With almost monotonous regularity the official release in Japan of new or revised secondary school history textbook editions, as well as primeministerial annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine to commemorate the 2.5 million Japanese war dead (including 14 Class-A war criminals), unleash a wave of international protest concerning Japan’s official amnesia over its recent militarist past. (See, e.g., CNN, 2001; The Australian, 2006; The Sydney Morning Herald, 2006; Independent, 2006.) This practice of school textbook...