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  • Japan schools to teach patriotism

    Japan schools to teach patriotism


    Japan's lower house of parliament has approved a new law requiring schools to teach children to be patriotic.
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition voted for the law, which cites "loving our country" as a goal of Japanese pupils' compulsory education.

    Opposition members of parliament protested against the bill, warning that it could spread nationalism.

    The new legislation will be sent to the upper house for further debate and is expected to become law next month.

    Parliament changed the Basic Education Law in December, requiring teachers to encourage patriotism as part of Japanese children's compulsory education for the first time since World War II.

    New goal

    But Wednesday's revision stated that developing "the attitude of loving our country and hometown" and "the attitude of participating in society based on social norms and public spirit" would now be a required goal of compulsory education in Japan.

    The bill will also reinforce the education minister's power over local education boards, and introduce a requirement for teachers to renew their licences every 10 years.

    The move to instill patriotism may also meet concern from South Korea and China, which remain suspicious of Japan because of its wartime aggressions.

    On Monday, Japan's upper house of parliament passed a bill setting out steps for holding a referendum on revising the country's pacifist constitution, which has not been changed since 1947.

    Drawn up by the US occupation authorities after WWII, it bans military force in settling international disputes and prohibits maintaining a military for warfare.

    But the government wants Japan to be more assertive on the world stage, with a military able to take part in peacekeeping missions abroad.
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  • #2
    Good on them.

    Comment


    • #3
      It seems there is a potential for brainwashing here. Is it really necessary to teach patriotism?
      Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

      Comment


      • #4
        The Japanese heritage of Shintoism is coming in through the back door!

        Dangerous!


        "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

        I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

        HAKUNA MATATA

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        • #5
          For me, no need for this program they already showed too much love for their country..excessive patriotism is bad..
          sigpic

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Danielk View Post
            Good on them.
            Hmmm... encouraging "love of country", school textbooks that minimise or conceal Japanese war crimes from WW2, war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni (more than just a war memorial - think the Arc de Triomphe or Les Invalides) and revisions to the constitution to enable the Japanese to use military force abroad.

            Japan never underwent any equivalent to the process of "denazification" that Germany did after WW2 - the Tokyo war crimes trials were abbreviated, and never really went beyond the top. At least one Class A war criminial (Nobusuke Kishi - imprisoned and banned from public life for some years but never put on trial) went on to become Prime Minister of Japan after WW2. Unlike Germany where they have thought about and understood what they did and why, Japan still acts like the war was everybody else's fault, that it was launched to "liberate" SE Asia and that they never committed any war crimes. That is dangerously close to the stab-in-the-back myth that Hitler used in the run up to WW2, and I would not altogether be surprised if one day it has a similar result. If so, we'll have to destroy Japan properly this time rather than the half job we did last time.
            Rule 1: Never trust a Frenchman
            Rule 2: Treat all members of the press as French

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by pdf27 View Post
              Hmmm... encouraging "love of country", school textbooks that minimise or conceal Japanese war crimes from WW2, war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni (more than just a war memorial - think the Arc de Triomphe or Les Invalides) and revisions to the constitution to enable the Japanese to use military force abroad.

              Japan never underwent any equivalent to the process of "denazification" that Germany did after WW2 - the Tokyo war crimes trials were abbreviated, and never really went beyond the top. At least one Class A war criminial (Nobusuke Kishi - imprisoned and banned from public life for some years but never put on trial) went on to become Prime Minister of Japan after WW2. Unlike Germany where they have thought about and understood what they did and why, Japan still acts like the war was everybody else's fault, that it was launched to "liberate" SE Asia and that they never committed any war crimes. That is dangerously close to the stab-in-the-back myth that Hitler used in the run up to WW2, and I would not altogether be surprised if one day it has a similar result. If so, we'll have to destroy Japan properly this time rather than the half job we did last time.
              You are right on that, but is there really a big possibility that on recent situation Japan will return to the past and possibly against its major ally- US, the democracy, etc..
              sigpic

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              • #8
                A little patriotism and nationalism is not always a bad thing, might be good in Japan's case. Japan has to compete against a very large China that has over 10 times the population. Japan's own population is getting older, and the fertility rate is one of the lowest in the free world. Japan really does need to reverse these things to survive.

