Much Dokdo about nothing?
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There's been a few threads discussing Japan's neighbourhood disputes, including Job Opportunity: Lighthouse Keeper and (more recently) Korean Singer Takes Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute To NYT.
Japan's new school textbook guidelines have reportedly ramped things up - creating opposition in Moscow and outright mayhem in Korea:
. . . South Korea Monday recalled its ambassador to Japan in protest over the Japanese Education Ministry's release of new guidelines for school textbooks describing the Dokdo islets, lying in waters between the two Asian neighbors, as Japanese territory . . . more
Plans to teach Japanese school children that their country has sovereignty over the Russian-administered Southern Kuril Islands have been criticised by Moscow. New schoolbooks depicting the Pacific islands as part of Japanese territory are due to be used in classrooms from 2012 . . . more
Now, I don't recall Japanese school textbooks ever being accused of being factually accurate, or of determining world events. Sadly, they seem to be used too often in Japan as tools of propaganda.
But does anyone really believe that reality can be changed by a J-school textbook?
Sure, you may have J-kids running around with little grasp on reality, but how is that different to the status quo? Exhibit "A" is Takechanpoo.
So, if reality will not suddenly implode if it does not match what some crackpots have written in a J-school textbook, why does anyone care?
