The three economically most powerful countries, Japan, Germany and the United States, with the United States leading also as the global military threat, are the three countries that continue to censor history while flying the banner of justice, equity and rights. Our focus today will be on Japan and the United States. Reiko Maejima, PhD candidate in Ancient Oriental Philology. Her thesis is “political power of the neo-Assyrian Empire and the Construction of the Royal Library at Nineveh in 7th Century B.C.: A re-examination of the Colophons of Assurbanipal’s Library. She has taught secondary social studies in Japan for over ten years at the Gunma Kokusai Academy and Shukutoku Sugamo High School. To commemorate the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 11, 2019, we spoke with Reiko Kato, professor of Intercultural Communication, Pedagogy, Contemporary Social Issues, and Diversity Inclusion and Equity at Kyushu Institute of Technology (Institute of Liberal Arts) about Japan’s role in imperialism in the past and present. Today we speak with Reiko Maejima about specific narratives in Japanese textbooks today that censor history. Finally, Cory Sorenson, elementary school teacher, talks about his students' project evaluating books in the library based on their portrayal of Native Americans.
