Around the time of the Dot Com Bubble, some major changes were happening in Japanese education. Conservative politicians and activists began loudly pushing for a more positive view of Japanese history taught to students across the country. This backlash centered at first around the acceptance and teaching of Japan’s brutality before and during the Second World War in Korea and China, specifically the controversial topic of “comfort women.”
Japanese nationalists—such as Shinzo Abe—did everything they could to force a change in textbooks and classrooms both at the local and national levels. Any historian worth their salt can tell you why it’s a bad idea to censor history, but the changes remain to this day. Education and Nationalism serves as a case study into the effects nationalist governments can have on children’s education and worldview.
My first and strongest complaint about Education and Nationalism is how dry it is. I say this only for the sake of those unacquainted with typical Japanese documentary stylings. For some, the directness and instructive quality of this documentary will be incredibly informative, but those who don’t speak Japanese or don’t enjoy reading subtitles will find many segments incredibly boring. Putting that aside, Education and Nationalism is an outstanding exposé on the effects political culture wars can have on the factuality of children’s education. We have gone through several similar events in my lifetime: The earliest I can remember is reformed education around Christopher Columbus and Thanksgiving.
Professors interested in the current debates over Black history education and LGBTQ+ literature will find this documentary incredibly thought-provoking. By centering the narrative around textbooks and their production, we gain insight into the far-reaching impacts these changes have, affecting not only the content of the books and the students who read them but also the authors and publishers responsible for creating them, as well as the educators who rely on these materials. Highly Recommended.
Where does this title belong on public or academic library shelves?
Education and Nationalism belongs among Japanese documentary titles but would also fit in current events and education documentary sections.