History Issues of Japan in Politics and Education
History Issues of Japan in Politics and Education

Summary/Abstract: Many scholars have researched Japan’s historical issues, connected to politics and education. Nevertheless, they mostly studied one issue from one perspective, such as international law or human rights. As a part of ongoing doctoral thesis research, this paper aims to discern if and how the historical issues and the Japanese government’s stance on those issues changed between 1982 and 2022 and interacted with each other. By comparing official statements with textbook contents on historical issues, the connection between them can bring a fuller understanding of Japan’s historical policy as a system. This paper hypothesises that history politics indirectly influences education policies and textbook writing. At this stage of research, it can be concluded that there are numerous historical issues recognised as such by Japan, but recognition has been an effect of other actors’ claims. Various actors have made those claims at opportune times, using history as a tool. Nonetheless, policy and statements by politicians and overall discernible history politics, such as counterclaims on particular issues, seem to have at least some correlation with the contents of textbooks. Further research into those connections may better understand Japan’s history politics as a system and how they influence history education.

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