Ehime Prefecture's decision to adopt history textbook praising Japan's war protested

The history textbook written by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, which praises Japan's war of aggression against other Asian nations, will be used from the next school year (starting in April) in three public junior high schools in Ehime Prefecture in the Shikoku region.

This is the first time for the textbook to be used in a general course in public schools in Japan. It was adopted to be used in schools for the deaf and the disabled last year by Ehime and Tokyo's boards of education.

Ehime Governor Kato Moriyuki has pressured the prefectural board of education to adopt the textbook and the Society has given him all-out support.

The board's unanimous decision in a closed meeting on August 15 was followed by protests calling for its withdrawal mounting in the prefecture and from throughout the country.

The Ehime Prefectural Teachers' Union and citizen's organizations criticized the board of education for failing to disclose the process of adoption and to listen to teachers' opinions.

The Japanese Communist Party Ehime Prefectural Committee stated that it is impermissible that such a textbook that glosses over war and aggression was authorized.

The All Japan Teachers and Staff's Union (Zenkyo) protested against the Ehime governor's interference in educational administration and the Ehime board of education's submission to political pressure. Adoption of textbooks must be carried out in a democratic way based on the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education, it said.

The Children and Textbook Japan Network 21 warned that this textbook is aimed to teach children to contribute to creating a "war fighting nation" under the contingency laws, if enacted. Adoption of such a textbook, which contains 143 erroneous descriptions, is outrageous and will only leave a stain on Japan's history, it stated. (end)