Japanese history textbook controversies

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Japanese history textbook controversies involve controversial content in government-approved history textbooks used in the secondary education (middle schools and high schools) of Japan. The controversies primarily concern the nationalist right efforts to whitewash the actions of the Empire of Japan during World War II.^[1][2]

Another serious issue is the constitutionality of the governmentally-approved textbook depictions of the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, Japanese war crimes, and Japanese imperialism during the first half of the 20th century. The history textbook controversies have been an issue of deep concern both domestically and internationally, particularly in countries that were victims of Imperial Japan during the war.

Despite the efforts of the nationalist textbook reformers, by the late 1990s the most common Japanese schoolbooks contained references to, for instance, the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, and the comfort women of World War II,^[2] all historical issues which have faced challenges from ultranationalists in the past.^[3] The most recent of the controversial textbooks, the New History Textbook, published in 2000, which significantly downplays Japanese aggression, was shunned by nearly all of Japan's school districts.^[2]