Textbook Lobby Revs Up

A Japanese nationalist group, the Japan Society for Textbook Reform, is lobbying vigorously at junior high schools to persuade them to use the society's history and civics textbook.

Children and Textbook National Net 21, a Japanese civic group, said Thursday that the society had submitted more than 200 requests to regional councils asking them to amend the textbook selection procedures so that teachers would be excluded from the process. Most teachers are thought to be critical of the society.

In the past, each textbook selection committee compared and analyzed textbooks and then made final selections that reflected the teachers' opinions.

The nationalist society contends that teachers bring stereotypes and presuppositions to the process, inhibiting a fair evaluation of the textbooks.

It has especially concentrated its lobbying in cities, hoping to place the textbook, which has been charged with whitewashing Japan's military past, in symbolic regions such as the Tokyo prefecture.

Some 33 regional councils, including Hokkaido and Fukuoka, among the 47 regional councils and 222 city and district basic governing bodies are said to have endorsed the society's request.

Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, sided with the right-wing society, emphasizing, "The textbook should not be adopted on the basis of the teachers' evaluation." The education committee of the Hiroshima prefecture has decided to deprive an investigation team made up of teachers of the right to judge the textbooks, and announced this to the education committees.

Fuso, the publisher of the textbook, is also aggressively marketing the book, pressing its employees to build networks with members of education committees and working closely with the nationalist society to ensure that its first venture into the textbook market will be profitable. Break-even for the publisher would be marketing the book to 8 percent of junior high students nationwide. The nationalist society is aiming for 10 percent.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Choi Sang-yong, who had been recalled by the Korean Foreign Ministry to protest the approval of textbooks, returned to Tokyo Thursday. He met with Yohei Kono, Japanese foreign minister, and delivered a letter signed by Han Seung-soo, the Korean foreign minister.

The letter reads in part, "We ask the Japanese government to actively and earnestly tackle this issue so that it might be resolved smoothly."

In response, Mr. Kono said, "After Ambassador Choi's return to Korea, I came to really feel the fierce opposition to the textbooks." He added, "We were waiting for Ambassador Choi to return to Japan to discuss measures to solve the textbook issue."

The South Korean government said Thursday it will complete its analysis of the approved textbooks, after which it will devise inter-ministerial comprehensive contingency measures and officially deliver its demands to the Japanese government by early May at the latest.

by Nahm Yoon-ho