Education Ministry guidelines say the aims of teaching the Japanese Language subject are to nurture a capability to "appropriately express one's thinking with the national language and to accurately understand the language as used by others," as well as to "enhance the capability to convey one's thinking." These educational goals are identical to the aims of teaching the practical use of information. "Appropriately making a choice of available information for absorption and summarization" and the capability to "express one's thinking appropriately by utilizing diverse information" are common to media literacy. Many textbooks used to teach 'Japanese Language' deal with the media, as do textbooks for 'Social Studies.'

Elementary schools textbooks used to teach Japanese Language generally deal with the media to enhance pupils' self-expression gradually, in stages. Pupils are taught methods used by each type of media, such as the inverted pyramid structure and the need to answer the questions 'Who?' 'What?' 'When?' 'Where?' 'Why?' and 'How?' in newspaper articles.

In junior high school Japanese Language classes, the media is mostly dealt with in the third year. All third-year Japanese Language textbooks produced by the five major publishers refer to the media and information. The texts cover the merits of the media and problems related to the media and information, in a similar manner to texts on media literacy. Textbooks by Mitsumura Tosho Publishing Co., Sanseido Publishing Co., and Tokyo Shoseki Co. cover the mass media in the most detail.

Mitsumura's "Kokugo III" textbook, used by over 38 percent of all junior highs, has a commentary "The Real World As Seen Via the Mass Media," by Kenichi Ikeda, in a chapter on the information society. It covers how the news of President John F. Kennedy's assassination reached Japan as the first live satellite telecast. Ikeda writes that the way Japanese rushed to their TV sets for confirmation of the rumors of the president's death proved the mass media to be a "guarantor of commonality and a backbone sustaining the global village." But the author says people tend mistake information from the media as a "mirror of reality", while ignoring that such information is "selected and processed" by the media. The author warns that people must remember this and form their views in "dialogue with others", absorbing information selectively according to their own criteria.

Sanseido's "Gendai-no-Kokugo III", used by over 24 percent of junior highs, has a commentary titled "The Media and Ourselves" by Takehide Kenjo. He compares newspapers and TV. The author says each type of media has its own advantages that require rules to sustain. Noting that each type of media compiles and edits information in ways best suited to it, the author notes the advantages and disadvantages of the process and calls on people to deal with the media in full recognition of its functions.

Tokyo Shoseki's "Atarashii Kokugo III," used by over 16 percent of all junior high schools, contains an excerpt of the book "Mind-Set Out Of Image," by Tetsuro Morimoto, that touches on problems in the media. Morimoto says people perceive things through self-created images and that newsgathering leads to a "fight against the images harbored by journalists." He warns that, "for journalists, it is important to constantly reflect on their own images about external things."

Textbook publishers note that Japanese Language textbooks have long dealt with the media. Manabu Washizu, an executive and managing editor at Mitsumura, says commentaries on media issues are important for Japanese Language textbooks. He says the media is a subject that belongs in school textbooks to nurture students' capability to make effective use of information and to understand the influence of the media on society.

As mentioned in the first installment in this two-part series, many compulsory-school-year textbooks on Social Studies and Japanese Language refer to and describe the media.

Kensei Tagawa, an executive managing editor at Kumamoto Nichinici Shimbun, says the way the texts describe the media is now changing. He quotes the 1980 version of a Social Studies text published by Tokyo Shoseki as saying people cannot grasp the socio-political situation in Japan and abroad without relying on the media and that state intervention in the media is therefore impermissible. But the latest version of the same text says people must take a critical view of media reports. Tagawa warns that this change in the description of the media is "substantial."

An official at a major textbook publisher says the volume of references to or descriptions about the media has been dropping over roughly a decade. The change appears to reflect widespread use of the Internet at home and in schools in a major change from when the media were the sole means of information delivery, the official says. In the past, the primary task was just getting information, but today it has become critical to know how to sort through a flood of information, the official says.

Aside from the rapid development of the information society, cutbacks in classroom hours have left less time to deal with issues such as the people's right to know and other basic human rights.

Akihide Tsuyama, an assistant to the managing editor at Asahi Shimbun, says students must be taught the importance of freedom of expression as one of the most fundamental human rights. "Textbooks should include more references to the positive role played by the media with regard to the discovery of truths, the safeguarding of human rights, and its function as a watchdog on the authorities," Tsuyama says. Both Tsuyama and Taguchi share the concern that current textbooks present the media without adequately presenting the perspective developed through journalism.

Tsuyama says, "more descriptions are needed ... to the effect that newspapers, abiding by ethics of journalism, are striving hard to deliver accurate information in an era of information overflow." But he says just criticizing textbooks is not enough -- "We must recognize that such descriptions reflect a portion of the popular perception of the media, and we must redouble efforts to present our view to society."

Tagawa argues that the poor textbook treatment of the media might be part of the reason for declining newspaper readership among youth. As for the recent moves to more tightly regulate news reporting, including the coverage of the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq, Tagawa points to the continuing newspaper-in-education (NIE) campaign. Tagawa says the newspaper industry needs to rectify the situation while agreeing that media organizations must also be more conscious about their obligations and mission.

(The NSK weekly journal in Japanese, Shinbun Kyokai-ho, is to feature additional reports on senior high school textbook treatment of the media and related issues. We will be reprinting those reports in the NSK News Bulletin)