Freedom of Speech  The Japanese government is not forcing schools to teach Japanese history in a way that whitewashes the Japanese record in World War II. In Japan the Ministry of Education screens textbooks and when they are approved makes them available. Schools are then allowed to select their textbook from a list of seven or eight textbooks that have been approved both by the ministry. [1] By making this choice schools are exercising their freedom of speech in deciding what should be taught in their classrooms. In the case of the New History Textbook (Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho) not a single state run junior high school adopted the textbook resulting in a mere 0.03% of junior high school students using the textbook. [2] By contrast China’s textbooks and their misrepresentations are mandatory. [3] This shows that when the Japanese people are given freedom of information on the issue they exercise this right responsibly.  [1] Masalski, Kathleen Woods, ‘Examining the Japanese history textbook controversies’, Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education, November 2001,   [2] ibid  [3] Sneider, Daniel, ‘Divided Memories: History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia’, Nippon.com, 29 April 2012,