During World War II, Japan committed countless crimes against the civilians of the nations they occupied, from the Nanjing Massacre to the issue of comfort women were few of the most major crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army. The Nanjing Massacre involved the mass murder of 300,000 people and the rape of around 20,000 women. During this duration of time, the comfort women were also introduced, which involved the forced prostitution of Asian women from the Philippines, Korea and China to “pleasure” the needs of the Japanese soldiers. Although heinous, the Japanese history textbooks has been found to deliberately downplay their wartime crimes, or outright omit the existence of the crime. Its Asian neighbors remembers it as an indisputable
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The screening committee determines what publisher is allowed and not allowed to include in their school history textbooks. In the 1980s, the textbook screening committee ordered a social studies textbook publisher to delete the half of a sentence. Thomas Crampton, a New York Times author stated, “The Japanese Army murdered a large number of Chinese troops and civilians — was allowed into print. The second half — and engaged in raping, looting and arson — was not.” This case highlighted the committee’s practice to deliberately censor unfavorable descriptions of Japan, as the result of packing the committee with like-minded political supporters, who are clearly biased. A screening process often takes several months, because the text are always conditionally approved, meaning revisions are always required by the state. According to Yoshiko Nozaki and Mark Selden, the author of Japanese Textbook Controversies, Nationalism, and Historical Memory, “Over the past half century, the state repeatedly required history textbook authors to make changes on sensitive issues concerning the Asia Pacific War (taking place from 1931 to 1945).” During the screening process, examiners would write comment that suggests the author(s) of the book to change or entirely delete a certain passage from the book. While keeping a certain distance from the highly charged political attacks, the MEXT stacked its screening council with examiners possessing the emperor-centered view of history and eager to defend the empire and Japan’s Asia Pacific Wars. In the 1980-1981 screening, it famously ordered historian Ienaga Saburo to change various passages
The screening committee determines what publisher is allowed and not allowed to include in their school history textbooks. In the 1980s, the textbook screening committee ordered a social studies textbook publisher to delete the half of a sentence. Thomas Crampton, a New York Times author stated, “The Japanese Army murdered a large number of Chinese troops and civilians — was allowed into print. The second half — and engaged in raping, looting and arson — was not.” This case highlighted the committee’s practice to deliberately censor unfavorable descriptions of Japan, as the result of packing the committee with like-minded political supporters, who are clearly biased. A screening process often takes several months, because the text are always conditionally approved, meaning revisions are always required by the state. According to Yoshiko Nozaki and Mark Selden, the author of Japanese Textbook Controversies, Nationalism, and Historical Memory, “Over the past half century, the state repeatedly required history textbook authors to make changes on sensitive issues concerning the Asia Pacific War (taking place from 1931 to 1945).” During the screening process, examiners would write comment that suggests the author(s) of the book to change or entirely delete a certain passage from the book. While keeping a certain distance from the highly charged political attacks, the MEXT stacked its screening council with examiners possessing the emperor-centered view of history and eager to defend the empire and Japan’s Asia Pacific Wars. In the 1980-1981 screening, it famously ordered historian Ienaga Saburo to change various passages