The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Newsletter
 
Newsletter No. 1. 2014    

January 6, 2014    
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After a short introduction contextualizing revisionist history in Japan and controversies over the representation of imperial and wartime violence in Japanese textbooks, this piece presents translations of a wide variety of student writing projects and classroom resources from progressive educators. Focusing exclusively on textbooks results in a limited view of what actually goes on in Japanese classrooms. This collection highlights some of the ways that critical educators have resisted revisionism and brought vivid discussion of controversial issues to the classroom.


Matthew Penney is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Concordia University, Montreal. He is an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator.  
 
Gavan McCormack
Bitter Soup For Okinawans - The Governor's Year-End Betrayal 

  

In and around Okinawa, events of unparalleled importance continue to unfold, with implications for Japan, the US-Japan and US-Japan-China relationships, and for peace and democracy generally. As former Governor Ota Masahide foresaw earlier in the year, 2013 turned out to be among "the worst ever for Okinawa." 

 

The "special series" ("Again Okinawa") published in this journal in November 2013 pointed to the importance of two imminent decisions, including the Okinawan governor's response to the national government's request that he license reclamation of the seas off northern Okinawa to allow construction of a major new military complex there for the US Marine Corps.The reverberations of the former were heard around the world in December. Here we focus on it.   

 
Gavan McCormack
Bitter Soup For Okinawans - The Governor's Year-End Betrayal 

  

  

 

Gavan McCormack is an emeritus professor of Australian National University and coordinator of The Asia-Pacific Journal. He is co-author of Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States (2012) and co-author of Tenkanki no Nihon e - Pax Americana ka Pax Asia ka (NHK Bukkusu, 2014).  

  

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