Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program Read Online Free PDF Page B

elected under Occupation
guidelines, were made political appointments. But there was no backlash;
instead, a series of gradual and moderate changes took place.
    Despite such reversals, the war is today nearly universally rejected as
having been immoral. This has created a profound ambivalence about the
use of nationalistic symbols in contemporary Japan. Debates about the emperor's responsibility in the war, which surfaced in the media following Hirohito's death in 1989, made it clear that the imperial institution does not
unequivocally symbolize national unity. Sometimes the Japanese flag and
the anthem are questioned, as neither of them is mentioned in the constitution. While the Ministry of Education has decreed that the flag be raised
and the national anthem sung at all official school ceremonies, compliance
has not been universal." Finally, official visits by the prime ministers to
Yasukuni Shrine, where the souls of all soldiers who died for the country
in wars are cherished as sacred, have been very controversial; they are seen
as a sign of resurgent militarism by Japan's Asian neighbors, who suffered greatly at Japan's hands. Thus the major symbols of national identity-the
imperial household, the flag, the anthem, and national monuments-were
largely discredited by World War 11.26

    After the war, the focus of Japan's global articulation shifted from military expansion to economic recovery and then growth. Yoshida Shigeru, a
prewar diplomat and postwar prime minister, came up with the formula
that has served as Japan's national policy virtually to this day. Japan would
ally itself with the United States, which would take over all defense functions and allow Japan to concentrate on its economy. In return, Japan would
accept American leadership in foreign policy. As Yoshida said, "If you like
the shade, be sure to find yourself a big tree." By most accounts, these efforts have paid off handsomely. Today Japan boasts the second-largest GNP
in the world, and its corporations are household names around the globe; it
is the world's largest donor of foreign aid; its education system is widely
praised for producing uniformly high levels of academic achievement and
social order. Many Japanese cite the publication in -1979 of Ezra Vogel's
best-seller, Japan as Number One, as evidence that they had finally
achieved prosperity. Rather than the emperor system or military might,
the Japanese economic system, particularly its community-oriented aspects, had now become the principal symbol of national pride. Japan's
alacrity in equaling and surpassing Western countries is all the more astonishing given its relative lack of technical and material advantages in the
mid-nineteenth century. Japan can truly lay claim to being the dark horse
of the twentieth century's peacetime competition .17
    EDUCATIONAL REFORM AS THE SOLUTION
TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
    As it has emerged as an economic power, Japan-with its relatively homogeneous population and sense of isolation-has faced an acute problem of
global integration. Western countries have protested with growing vigor
what they perceive as the closed nature of Japanese society and Japan's refusal to play by the rules of the international liberal trading order. Foreign
pressure on Japan to take concrete measures to liberalize the country and
to reform what is seen as a feudalistic value system has been a political
constant during the past few decades.
    On the one hand, contemporary Japanese society ranks quite high on
most "objective" measures associated with the term "internationalization." Overseas investment is flourishing, and more and more countries
are doing business in Japan. Every year millions of Japanese travel abroad, and almost all American and European books of any importance are translated into Japanese. A great deal of attention is given to foreign language
learning: most Japanese youth study English for at least six years. The Japanese have a