Identity change and societal pressures in Japan: the constraints on Abe Shinzo’s educational and constitutional reform

Abstract

The article tries to understand the dynamics of Japanese national identity and Abe Shinzo's revisionism. It argues that although Abe has launched the strongest ever attack on Japanese pacifist identity, there remain institutional and emotional constraints that prohibit this change from materializing. Theoretically, it tries to reconcile social constructivist and post-structural approaches to Japan's policy change and presses forward a sedimentation model that can explain the contemporary dynamics. Methodologically, the article builds on narrative analysis – it uncovers the revisionist narratives and shows how these interact with societal pressures. This is shown on two particular case studies: Abe's push for constitutional revision and Abe's attempt to transform school education. Within these case studies, the article shows that although Abe commands strong popular support and a hugely revisionist mindset, his societal and political changes have been rather limited.

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This chapter along with chapter 2 build on my earlier text – for a broader version see Kolmaš (2019).

2 For more see Kolmaš, 2019.

Additional information

Funding

The author would like to thank the Czech Science Foundation for financial support, under standard research grant no. 18-05339S.