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China-Japan-Koreas
Japan passes measure requiring patriotic education
2006-12-16
Public schools to teach patriotism; Defense Agency gets status as ministry
TOKYO: Japan broke two postwar taboos Friday, as its Parliament voted to bring patriotism back into the classroom and to expand the status and mission of its military forces.

Parliament enacted a law revising the country's 1947 Fundamental Law of Education, drafted during the U.S. occupation to prevent a revival of prewar nationalism in Japan. The new education law stresses "love of country," "public spirit" and "tradition," and gives the country's political leadership greater control over the schools.
Posted by:Sock Puppet of Doom

#6  Japan already spends quite a bit of time on teaching "how to be Japanese." This is adding on to that.

Most average Japnese don't have the time to care about this stuff they are to busy trying to earn the money needed to survive. I have been told that the common citizen of Japan thinks the nationalist are nuts and on the same level as criminals.

This is something we need to keep an eye on to be sure.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2006-12-16 17:47  

#5  I'm worried that patriotic education there will exclude from discussion the Japanese role in WW2, in China and Korea, and so on. The Rape of Nanking will be right out.

As I understand it, Japanese secondary education system teaches the following history of WWII:

1) A bunch of stuff happened.
2) The US nuked us.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-12-16 17:28  

#4  I'm worried that patriotic education there will exclude from discussion the Japanese role in WW2, in China and Korea, and so on. The Rape of Nanking will be right out.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2006-12-16 13:47  

#3  Well, no, that's kind of scary. Japanese schools are *already* over-regulated and censored in a fashion which would make the Texas Board of Education swoon with envy. The appearance of that raving nutcase Ishihara in the article is another bad sign. Finally, what we're looking at here is a set of symbolic, ugly gestures in lieu of anything useful, like a less restrictive set of legislature-controlled RoE. Plenty of stuff which will alienate anyone who remembers the twenties and thirties, nothing which will do any practical good, and a lot more conservative dicking around with school curricula. At least there doesn't seem to be anything in there about revering the emperor...
Posted by: Mitch H.   2006-12-16 12:37  

#2  Geeze, we'd settle for less UNpatriotic education here in the US...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2006-12-16 08:22  

#1  Good for them.
Posted by: gromgoru   2006-12-16 06:15  

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