TEXTBOOKS REFURBISH THE MIKADO.
The deepening opposition in Japan to Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam has opened up new perspectives for the growth of ‘the. revolutionary-socialist movement there. At the moment, the new current of opposition is sweeping mainly into the Socialist party; it may become the majority party in the not distant future.
A trend of quite different character has been making headway, too -- the ultra reactionary wing that was rescued, tolerated and fostered under the American occupation.
An authoritative indication of the. kind of thinking going « on. in these circles is to be found in an article written by former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi in the October issue of the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs. In his opinion, "freedom of speech"* in Japan ‘has. run riot. This is an obvious reference. to the outcry that has gone up from one end of the archipelago to the other against the danger that the conflict in Vietnam” can precipitate an atomic war.
‘In an attack on the Socialist party, Kishi declares that "the most irresponsible and dangerous is the party's argument for and conception of neutrality for. Japan as a means of guaranteeing the country's security in place of the security treaty with the United States." What Kishi is talking about, of course, is the "security" of Japanese. capitalism. :
Kishi comes out.flatly in his article for revision of the Japanese constitution to permit deletion of the "no war" clause.
"I advocate," he declares, "the revision of the clause of the Constitution that bars Japan from formally maintaining armed | forces, This issue should be.taken up not only as a means of uniting the Conservative forces, but also as a.means of eradicating completely the consequences of Japan's defeat and of the American occupation,"
To facilitate this course, which would end up with Japan again armed to the teeth and ready to plunge into any adventure signalled by.the White House, Kishi urged Washington to exercise “restraint” in ruling Okinawa as an-American-occupied military base,
The recent use of Okinawa as a base for B-52s in bombing raids on south Vietnam, touched off a storm of popular protest in Japan, to the embarrassment of the Japanese government.
Kishi voices the views of top ruling circles in Japan who have decided to link their destiny with that of capitalist America, Against the antiwar and prosocialist sentiments of the masses, he argues for continuation of the treaty with the U.S. and advocates indoctrinating the people to go along with this. .Contending that there is a widespread desire in Japan to continue the treaty, he says: "It must be
the aim of the Conservative forces to deepen this feeling among the people. We must organize a systematic campaign and countermeasures against the arguments and actions of the opposition,"
This is not idle talk. A huge effort is underway, for instance, to once again revise the history textbooks in Japan. The September 17 weekly Asahi notes that in one textbook, the name of Hideki Yukawa, who won the:Nobel Prize for physics in .1949, has been replaced. Honor is now paid in the textbook to war criminal "Hideki Tojo. Tojo is pictured as the “general cheering up children of fallen heroes,"
Textbooks must be approved by the Education Ministry. In accordance with changes in government they have thus undergone drastic revision three times since 1947 (in 1951, 1955 and 1958). This is not an unprofitable matter for the textbook publishing companies, of course.
The present wholesale revision of textbooks is the most drastic of all. The main reason, according to Asahi, is that the "imperialis-~ tic historian," Jiro Murao, is-now in control as the investigator of the Textbook Section of the Education Ministry. He has the power to vote approval of a textbook.
7 As a consequence, the mythology of prewar Japan is again on the rise in the history textbooks to the satisfaction of the Mikado and his supporters who thus see-.the divinity of the imperial family restored.
Asahi offers as an example of the revisions now being carried out, the version of Japan's role in World War II. From an account in the 1954 edition of a high school textbook that remained within the general area of the truth, the 1961 edition reverted to an account smacking of the official sloganeering of Tojo'ts time. In the 1965 edition, the "Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere" -- the main slogan justifying the expansion of Japanese imperialism -- is pictured as helping to make the purpose of the war clear and to charm even those who were not enthusiastic about the war.
One of the impressions which the revised history textbooks now begin to give, says Asahi, is that the Japanese invasion and occupation of Vietnam -- at that time a French colony -~- was justifiable,
This makes ironic reading as American imperialism today follows in the path blazed by the French and Japanese imperialists before them.
LIVING