I’m a middle schooler in Tokyo who moved from the UK, I can speak both English and Japanese. I have a problem with the history textbooks we use here. I don’t think there’s enough about the outside world, also known as 海外, After re-reading the history textbook my school uses I can safely say the Japanese are so self centred. It only shows Japanese history all the way from the beginning of civilization to the 80s
Of course there are SOME parts of western/foreign history shown in the textbook like the renaissance movement and world war 2, but that’s pretty much it. There is nothing about Japanese war crimes in East and South East Asia either, apart from a graph showing numbers of estimated chinese deaths during ww2, but the Japanese have no idea of what’s going on outside their country, I think there should be more foreign history included in the textbooks too.
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I honestly think you’re expecting too much. Yes, they should talk about the atrocious crimes committed by Japanese in other countries, but the Japanese BOE want to cover ALL of Japanese history and that goes back several thousands of years.
I believe it’s pretty much the same (focusing mainly on nation’s own history) except maybe Europe.
Hey, growing up all through K-12 I learned nothing at all about any history that was tied to Europe.
Also, you do know that Japanese history and World history are separate subjects? Is it a 日本史 book or 世界史 book?
I teach at a high school and the World history class does indeed do just that, teach world history.
Dude you’re in middle school. Back in the States, I didn’t learn world history until 10th grade.
Every country focuses history lessons on their own country first and I’m quite sure there are world history classes in high school here in Japan.
Even back in the UK the focus on history is the same. there is a big focus on WW1 and 2 and a smattering of the other time periods. There just isn’t that much time to fit everything in, especially in depth.
Yea such is middle school, in just about any country.
Then again I took a “world history” class in high school that was 99% European history…
It’s not too different in most other countries. You focus on your own country first, then learn a bit more world history. At least in the US, we started with the pilgrims/natives, declaration of independence, civil war, etc…You learn about “the rest of the world,” but it’s at a later point and mostly about Europe and other parts of the world as they interacted with the U.S.
And while I doubt anyone here would say Japan -shouldn’t- cover it’s war crimes, I don’t recall hearing about Bikini Atoll, MK-ultra, or the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in my U.S. History class either if I’m being honest.
On the other hand, the manner in which history taught in Japan seems to be rote memorization of facts and dates rather than telling a human-comprehensible story, so I imagine that can be pretty frustrating.
Well, the Vietnam war was a large part of our American History textbooks when I was in 11th grade, though I don’t recall they covered much info on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Bhuddist crisis or the Kent State shooting in response to protesting the Vietnam War.
History in school is a very political issue and it usually reflects what the government wants people to know. In the case of Japan the main points are 1) history is what is taught 2) Japan is the focus, other countries not so much (this is common for isolated or very large countries like the US, China etc) 3) Historical events that put Japan in a bad light are ignored/downplayed to foster nationalism
I’m sorry they don’t teach enough of your imperial history.
Would you like a tissue with your crumpet?