                There's an article in Atlantic Monthly's May issue that is a bit critical of Japan's modern culture, focusing on suicide cults and obsession with pornography. Basically, some Japanese think their society is psychologically immature, their development stunted by their defeat in WWII and subsequent dependence on America. So I think these new education measures are needed to recover Japan's cultural integrity. I don't think this will mean Japanese kids marching in stadiums practicing kendo.

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                • #9
                  ^^

                  I agree.

                  Speaking as someone who was in Japan (Saitama to be precise) the lengths to which they dodge any issues relating to nationalism or heritage is incredible.

                  Loving oneself is not a bad thing ;) .
                  Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
                  - John Stuart Mill.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Awful thing, perhaps they are trying to instill nationalism to their citizens in order to gather support amongst the younger generations into changing the constitution and other aims.
                    Those who can't change become extinct.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      They want patriotism? Let em have all they want. They still got a black mark in their history. And seriously...they arent really a threat anymore, even if they did decide to randomly revert to radical imperialism or something...they have very little any more in the way of a strong military and theyve helped us so far might as well let them have some of their pride back. It'll give them something more useful to dwell on instead of electronics and anime cartoons.
                      The greatest weapon is the truth

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by The Black Ghost View Post
                        They want patriotism? Let em have all they want. They still got a black mark in their history. And seriously...they arent really a threat anymore, even if they did decide to randomly revert to radical imperialism or something...they have very little any more in the way of a strong military and theyve helped us so far might as well let them have some of their pride back. It'll give them something more useful to dwell on instead of electronics and anime cartoons.
                        Yeah, I agree to you all just like what is said in a song, "Learning to love yourself is the gretest love of all...

                        I also like anime..Japanese are really smart people..
                        sigpic

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                        • #13
                          we must keep an eye on Japan.

                          You are absolutly right on the definition of Japanese goverment' underhand intentions. But I can't agree with you on the point of destroying it completely unlike WW2 we do it. Because It will bring more death of innocent Japanese ppl.
                          Why we can't disarm it , when Japan leaks it's aggressive grin teeth with minimum level?!

                          Originally posted by pdf27 View Post
                          Hmmm... encouraging "love of country", school textbooks that minimise or conceal Japanese war crimes from WW2, war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni (more than just a war memorial - think the Arc de Triomphe or Les Invalides) and revisions to the constitution to enable the Japanese to use military force abroad.

                          Japan never underwent any equivalent to the process of "denazification" that Germany did after WW2 - the Tokyo war crimes trials were abbreviated, and never really went beyond the top. At least one Class A war criminial (Nobusuke Kishi - imprisoned and banned from public life for some years but never put on trial) went on to become Prime Minister of Japan after WW2. Unlike Germany where they have thought about and understood what they did and why, Japan still acts like the war was everybody else's fault, that it was launched to "liberate" SE Asia and that they never committed any war crimes. That is dangerously close to the stab-in-the-back myth that Hitler used in the run up to WW2, and I would not altogether be surprised if one day it has a similar result. If so, we'll have to destroy Japan properly this time rather than the half job we did last time.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by The Black Ghost View Post
                            And seriously...they arent really a threat anymore, even if they did decide to randomly revert to radical imperialism or something...they have very little any more in the way of a strong military
                            Umm... not exactly. They've currently got the second biggest navy in the world (no carriers or SSNs, but an awful lot of destroyers/frigates and SSKs), and their air force/"ground self defence force" are both pretty substantial too. They also have the nuclear material and knowledge to make nuclear weapons in very short order too, as well as the space programme required to be able to build ICBMs.

                            I'm not saying that the Japanese are an immediate threat, that we should start some sort of new cold war in Asia or anything like that. However, there are definately traits in Japanese society that concern me greatly, and Japan has the industrial base and military to provide an extremely powerful enemy.
                            Rule 1: Never trust a Frenchman
                            Rule 2: Treat all members of the press as French

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                            • #15
                              Dont america have nearly 50,000 troops indefinatly stationed in japan?

                              having patriotic children is not a bad thing, too an extent anyway, we dont want ultra-nationalists......one of them triggered WWI.
                              die, no0b

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