JAPAN: History textbooks

History textbooks are like a barometer. They help assess the present political weather and that to come. Relations between Japan and South Korea improved when South Korean President Kim Dae Jung visited Tokyo in 2001 and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi apologized for Japan's colonization of Korea. However, a group of Japanese right-wing scholars published a history textbook completely at odds with this apology. Now in March 2002 Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited South Korea and agreed to commission a group of Japanese scholars to cooperate with South Koreans to produce a history textbook satisfactory to them.

However, others issues remain. A Tokyo court rejected a suit in which some 150, 000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees demanded compensation from the Japanese government for suffering inflicted during World War Two. The Tokyo High Court upheld the decision of a lower court to reject the demands of the plaintiffs, who were from the UK, New Zealand, US and Australia. It also ordered the plaintiffs to bear court costs. Japan has held that it is not liable for compensation because all World War II claims were settled in 1951 under the San Francisco peace agreement. It remains to be seen how Japanese history textbooks will treat this issue.

Now a major crisis may erupt. Japan and South Korea are jointly to sponsor the world soccer championship. Will that promote better relations or create bad blood, perhaps literally? When will history textbooks devote the space they deserve to these important battles?

Ronald Hilton - 3/28/02