The education ministry has revised a handbook on the government curriculum guideline concerning the handling of Japan's territorial issues with neighboring countries in textbooks for middle and high schools.
The handbook, which serves as a guideline for textbook writing, says for the first time that the Takeshima islets in the Sea of Japan and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea are Japan's own territories. Although the handbook has no legally binding power, the revision will put great pressure on teachers to teach the territorial issues only along the government's line.
The revision represents an attempt on the part of the Abe administration to impose the government views on particular issues on children. The handbook revision carries the danger of preventing children from nurturing a habit of finding out different parties' views and logic on a dispute and of trying to find a solution that is acceptable to all the parties concerned.