学習指導要領説明「尖閣和竹島是日本領土」

Recently the FNN News on-line reported the following:

「尖閣と竹島は日本の領土」　学習指導要領解説書に明記へ

下村博文文部科学相は14日、「尖閣諸島と竹島は、わが国固有の領土」と、学習指導要領の解説書に明記する方針を明らかにした。
下村文科相は「『学習指導要領解説』の記述を、より明確なものとすることについて、現在、検討を行っております」と述べた。
学習指導要領解説書とは、学校で教える教科の内容を定めた学習指導要領に基づいて、教科書の作成や、教員が授業を行う際の指針をまとめた冊子のこと。
現在使われている、中学の社会の解説書。
竹島についての記述は、「わが国と韓国の間に、竹島をめぐって主張に相違があることなどにも触れ、北方領土と同様に、わが国の領土・領域について、理解を深めさせることも必要である」とされている。
高校地理の解説書にも、竹島の学習指導について、「中学校における学習をふまえる」としている。
現行の中学社会の教科書では、「日本海上の竹島は、日本固有の領土ですが、韓国が占拠しており、対立が続いています」と、解説書に沿った記述がなされている。
尖閣諸島については、中学・高校とも、解説書に記述はないが、それを取り上げる教科書もある。
下村文科相は「わが国の将来を担う子どもたちが、日本の領土を正しく理解するということは、極めて重要なことであると考えております」と述べた。
日本ではこれまで、尖閣諸島や竹島は、学習指導要領の解説書に、明確な記述がされていなかった。
一方、中国では、日本の学習指導要領にあたる「国家課程標準」がある。
そして、小学校から、「尖閣諸島は中国の領土」と学習している。
韓国の小学校でも、「ハワイはアメリカ領土。対馬は知らないけれど、独島(竹島)はわが地。日露戦争直後に、所有者のない島だと、(日本は)無理矢理言い張って、本当困るんだよ」などと、旗を振って、全員で合唱する韓国の小学生たちの姿がある。
日本の学習指導要領の解説書に、「尖閣諸島と竹島は、わが国固有の領土」と明記される方針について、北京市民は「絶対に許さない。(尖閣諸島は)中国の領土だから」と話し、ソウル市民は「国民として腹が立つ」と話した。
韓国外務省は、会見で「日本のこのような不当な主張、要するに、話にならない話を、直ちに中断しなければならない」などと述べた。
文部科学省は近く、解説書を改定し、2016年度から使用される教科書に反映させたい考え。

(試譯文)

About the explanatory notes on government’s guidelines for teaching, on the 14^th the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomura made public a plan to write clearly that "Senkaku Islands and Takeshima are territories peculiar to our country".

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Shimomura said that "he is now carrying out an examination to make clearer the words written in the ‘government-guidelines-for-teaching description’".

The government-guidelines-for-teaching explanatory note was a booklet to be used as a guideline to write the textbook, and also as a reference for teachers at the time of teaching a class. It was the government’s guidelines on teaching that would determine the contents of the subject to be taught in schools.

The explanatory guideline on Society was now used in the junior high schools.

Description about Takeshima would be made to "touch on the fact that between our country and South Korea there is a difference in opinion involving Takeshima etc. The same is applicable to the Northern Territories and it is necessary to deepen our understanding about the territory and domain of our country".

About the explanatory note on high school geography about Takeshima, the educational guidance supposed that "it is based on the learning in the junior high school".

With regards to the textbook of the present junior high school on Society, description would follow the explanatory note to say that "South Korea is occupying Takeshima and confrontations continue although Takeshima in the Sea of Japan is a territory peculiar to Japan".

About the Senkaku Islands in the junior high school and high school, although there was no description in the explanatory note, there were textbooks that took it up.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Shimomura said "he thinks that it is a very important thing that the children who bear the future of our country understand the territory in Japan correctly".

In Japan, on the description of the Senkaku Islands or Takeshima, clarification to the explanatory note of the government guidelines for teaching was not carried out until now.

On the other hand, in China, there was the "National Course Standard" which was equivalent to the government guideline for teaching in Japan. And starting from the elementary school it was taught that "the Senkaku Islands is a territory of China".

In the South Korean elementary school "Hawaii is a U.S. territory, Dokdo (Takeshima) is my land although Tsushima is not known. In case of an island that was without an owner, immediately after the Russo-Japanese War, it (Japan) insisted on it forcibly, such saying is truly troubling" etc. were taught. There was a scene that the South Korean school children together waving a flag and singing in chorus.

Regarding the Japan’s plan to write clearly in the explanatory note on the government’s guidelines for teaching that "the Senkaku Islands and Takeshima are territories peculiar to our country", a Beijing  resident said that “it could not be allowed by any means since it (Senkaku Islands) is a territory of China". A Seoul citizen said that "as a citizen he gets angry".

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs at an interview said that "in short, it should be discontinued immediately, the story is ridiculous" etc. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology intended to start the reform soon and wanted to reflect the explanatory note in the textbooks starting from the fiscal year 2016.

   It is interesting to note that Japan is taking steps to amend the textbooks at this moment. It seems that the tension among these countries could continue for a while.