 Tokyo adopts war-praising history textbook The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education on August 28 decided that a metropolitan junior high school will use a history textbook which is under sharp criticism inside and outside Japan for its glorification of Japan's war. The textbook, compiled by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, will be used at a new metropolitan school which will open next April in Tokyo's Taito Ward. The Tokyo Teachers and Staffs Union criticized the adoption as "the worst blemish on Tokyo's education administration." The Tokyo High School Teachers and Staffs Union published a statement that it will continue to make efforts to urge the metropolitan government to support school-oriented education and refrain from forcing schools to praise the Japanese war of aggression in Asia and the Pacific in history classes. The controversial textbook describes the Japanese war of aggression as "the Great East Asian War", avoiding using the word, "invasion". Its strong nationalistic view has been severely criticized by teachers, parents, and historians inside and outside Japan. In 2001, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education decided to use the textbook in public special education schools. The network of Tokyo residents in opposition to a use of the textbook, at a press conference expressed a strong protest against the adoption and demanded its withdrawal. The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member group stated that the board of education should listen to the public and reconsider the adoption of the textbook in question. (end) |