‘새로운 역사교과서를 만드는 모임’의 역사교육전략

The Strategy of Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform in the Education of History

Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a neo-nationalist group established in 1997 to revise history textbook, has been distributing a large number of books and pamphlets which express their views and ideas at low prices to the general public. These activities can be called as an ideological assault upon the general public. The Society’s strategy seems to work for the present. The Society aims at propagating neo-nationalist history by criticizing the Japanese history established by the postwar Japanese scholarship and reinforced by the post-modern historiography. The scholars who are leading the society and its ideological campaign are making their arguments by coopting the criticism of nation state and the concept of linguistic turn developed in linguistics. Based on the theory of narrative they emphasize traditions and try to beautify invasion, pillage, and the violation of human rights conducted by the Japanese imperialism. Their campaigns focus on traditions, patriotism, the revision of the constitution, and the support for the imperial institution. Their efforts can also be interpreted in the context of Japan’s response to the Chinese supremacy in East Asia.