Interview with Ms. L

"In my view, Japan’s treatment of World War II in its education system is very understated. The textbooks rarely mention the darker aspects, such as the issue of comfort women or the Nanjing Massacre. These serious topics are largely absent.

I personally believe that if you put historical facts in front of anyone, people naturally have their own sense of morality and can recognize what was right or wrong. But here, those truths are not really taught. Instead, the textbooks shift the focus elsewhere. For example, from what I’ve heard, rather than emphasizing Japan’s aggression, they highlight things like the attack on Pearl Harbor — portraying Japan more in the position of being attacked.

I should clarify that my own child is still in elementary school, so I haven’t yet directly seen the middle or high school history curriculum. That’s why I don’t feel I have full authority to speak on this. Still, from what I know, Japan’s approach tends to gloss over its own wartime actions, while devoting more attention to the suffering it endured, such as the atomic bombings."