第二次世界大戦以降のアメリカ合衆国における中等学校・世界地理教科書に描かれた日本
1988 年 61 巻 12 号 p. 894-902
詳細
1988 年 61 巻 12 号 p. 894-902
It is the object of this article to analyze the changing points of view with which the geography of Japan has been described in the United States since World War II, using world geography textbooks for American high school students as a data source. The research shows that while some points of view have not changed during the time, a number of viewpoints have changed.
1. Unchanging views
Japan has been considered a country with a high population density, which is regarded by some as a problem and by others as a resource. Many textbooks emphasize that Japan began to modernize after the arrival of Commodore Perry, and that thus the United States contributed to her modernization.
2. Changing points of view Many textbooks call Japan “the Britain of the East” because of the similarity between the natural environments of the two countries. But this point of view prevailed mainly before andd during World War II. Right after the war, textbooks began to point out that Japanese society had been very feudalistic before the war. This point of view may have reflected the American occupation policy of that time, through which the United States wanted Japan to turn away from the past and make a new start as a democratic country.
Japan's rapid economic growth with American assistance was stressed in the textbooks published in the 1960s. Many of them also explained that Japanese lives were becoming westernized and that traditional life styles were changing in response to the economic growth.
The authors of textbooks in the 1970s considered Japan an example of a country which had developed from a non-industrial society into an industrial society: In the 1980s, however, because of Japan's economic strength, she is described as a rival menacing the United States' position. Some authors are willing to study the factors involved in Japan's success; others emphasized the United States' unfavorable balance of trade with Japan.
In conclusion, the times and the relationships between countries appear to be reflected in the points of view from which regional geography is described.
