[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] In the Japanese high school textbooks that passed the screening on the 30th, expressions that dilute or ambiguously address Japan's perpetration of aggression and colonial rule during its invasion wars were notably prominent.
In the Japanese history textbooks that passed the screening that day, parts describing Japan's invasion wars were expressed as "advancement."
For example, Shimizu Shoin's Comprehensive History labeled the section dealing with the Manchurian Incident and the Sino-Japanese War as "Japan's continental advancement." Similarly, Teikoku Shoin's Comprehensive History also described the Manchurian Incident as "advancement into the Chinese continent."
The Murayama Statement announced by the Japanese government in 1995 defined the wars Japan waged as "aggression" and offered an apology, but this evaluation was not properly reflected.
Regarding this, the Asia Peace and History Education Solidarity stated, "'Advancement' is the very term that caused the issue of historical distortion in Japanese textbooks in Northeast Asia in 1982," and added, "It is a dangerous sign that the Japanese government's historical awareness is regressing to the 1982 level."
Shimizu Shoin's textbook, while covering the Japanese army's occupation of Nanjing in December 1937, the first year of the Sino-Japanese War, did not include any explanation about the Nanjing Massacre, where prisoners and civilians were indiscriminately slaughtered.
Teikoku Shoin's textbook introduced the Nanjing Massacre but described it ambiguously, stating, "Investigations and discussions are ongoing regarding the overall situation, including the number of deaths."
Due to the absence of a consensus on the number of victims, the figures were completely omitted, making it impossible to properly understand the brutality of the incident.
During the second Abe Shinzo administration, many textbooks that recorded the number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre were instructed to revise this in the screening process, and as this experience repeated, publishers appear to have initially given up on providing specific explanations about the scale of the victims.
On the other hand, Daiichi Gakushusha introduced various views by stating, "Regarding the number of victims, there are several theories such as over one hundred thousand or around forty thousand, but the exact number has not been clarified," and "The Chinese side claims 300,000."
Shimizu Shoin introduced the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere when describing the expansion of Japan's wars into the Asia-Pacific region.
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere is a concept contained in the Greater East Asia Joint Declaration announced at the Greater East Asia Conference held in Tokyo in November 1943 by then Japanese Prime Minister Tojo Hideki (1884?1948), who gathered representatives from occupied territories in the Asian region.
This can be seen as a claim that Asian nations should unite around Japan to resist Western colonial rule and achieve liberation.
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was devised to justify Japan's aggression and to prevent Japan's colonies or occupied territories from gaining independence, and if its historical background is not critically explained, it can result in endorsing imperialism and militarism.
Nevertheless, Shimizu Shoin's textbook described that among Southeast Asian countries, there were leaders who accepted Japan's proclamation of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as a good opportunity to gain independence from Western colonial rule and cooperated with Japan, while failing to properly explain the Korean people's resistance to Japanese colonial rule.
Shimizu Shoin's textbook only stated, "The human and material damage in various Asian regions that became colonies, occupied territories, and battlefields was immense."
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