Elusive Freedom: Textbook and Curricular Reform in Occupied Japan

Following the Pacific War, the Allied Occupation strove to “demilitarize” and “democratize” Japan and create a “pacified” society. Central to this was reform of the education system and the teaching of history, which Occupation personnel had identified as contributing to Japan’s path toward war. For decades, textbooks and curriculum had been centrally controlled by the Ministry of Education, and much of the content featured nationalist and military themes. Early Occupation reforms aimed to decentralize educational administration and curriculum production, rekindle prewar progressive educational reform activities, and create a free and open system of textbook production and selection. Due to tensions amidst Occupation personnel, changing geopolitics, and institutional inertia, by the end of the Occupation in 1952, textbook and curricular control remained centralized, leading to a decades-long fight over history education in Japan. There are several reasons for this. Occupation authorities distrusted the Ministry of Education and intended to remove it as the central educational authority, something supported by many progressive Japanese educators. Nevertheless, the Occupation used the Ministry of Education to enact reform plans, thereby reinforcing its central role. In democratizing the content of history textbooks, Occupation forces used censorship and tight control over production, thereby perpetuating patterns they wished to eliminate. When the Occupation’s focus shifted to nascent cold war U.S. national security interests that dictated a stable Japan, reforms ceased, and the Occupation saw an ally in the Ministry of Education. The central control mechanism which had been used as an expedient to democratize texts and had not been dismantled was then used for purposes contrary to the original aims of the Occupation. Central control over content was used not to expunge militarism, but to fight communism, and to preserve the status quo. It was there that textbooks would remain, technically decentralized in production, but centralized in content.