Japanese govt under fire for rewriting wartime history in school textbooks

London, Jan 9 (ANI): Japanese government is under attack for its apparent attempts to rewrite its wartime past in the new school textbooks.

The government had decided two years ago to delete or rewrite references to 1945 Battle of Okinawa in the history books, where the military apparently forced the civilians into mass suicides faced with defeat.

According to new reports, education officials have agreed to restore the passages in new books, but it will not contain the word "forced" in the context of the Imperial Army's role in the suicides.

Instead, the wording has been delicately rephrased to state less directly that people were "driven to suicides amid the Japanese military's involvement".

"It must be proved that descriptions in textbooks impose troubles to study when we approve revisions. There is no problem in the description that the military was involved," the Telegraph quoted a senior official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as telling a newspaper.

The historians who have long urged the government to accurately depict the version of events widely accepted according to historical research. (ANI)