A Source: A Textbook Translated

The New History Textbook (or Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho in Japanese) is an English translation of a recently published Japanese history textbook. The English translation is provided by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a society dedicated to countermanding the censorship by the Japanese government of Japan’s acts of brutality during World War II and other historical eras. Conversely to educational goals stated in Desler’s American history lesson plan and on the website for the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education to teach students to analyze and question history, the New History Textbook opens with an explanation that history connects students with their ancestors and its study is a means of gratitude to those who came before. In the chapter on World War II, the textbook glosses over Japanese brutality toward the Koreans and the Chinese while making room for biographies of famous war heroes. This source corroborates the claims of censorship in articles from The New York Times and The Japan Times.

Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho (New History Textbook). Tokyo: Fusosha, 2005. Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. 8 Jan. 2008. http://www.tsukurukai.com/.


You can find the New History Textbook online here .