Countering Textbook Distortion: War Atrocities in Asia, 1937-1945

In the early months of 2005, much of the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the World War II Allied victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Around the same time, protests erupted in Asia against a revised Japanese history textbook, "The New History Textbook," which critics said covered up Japanese World War II atrocities. This type of sanitized history makes it hard to discuss issues related to World War II and prevents students from learning historical events. To help students better understand the past, and its direct impact on current events, textbooks and classroom teaching should accommodate multiple perspectives of important historical events, and inform students of both the Western and non-Western perspectives. In this article, the authors delve into the tension between Japan and some Asian countries regarding the aforementioned Japanese history textbook and discuss the three principal Japanese war crimes--which together are increasingly referred to as the "Asian Holocaust." The authors also suggest resources to support further learning on World War II history in American social studies classes. (Contains 28 notes.)