Japonia, Korea Południowa, Chiny – inicjatywy wspólnego opisu dziejów najnowszych

Differing historical memories cause constant friction in Japan’s relations with her Asian neighbours. In the first decade of the twenty-first century these conflicts worsened in connection with, among others, the approval by the Ministry of Education of the controversial history textbook published by Fusōsha. In order to improve mutual relations, joint history research projects such as the Japan-South Korea Joint History Research Committee (2002-2005; 2007-2010) and the Japan-China Joint History Research Committee (2006-2010) were established. It is also worth noting the attempts at creating common teaching materials undertaken by both academia and civil society organizations like the “History that Opens the Future” (Mirai o hiraku rekishi, 2005) and its continuation (2012), published in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The aim of this article is to present joint initiatives that describe the recent history of the East Asian region and an attempt to answer the question of whether the current historical policy of China, South Korea and Japan creates an opportunity to develop a balanced assessment of World War II.