Contemporary issues in Asia

Abstract

This paper compares the teaching of potentially controversial or nationally embarrassing periods of national history in Ja- pan and England, placing this in the context of the philosophy and practice of history teaching as a whole. Japan has often been criticised for allegedly teaching its schoolchildren about the history of Imperial Japan 1895-1945 in selective and misleading ways. England also has an imperialist past, but criticism of history teaching in England has been much less loud. Is this be- cause English schoolchildren are taught objectively about the British Empire? This paper is based upon observations of history lessons at several secondary schools in England and in Japan, as well as on interviews with history teachers in both countries, high school students in England, and university students in Japan. It argues that both England and Japan devote relatively little curricular time to the study of their respective imperial pasts, and in both countries, students feel under-informed about the topic. However, this is not necessarily because of a deliberate cover-up of the facts. In each country, the way history as a whole is taught influences teaching about imperialism, as every other aspect of history. In order to change the way children learn about imperialism, it may be necessary to change the philosophy and practice of history teaching as a whole.