, international concern has supplied a crucial counterweight to the
revisionist movement in Japan."



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Brian Dana Akers
www.pipeline.com/~sfauthor/
sfauthor at aol.com