'There Go the History-Obsessed Koreans'

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'There Go the History-Obsessed Koreans'
[Letter from Japan] David McNeill says Japanese media coverage and popular opinion are at odds

David McNeill (internews)	Print Article

	Published 2005-03-30 10:18 (KST)

Japan and South Korea have come to blows again over a group of islets called Takeshima in Japan, and Dokdo in South Korea.

Japanese television showed angry South Koreans preparing to cut off their little fingers in protest as commentators back in the studio bemoaned the "emotionalism" of the dispute.

The implication in much of the coverage here was "There go the Koreans again, obsessed with history," while for Korea of course the problem is that Japan does not know enough about history, or pretends not to know.

For us gaijin (foreigners) here in Japan, the depth of feeling in these disputes with Korea and China over what look like rocks in the middle of the ocean can be difficult to grasp, so as I often do in cases like this I turned to my neighbors to gauge popular opinion.

"Take-what?" said Mrs. Shimoda in the house on my right. "Oh, Takeshima, that island off the coast somewhere, right? I don't know much about it but it doesn't seem very important, does it?"

What about Mrs. Kuno on my left. Was she jumping up and down in front of the television waving a hinomaru flag and cursing the Koreans? "I've no idea what it is about," she said. "But I hope it won't stop Korea from sending over those TV dramas. I'm a big fan of Yon-sama."

Over the five years I've been living here and working as a journalist, I've tried this exercise many times and never failed to be surprised by the gap between what I see on television and the opinions expressed in my own neighborhood. Most Japanese, frankly, couldn't care less about these disputes and when they do have opinions they are often very much at odds with those of their so-called political representatives.

Let me give some recent examples. Opinion polls consistently show a majority of Japanese -- at one stage over 70 percent -- completely opposed to the dispatch of Self Defense Force troops to Iraq; a "humanitarian" mission that many in Asia and beyond rightly think is a cover for an expanded international role for the Japanese military.

The vast majority of Japanese also oppose changes to history textbooks that whitewash the past. In 2001, thousands of teachers, trade unionists and other activists fought a magnificent campaign against the New History textbook which ended up being used in just 0.01 percent of Japanese junior high schools.

It has proved so hard for right-wingers in the Liberal Democratic Party to change Japan's so-called "pacifist constitution" that today's version remains exactly the same as the day it was written 60 years ago.

I know from living in China that many Asians find this hard to accept, but most Japanese people are gentle, peaceful folk who would run a mile rather than get into an argument. Why is it, then, that from afar Japan looks so belligerent? The answer is political leadership.

I've spent four months investigating the organization behind the textbook revisionist movement in Japan, which is again set to enrage the rest of Asia with its revised history textbook. No Japanese person I know wants their children to be taught that Korea "welcomed Japanese colonization," but this is the message the textbook conveys.

The textbook organization is backed by over 100 members of the LDP and other political figures including Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro. These people have managed to stuff the Tokyo Education Board with their supporters, meaning that the largest board in the country will probably vote next month to accept the textbooks.

There is absolutely nothing democratic about this; it is a political movement led from the top against the wishes of the majority of ordinary Japanese. These people are literally leading Japan to disaster.

Dr. David McNeill is a Tokyo-based journalist and teacher, and a coordinator of Japan Focus on ZNet. He is a foreign research fellow at ISICS, as well as editor of the National Institute for Research Advancement's NIRA Review in Tokyo. His column appears on OhmyNews International twice a month.