Author(s) :

Tracy Xie.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

This paper investigates how Japan’s Ministry of Education and the Liberal Democratic Party shaped public memory of wartime atrocities, specifically the Nanking Massacre (also known as the Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanking), through the censorship and revision of history textbooks in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Drawing on theories of public and cultural memory, as well as Pierre Nora’s concept of sites of memory, it situates the textbook controversies within a broader historiographical landscape. The study employs qualitative textual analysis of Ministry of Education-approved high school textbooks, ministry revision comments, and court documents from Saburo Ienaga’s lawsuits to trace how language was softened, omitted, and used to support an ideological narrative. By examining rhetoric shifts (for example, replacing “invasion” with “advance”) alongside scholarly interpretations by Laura Hein, Mark Selden, and Yoshiko Nozaki, the research demonstrates how state institutions perpetuated denialist narratives that prioritized national pride over historical accountability. It further argues that while Ienaga’s litigation briefly amplified liberal and anti-denialist perspectives, court rulings upheld the screening system, reinforcing governmental control over historical education. The paper concludes that Japan’s post-war education system functioned as a tool of memory politics: it cultivated a dominant narrative that minimized the Rape of Nanking, influenced intergenerational perceptions of moral responsibility, and strained relations with neighboring victim countries of China and South Korea. These findings underscore the broader implications of state-controlled educational narratives for reconciliation efforts and international diplomacy.