legends of military spirit

day 20

meiji shrine was built to deify emperor meiji (d.1914) whom the meiji government used as a model to inculcate legends of military spirit and superiority of japanese people. these ideals were a mainstay of the education system from 1890 until... world war ii.

as of next week, shinzo abe will become japan's youngest prime minister and the first to be born after world war ii. he has promised to "push through a sweeping education bill, strengthening the notion of patriotism in public classrooms in a way not seen since the fall of imperial japan, and to rewrite japan's pacifist constitution to allow the country to again have an official and flexible military."

for elite junior high schools, he has introduced texts that omit or soften references to atrocities committed by japanese troops during the war, assure students that the war was waged primarily in self-defense and promote the ideal of a proud and independent japan.



anyway, the shrine is a nice place.

the design of the giant torii - the largest in japan - was so ambitious that there were no japanese cypress trees big enough to build it, so the wood was imported from taiwan.

perhaps to make ammends for this, the surrounding park was planted with 120,000 trees donated by citizens.