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J apanese History Textbook Controversies, 1995–2010: Transnational Activism versus Neo‐nationalist Movement
Author(s) -
Ku Yangmo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pacific focus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1976-5118
pISSN - 1225-4657
DOI - 10.1111/pafo.12030
Subject(s) - narrative , nationalism , state (computer science) , political science , affect (linguistics) , period (music) , gender studies , sociology , literature , aesthetics , law , art , politics , algorithm , computer science , communication
How and to what extent did both transnational activist networks and J apanese conservative forces affect J apanese historical narrative and textbook policy during the period of 1995–2010? Addressing this question, this article first establishes the concepts of T ype I and II transnational activism regarding history textbooks. The article argues that starting in the late 1990s, a positive trend of J apanese historical narrative and textbook policy was reversed by a systematic conservative campaign, despite the presence of strong T ype I and II transnational activism. Nevertheless, T ype I transnational activism – pushing for a perpetrator state to change its policy – played a pivotal role in lowering the adoption rate of Japan's nationalistic history textbooks at the local level, although not reversing the conservative direction of Japan's historical narrative and textbook policy at the state level. In the long run, with vibrant T ype I transnational activism it would be necessary to strengthen T ype II transnational activism – textbook cooperation and historians' dialogue – in order to resolve the issue of biased Japanese historical textbooks.