Contested memory of Okinawa’s colonial and war past: history teaching in and beyond formal education

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ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the different ways in which the Battle of Okinawa in World War II is presented in and beyond formal education, using narratives and photos in Japan’s state-authorized history textbooks and at a local museum. Specifically, this study examines 15 upper secondary school textbooks issued by six publishing companies from across the political spectrum and analyzes the narratives and photos used in these textbooks to depict and explain the Battle of Okinawa, together with the digital archives and official guidebook of the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum (OPPMM). The arguments and findings are three-fold. First, despite the line-by-line scrutiny of textbook contents by the state, individual textbooks show different narratives of the battle, and the monolithic view regarding the “Japanese textbook” is not sustained. Second, there are general differences of the battle’s presentations between the school textbooks as a group and the OPPMM. Third, a crucial gap between them in presenting the Battle of Okinawa and World War II is in the perception of the “enemy”. This gap needs to be understood, as the museum’s presentation implies, with a prolonged relationship of contestation between Okinawa and “mainland Japan”, dating back to the late 19th century.

KEYWORDS:

• History textbook
• history museum
• collective memory
• colonialism
• the Battle of Okinawa
• World War II

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In Japan, textbook publication is regarded as a part of public services and the prices are kept at a relatively low level, whereas textbooks for the primary and lower secondary schools have been distributed to all pupils free of charge by the government since 1969. In 2019, the average price of textbooks and average number of pages of history textbooks for upper secondary schools was 816 and 287 JPY, respectively (Kyokai, 2019, pp. 2–5).

2. The figure is drawn and translated by the author based on the figure shown by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/kyoukasho/gaiyou/04060901/1235090.htm.

3. According to Tsushima-maru Memorial Museum, 1,788 people were on board in total, of which 1,482, including 784 pupils, lost their lives on this attack. The museum states that these figures as of 22 August 2016 may increase when they receive additional reports from the relatives of victims. Retrieved 28 August 2020, from http://tsushimamaru.or.jp/?page_id=72.

4. In principle, males aged 17 and older were subject to conscription.

5. The figure in various studies ranges from 700 to over 1,000. In the history textbook controversies concerning the mass suicide, the number of suicides is generally not a prime concern of dispute. Because of its relative precision, the author adopts the figure of 1,143 suicides in 30 cases disclosed by Shimpo (2014, pp. 38–39).

6. A308 (Miyake et al., 2017, p. 146); B310 (Kokaze et al., 2018, pp. 230–231); A309 (Kimijima et al., 2017); A313 (Narita et al., 2018, pp. 108–109); B311 (Kimijima et al., 2018, pp. 216–217); B312 (Wakita et al., 2018, p. 320); A310 (Sasaki et al., 2017, p. 141); B313 (Arano et al., 2018, pp. 230–231); A311 (Takamura, Takano, Oikawa, Katoh, & Suzuki, 2017, p. 168); A314 (Torikai, Mitani, & Watanabe, 2018, p. 151); B309 (Sasayama et al., 2017, p. 366); B314 (Sasayama et al., 2018, p. 296); B315 (Ohtsu, Kurushima, Fujita, & Itoh, 2018, pp. 322–323); A312 (Hokazono et al., 2017); B302 (Watanabe et al., 2013, p. 267).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Masako Shibata

Masako Shibata is Associate Professor of Comparative & International Education at the University of Tsukuba, specializing in modern history of education in Germany and Japan. She is particularly interested in teaching history about World War II in Europe and Asia.