Nationalism shaped by education in the second half of meiji period

Main object of the research is the nationalism appearing in the system of education in Meiji period (明治時代 Meiji jidai; 1868-1912). The main task of this research is to understand, how was the education system used in order to engraft the nationalistic ideas. Main method used in this research was an analysis of contents. It was used in order to analyze articles concerning the spreading of nationalism as well as for the analysis of the texts in the textbook used as a main source of information for this research. Analysis of texts in this textbook allowed me not only to feel the spirit of the nationalistic ideology of this period, but also to understand topics, ethical tendencies and propaganda that was one of the actualities of the period. While conducting the research, it became clear, that westernization of the Japanese played big role in changes of educational system in Japan. Especially the fact that Japanese intellectuals tried to integrate the Western ideology into education might be considered as a key factor leading to the changes in educatonal system. There is one paradox though, that while trying to copy all the rules of the Western world and use them in the education, eventually it was noticed that values that follow the education in the Western world do not match those that should be taught at school according to the vision of the Ministry of Education of Japan. The nationalism in the textbook was transparent from the start. Texts were chosen carefully and when you read them, the tendencies can be easily seen, especially when reading texts that are meant to have a nationalistic context. Main areas where nationalistic ideas are the most noticeable are militaristic and those describing nature and cultural heritage of Japan, however the only difference between them is that militaristic nationalism was causing the pressure on the reader that his responsibility as a citizen is to fight with an enemy and protect the country, on the other hand main idea of the second one is to show the reader that the Japanese really have many reasons to be proud of their country