Japan continues to emerge from the shadow of WWII
WSJ:
Japan’s conservative government revised the country’s central education law Friday to require schools to encourage patriotism in the classroom and upgraded the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II. The measures, enacted in a vote by Parliament’s upper house, form key elements of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to bolster Japan’s international military role, build up national pride and distance the country from its post-1945 war guilt….
The education measure, the first change to Japan’s main education law since 1947, calls on schools to “to cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the nation and home country.” The reform reflected concerns voiced by Mr. Abe and strident Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki that Japan’s long stretch of economic prosperity has eroded the morals and cooperative spirit of prewar Japanese. “The new education law will allow children to acquire a good understanding of their heritage and become intelligent and dignified Japanese,” ruling party lawmaker Hiroo Nakashima said during the upper house debate….
The upgrading of the Defense Agency under the Cabinet Office to a full ministry passed Parliament without significant opposition, propelled by deep concern in Japan over North Korean missile and nuclear weapons development. The upgrade, which will go into effect early next year, gives Japan’s generals greater budgetary powers and prestige — a reversal for a military establishment that has kept a low profile since being discredited by Japan’s disastrous wartime defeat. Postwar Japan has been solidly pacifist under the 1947 U.S.-drafted constitution, which forswears Japan from using force to settle international disputes, and Tokyo maintains fighting forces only for self-defense. The U.S. bases some 50,000 troops in Japan under a security alliance. That pacifist stance, however, has eroded with the end of the Cold War…
Gosh. Schools that encourage patriotism and seek to create “intelligent and dignified” citizens. What an interesting idea. Maybe we should try it here.