History Textbook Project: Japan
Ronald Hilton - 4/29/02
It is discouraging that WAIS has been unable to arouse any official interest in the history textbook project. Every day
brings new evidence of its importance in deciding the future of war and peace. The San Francisco Chronicle (4/28/02)
has an important page-long article by Annie Nakao entitled "BATTLE FOR HISTORY. NATIONALIST VOICES.
GROWING TREND IN JAPAN. NO APOLOGIES FOR WW II. Neo-conservastive fringe gains ground by denying or
rationalizing war crimes". The travel expenses of Annie Nakao were subsidized as part of her Knight Fellowship
Fellowship at Stanford by the nonprofit Foreign Press Center in Tokyo. Harvard-educated commentator and historian
Hidaki Kase has made a film "Pride" glorifying General Hideki Tojo, the World War II criminal, as a hero. It has been
a great success. Kase is now preparing a book praising him as a hero. Yoshifumi Tarawa, secretary general of the
Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21, says Japan is facing a major crisis, a crisis of democracy The article is of
great importance. I strongly recommend that you read it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/28/MN102648.DTL
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