Japanese history textbook controversy at a crossroads?: joint history research, politicization of textbook adoption process, and apology fatigue in Japan

Japan’s kyōkasho mondai (history textbook controversy) is at a crossroads. This article tries to exemplify it through the analysis of three issue areas at three levels (international, domestic, and societal). Internationally, the study looks into the failure of much anticipated joint history writing projects with China (2006–2010) and South Korea (2002–2005, 2007–2010). Domestically, this study problematises the recent politicisation of the textbook adoption system through the analysis of the Yokohama and Tokyo cases. The article also discusses the role of Nippon Kaigi (The Japan Conference), an influential rightist lobbying group, in this process. In this conjunction, at the societal level, there seems to have been the growing sense of frustration and resignation with China / South Korea among the Japanese public (i.e. apology fatigue). All these suggest that there has been an underlying change in the landscape of history textbook controversy in Japan, which also cogently shows the on-going practical difficulty in building trustworthy relationships between Japan and China / South Korea. This study tries to offer a contextual understanding about the underlying conditions for (and, hence, the changing societal expectations about) textbook production, content and reception.