As birthrates decrease and people live longer, the natural forces of aging will beat against public finances, political processes and educational institutions like waves on the shore. Communities will change on the most fundamental level: even family practices and cultural values are likely to bow to demographic pressures. Nowhere will these forces appear sooner and with greater foreshadowing than in Japan.

In awarding Japan its first Nobel Prize in Literature, the Committee brought worldwide attention to the works of Japan’s premier modern writer and also to the classical works of Japan that he incorporated into his writings; works that they stated would help to “preserve a genuinely national tradition of style.”

There are certain obstacles that hinder China, Japan, and Korea from acquiring the vision in which the three countries can enjoy bright future. But what is the most critical one? In my opinion, that is the “history” [...]

This is a response by East Asian Student Conference of History Education (EASCHE) to a comment on a previous article entitled Grassroots Practice of Resolving Historical Issues [...]

In discussing the highly controversial issues regarding the WWII history of Japan and the rest of East Asia, one of the main arguments always brought up is that “Japanese kids don’t know the real history at all” [...]