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Paper short abstract

This presentation analyzes debates on security policy, including controversies surrounding the recent distribution of a children's version of the Defense White Paper to elementary schools, in light of educational practices of the 1970s, with a particular focus on civics education (kōminka).

Paper long abstract

Present-day Japan stands at a turning point, maintaining its deeply rooted postwar pacifist identity while facing escalating regional security threats. This presentation analyzes debates on security policy, including controversies surrounding the recent distribution of a children's version of the Defense White Paper to elementary schools, in light of educational practices of the 1970s, with a particular focus on civics education (kōminka). Developments during that decade highlighted broader tensions between peace education, shaped by wartime experience, and the emerging emphasis on security awareness promoted by successive Japan’s administrations. By examining Japanese educational discourse in the context of the Cold War, as well as the influence of international initiatives such as the 1974 UNESCO Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace, this study explores how peace studies and defense-related consciousness coexisted, sometimes in tension with each other.