who is Junichiro Koizumi.
Junichiro Koizumi is Japan’s highly popular prime minister. WHAT is the current controversy that Koizumi is facing regarding a new history textbook and a national shrine (pictured above)? WHAT is nationalism? On August 16, 2001, Japanese school districts will announce whether they are going to use a new, strongly nationalist history textbook at the junior high school level; Mr. Koizumi’s government has just approved the book. Although a full tally is not yet known, school districts seem to be shunning the new history book en masse. Among other things, the textbook fails to mention that Japan invaded China in 1932, or that large-scale civilian massacres were conducted by the Japanese Army in Nanjing, China, and elsewhere, or that tens of thousands of women, particularly Koreans, were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers. On the same day, Mr. Koizumi is expected to decide whether to fulfill a campaign promise to visit Yasukuni Shrine (pictured above), a Shinto monument to Jap
