일본의 ‘교과서우익’과 전쟁 피해의 전략적 활용- 중학교 역사교과서의 기술과 정치권의 동향을 중심으로

Abstract

After Japan’s defeat in 1945, the country developed and distributed a victim mentality concerning the Asia-Pacific War. Descriptions were derived from such contexts as government-approved history textbooks, which consistently increased over the years. And Japan’s victim mentality resulted in contrasting pros and cons. Conservative political agendas led by the Liberal Democratic Party succeeded in spreading a message of anti-nuclear, anti-war, and pacifism from that victim mentality, whereas the denial of a perpetrator perspective and of responsibility for war crimes shunned further possibilities for a universal alliance for peace. Right-wing revisionist groups, including the Japanese Society of History Textbook Reform and the Japan Education Rebirth Institute, were motivated by the ironical side of victim mentality. 일본의 ‘교과서우익’과 전쟁 피해의 전략적 활용 - 중학교 역사교과서의 기술과 정치권의 동향을 중심으로 | 229 This study explains how descriptions of destruction during the Asia- Pacific War have changed over time by examining two middle school history textbooks edited by right-wing revisionist groups. The focus was specifically on Japan’s war damage, such as the bombing of Tokyo, the atomic bombings, the Battle of Okinawa, the Siberia Internment, and the Tokyo Trial, which had a close correlation with the recent issue of amending the Constitution. By tracking specific changes and their meanings over time, this paper reveals the connection of right-wing revisionists in the textbook committee with politics. The right-wing revisionist groups were “innovative” in the sense that they substituted empathy for the victim with nationalism and added anti-American sentiment to their needs. In this respect, the anti- American context in 2011 and the government’s approval of history textbooks in 2015 may be explained by relating domestic and international controversies surrounding visits to Yasukuni Shrine in December, 2013. The mechanism of “anti-American to the extreme” history textbook committees supporting the “outspoken” Prime Minister Abe Shinzo consolidates the conservative swing.