Japan has squarely faced its past and deeds<\/p>\n
Yutaka Iimura, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post editorial Courage to Face History (April 20,
\n2005) in which the newspaper mentioned \"Japan is still not being
\nfully honest with facts of history,\" and \"it seems Japan is
\nstill incapable of facing up to itself\" fails to present a
\ncomplete picture of what is at issue. Here are some of our
\nthoughts on the subject.<\/p>\n
Japan has squarely faced its past and its deeds during the
\nWorld War II and has been making utmost efforts to build with the
\nneighboring countries a future oriented relationship based on
\nmutual trust. This is our outstanding policy approach, on the
\nbasis of which Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, on April 22,
\n2005, at the Asian-African Summit here in Jakarta, referred to
\n\"feelings of remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in
\nmind\" when he discussed issues arising from World War II.<\/p>\n
The editorial piece also contains discussions on Japanese
\ntextbooks. It seems that a brief but accurate explanation of the
\nconcept and policy of Japan's textbook approval system might be
\nuseful for better understanding and more constructive discourse.
\nThe textbook approval guidelines suggest that in describing the
\nmodern history of relations between Japan and the neighboring
\nAsian counties, textbooks should give due consideration to the
\nperspective of international understanding and cooperation.<\/p>\n
In Japan, unlike some other countries, the government does not
\nsanction any particular view of history in the process of
\napproving a history textbook. The sole purpose of the textbooks
\napproval system is to check the error of textbooks according to
\nthe academic standard of the day. Therefore, the government is
\nnot in position to request the correction on the authors'
\nhistorical interpretation, and history textbooks thus approved
\nare not to be taken as in any way reflecting the government's
\nviews on history.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, each local education committee can choose the
\ntextbook to be used from among several available books, written
\nby different scholars and published by competing publishers. For
\nexample, a junior high school history textbook (one of the eight
\nbooks available to choose from) that was particularly criticized
\nin some countries had adoption rate (market share) of only 0.108
\npercent according to the latest statistics.<\/p>\n
The Instruction Guidelines published by the Ministry of
\nEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology suggest that
\nstudents should be taught to understand the path that led to the
\nWar and the calamity the War brought to all mankind, with
\nparticular reference to Japan's relations with neighboring
\ncountries of Asia.<\/p>\n
Suggestion that Japan is not fully honest with facts of
\nhistory is an unfounded criticism which can only mislead.<\/p>\n
The writer is Ambassador of Japan for Indonesia.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/japan-has-squarely-faced-its-past-and-deeds-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }