Divided memory, contentious politics : a comparative study of history textbooks in Japan and China

Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-85)In post-World War II Japan, the issue of the war responsibility of Japan and the Japanese has been one of the most contentious political and social issues. The so-called "textbook issue" is a substantive reflection of the contentions. It was kindled by the international controversy over the publication of the so-called New History Textbook in Japan in 2000. The new textbook was put out by a group of Japanese nationalists who sought to downplay the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Asia-Pacific War. China and South Korea protested vociferously at the revisionist history, as they had done so regularly since the early 1980s. What is remarkable about the controversy is that what had begun as a domestic controversy about the "proper" teachings of history in Japanese textbooks would cause major diplomatic frictions between Japan and its neighboring countries in the region. In its process, a number of transnational activist organizations from Japan and China interacted with each other and attempted to increase the public awareness of war atrocities during the Sino- Japanese War to a point where the debate is no longer confined within the national boundaries. Although the memory of the wartime atrocities has become an integral part of national remembering in both Japanese and Chinese societies, "boomerang effect" of the liberals' going-global emboldened the Japanese conservatives to launch a new nationalist movement, which published a controversial New History Textbook, perpetuating a greater domestic and international controversy. This paper traces the evolution of the domestic debate, providing the background and consequences of the post-1982 internationalization of the history textbook controversy, as well as my analysis of contemporary Japanese and Chinese history textbooks