일본 고등학교 공민교과서에 나타난 헌법교육

The Japanese High School Textbook Education and the Constitution -Japan’s Constitutional Amendment and Self Defence Force Problems

This paper examines and compares the education textbooks made in 1947 and those of the 2000 s. In 1947, both social studies and the constitution were taught in schools. In particular, the social studies textbook and the regular textbook carried “the new Constitution story” which enabled Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to be taught. In the Japanese high school textbooks published in the2000s, however, the Japanese government expressed the opinion that self defence is as a maintenance of power” and is not unconstitutional. In addition, the description of the Self Defence forces (SDF) within the Japanese high school citizen textbooks expresses the view that the SDF s roles is a task force crucial to maintaining international peace and the USJapan alliance. Therefore, despite the presence of Article 9 in the textbooks, it does not point out that the SDF are unconstitutional but instead states that they are an integral part of international peace keeping and sets the tone for the “normal state.” This means that the attention must be paid to the constitution education and how it is represented within the Japanese high school textbooks.