A letter to Korea from a Japanese teacher

My name is Miyako Masuda.

If my name is known in Korea, it is because of an October 25, 2005 Hankyoreh article titled, "The Japanese Teacher Miyako Masuda, Penalized for Teaching About President Roh’s March 1st Speech."

I was a teacher at Kudan Middle School, which happens to be located near Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, until March 31 of this year, when I was found "unfit for public service." I was fired by Tokyo’s education commission, which was appointed by the ultra-rightist city governor Shintaro Ishihara.

I was fired because last year I used a speech by Korean president Roh Moo-hyun in class. My students gave President Roh’s appeal [to Japan] serious thought. They were able to understand how the problem of Japan’s invasion and colonial rule of Korea and the reconciliation that needs to come in response have yet to be completed, and that as the future of Japanese society, that is something students need to keep in mind. Even if I am not to be commended, there was no reason to be reprimanded.

The city’s education commission, however, took issue with something I had written in the form of a letter to President Roh. They took my class away from me, and then dismissed me from my position as a teacher, citing that I had criticized by name the Liberal Democratic Party member of the Diet that said it is "wrong to go on about a war of aggression [in Asia]." The commission also said I had criticized in specific terms Fusosha, the publisher of textbooks authored by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Design, as well as the education commission itself, which had praised the textbooks.

Given that the constitution of the state of Japan was born out of reflection about that war of aggression, the spirit of the Basic Law on Education, and prime minister Koizumi Junichiro’s statement about "reflection on past aggression and colonial rule" issued at the Asian-African conference last year, there is nothing inappropriate about teaching students about the existence of public figures and textbook publishing houses that have a mistaken view of history. It is the misled view of history held by the commission - calling what I taught "slander" and "defamation" - that is entirely inappropriate, and it is the commission that is in need of introspection and reform.

When I was fired, I appealed to people in Japan and Korea. At first, 4,984 people in Japan and 4,872 people in Korea signed a statement calling for my removal to be withdrawn. On September 15, I respectfully handed the petition to the educational commission. What truly moved me was something written next to the signatures from Korea.

"Ms. Masuda, we consider your actions justifiable for the everlasting peace of Asia and honest historical education. In the name of the consicence of the Korean people, we call for your wrongful dismissal to be withdrawn."

I was moved to tears and greatly encouraged by the participation of 4,872 Koreans, all made possible through the work of Kim Hui-ro of the Busan Civic Organization Council - someone who is close to 80 years old - all on behalf of a Japanese teacher.

I received touching e-mails from two female Korean teachers who once studied in Japan and speak Japanese. "We are forever moved by your efforts. We are going to create our own petition and circulate it. We guess this is what was meant by ’solidarity’ between our two countries. Let us work as contemporaries in this era in which we live, work for that day when there will be justice. One of my students tells me that he wants to be a teacher like you are, ‘Who teaches young people the truth.’ "

I will keep these encouragements as my support as I work to be reinstated as soon as possible. I want to stand in front of the chalkboard again and teach young Japanese an honest history, and thereby raise up young people that will ally themselves with Koreans and other Asians to realize justice in all countries.

Signed, Miyako Masuda.

Thank you.

I ask for your continued cooperation and support.