Prof. Berger in NYT on Japan’s Divided Education Strategy
A New York Times (October 12, 2014) report on a shifting and divided education strategy in Japan quotes Prof. Thomas Berger of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies in pointing out that “Japan’s simultaneous embrace of nationalism and cosmopolitanism is generating ambiguous signals from its education policy makers.”
Prof. Berger, a leading expert on Japanese politics is quoted in the New York Times report explaining the emerging shift and its implications:
There is an obvious contradiction between Japan’s rightward shift on education policy and its strivings to internationalize.
Japanese textbook policy is increasing tensions with Asia, undermining the willingness of Japanese to study in neighboring countries and of foreigners to come to Japan…“Education policy is caught on the horns of a dilemma: On the one hand, there are powerful economic and political pressures that favor internationalization — yet, in reality, Japan has been moving in the opposite direction.
Read the full New York Times report here.
Thomas Berger is the author of War, Guilt and World Politics After World War II, Cultures of Antimilitarism: National Security in Germany and Japan and is co-editor of Japan in International Politics: Beyond the Reactive State. His articles and essays have appeared in numerous edited volumes and journals, including International Security, Review of International Studies, German Politics and World Affairs Quarterly.