a better term, brainwash Japanese schoolchildren similarly to the pre-war shuushin.61 With
56 Hood, Japanese Education Reform, 51, and Shimazu, Nationalisms in Japan, 133-134
57 LDP stands for the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest political party in Japan with the incumbent prime
minister.
58 Shimazu, Nationalisms in Japan, 131
59 The Telegraph, 03/03/2007. “Japanese PM denies wartime ‘comfort women’ were forced”. And The New
York Times, 14/11/2014. “The Comfort Women and Japan’s War on Truth”
60 Hood, Japanese Education Reform, 55-56
21 these concerns in mind, it is no surprise that one of the aspects of the moral education books to receive the greatest amount of criticism is the decision to include, and revere, several figures from historical times.
Similarly, to the six volumes of moral education texts and lessons that composed the pre-war
shuushin, the current books teach children about famous historical figures. These are not just
from Japan, but also from other countries. Each of the historical figures often imbued a particular aspect of the moral education curriculum; notable examples include Abraham Lincoln (honesty), Florence Nightingale (compassion) and Benjamin Franklin (independence and initiative). The inclusion of these, however, were very limited compared to that of the Japanese characters. Among the Japanese historical figures, those from the Tokugawa period seemed most prominent, and figures such as Ninomiya Sontoku (educator) and Yoshida Shoin (political activist) were featured up to four times.62
The purpose of these figures was to instill the Japanese schoolchildren with ‘a sense of the nation and a civic ethos.’ This is not necessarily negative thing; a national sense and civic duty are things most governments wish to instill in children, nonetheless the sections in the current moral education books dedicated to teaching children about historical figures are similar in certain areas. There are similarities in topicality, format and period of focus means that the scope of similarity between pre-war shuushin and contemporary moral education is great but not all encompassing. I would argue that this is because the noted historical figures have remained constant. The most noted exception, however, is perhaps the most relevant one in countering the claim that Abe's new reform is a throwback to pre-war mentality. That exception is the exclusion of the emperor, who was the most prominent figure in pre-war
shuushin.
A considerable portion of the pre-war shuushin curriculum was dedicated to the reverence of the emperor. The later 5th and 6th volumes of shuushin books, aimed at middle school
children, dedicated almost a quarter of its total page number to such content.63 Currently, as outlined in the curricular guidelines for moral education, Japan is a democratic nation and the sovereignty of the people (kokuminshuken) is emphasized at several points. Both the
elementary and middle school curricular guidelines refer to Japan as a democratic nation and
62 Wei-Ming, Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity, 140-142 63 Wei-Ming, Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity, 140-145
22
stress the importance of children learning the significance and importance of democratic processes and political participation. Officially, the Ministry of Education’s curriculum promotes democratic values and, as mentioned by Tokitsu Kei, the unofficial practice of moral education are notoriously difficult to measure.64
Further, some of the figures included were civil rights activists such as the political revolutionary Sakamoto Ryouma, who fought to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, or Fukuzawa Yuikichi, who founded Keio University. Figures who one would argue that conflict with the projected ideology that critics place on the Abe administration.65 Kaizuka Shigeki, lecturer at Musashino University, argues that a natural part of patriotism is to both understand and show compassion for the people who preceded us.66 The inclusion of figures who acted on both sides of ‘the establishment’ also offers a more nuanced insight and is more than a simple affirmation of ‘Japan’s greatness.’
Given the wide span of different characters who are featured in the textbooks, everything from athletes to Greek philosophers, there is no single trait unifying all of them. They are, however, only used within the context of the four different sections of the textbooks, the four sections corresponding to the four pillars of the ningenzou.67 The ningenzou is a word used to the describe the concept of the ‘perfect’ person, an ideal citizen that one should idolize. As such, they are examples that embody particular aspects of each pillar, i.e. a certain character used to exemplify diligence in the section dedicated to personal values, or a civil servant used in the section dedicated to oneself and society.68 Because of this, criticism against a particular historical figure, i.e. due to a businessman who was ruthless in a certain area or a warlord who has murdered people, is largely irrelevant given the limited scope of their introduction.
Naturally it would seem out of place to exalt a mass murderer for a trait unrelated to his offense, but the historical figures used in the books are only included on the basis of a particular trait. Criticism drawn from any other aspect of said person’s history or actions is irrelevant when criticizing the purpose and intent behind the book's creation, even more so when such characters are understood as a product of their time. George Washington’s
64 Tokitsu, An Analysis of Watashitachi No Doutoku in Elementary School, 2015.
65 Sankei News, 14/02/2014 “Official Announcement of The Ministry of Education’s new Teaching Material
[Watashitachi no Doutoku], reading material like legends of foreign and domestic great men completed,”
66 Kaizuka Shigeki, Sankei News, 02/2015 ”Is Patriotism Inexcusable?”
67 The term was used extensively in older revision, such as the guidelines from 1989, but is not included in the
current curricular guidelines.
68 Ministry of Education, Watashitachi no Doutoku, 5th and 6th grade edition, 2014: 30 (Marie Curie and Yukawa
23 historical relevance as a founding father is not diminished because he kept slaves, a
deplorable action when viewed through a contemporary lens.
Further, I would argue that some concern have been raised as to the strong focus on community in Japanese schools, and the downplaying of the individual student’s
achievements. The inclusion of historical figures functions as a weighted counter to this. Contextualized by each of the four respective sections in the moral education book, they exemplify how much it is possible for the individual to achieve when serving, for example, the community at large. At the same time, it is a sobering reminder that an individual never acts in a vacuum, and that most actions, even individual ones, have consequences and often greater repercussions. It is neither an exaggerated worship of certain characters, nor a devaluation of individual efforts, but also a lesson of consequence, which is also one of the overarching curricular goals in the third section of moral education’s curricular guidelines. I would therefore conclude that because of the context in which it is employed, the exclusion of emperor worship and the inclusion of notable foreign great people, the idolization of Japanese figures is not simply an added layer of nationalistic emphasis.