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The Story of the Nation: “Japan Is Great”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Hayakawa Tadanori  and
Joseph Essertier
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Abstract

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What I refer to as “Japan-Is-Great” materials are “consciousness products” (Bewusstseins waren) in which “Japan” and “Japanese people” are praised and held out as special for their wonderful historical, cultural, or ethical qualities, and as excellent on a global scale. This class of products has now spread through the Japanese media ranging from books, magazines, and mooks; to television, radio, and government-sponsored programs; and furthermore, to human resources seminars and various types of courses on culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 15 , Issue 6 , March 2017 , e4
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2017

References

Notes

1 Hans Magnus Enzensberger, BEWUSSTSEINS-INDUSTRIE, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1962.

2 In 1910 an accident occurred involving the Number 6 Submarine of the Japanese Navy. All fourteen members of the crew perished, but wills were drawn up just before they died. Captain Sakuma's will appears in “Composure and Courage,” the sixth chapter of the state-sponsored textbook Primary School Moral Education (Jinjō shōgaku shūshin) during the Second Period; in “Composure and Courage,” the sixth chapter [of the state-sponsored textbook] Primary School Moral Education (Jinjō shōgaku shūshin) during the Third Period; and in “The Will of Captain Sakuma,” the third chapter [of the state-sponsored textbook] Primary School Moral Education (Shotōka shūshin) during the Fifth-Period. [Hatta Yoichi (1886-1942) was an engineer who contributed to hydraulic engineering in Taiwan when it was a colony of Japan. The full name of “Captain Sakuma,” 1879-1910 was Sakuma Tsutomu. “Yōzan” was the pen name of Uesugi Harunori, 1751-1822].

3 [Kō Bunyū (1938~) is a controversial Taiwanese author, who lives in Japan and has been accused of promoting Japanese neo-nationalism. See http://apjjf.org/-Matthew-Penney/3116/article.html Advertisements about the writings of Shirakoma Hitomi (1965~) can be found at http://www.dokusume.net/hitomi/index.html Onagi Zenko (1956~present), Urabe Kenshi (1950~present). The New Educators Federation website is at http://www.shinkyoren.jp/ The Institute of Moralogy's site is at http://moralogy.jp/].

4 For instance, the same sort of fables and anecdotes about the will of Captain Sakuma and Uesugi Yōzan that appeared in the aforementioned “Moral Education” textbook appear [once more] in Moral Education Textbook for 13-Year-olds and Above edited by the Experts Group (Yūshikisha no Kai) that promotes moral education (Ikuhōsha Publishing Inc., 2012).

5 Seiron (May 1997).

6 Akazawa Shiro, Thought Mobilization and Religious Control in Modern Japan (Kindai Nihon no shisō dōin to shūkyo tōsei, Azekurashobō, 1985).