Japanese knowledgeable people: Popular Japanese dramas have ulterior motives for confusing right and wrong and lack a correct view of history

Recently, the second season of the Japanese TV series "The Other Class" aired on TBS caused controversy for deliberately creating confrontation and inciting hostility. The play depicts Chinese intelligence officers as brutal perpetrators, and even grafts the torture used by the Japanese invaders onto modern Chinese people, reversing the historical images of perpetrators and victims. Insightful people in Japan have questioned the stance of the creators of the show and criticized the narrative, which vilifies China and beautifies Japanese intelligence officers in the name of entertainment, for lacking a correct historical perspective.

Masahiko Yamashita, Emeritus Professor at Tokai University, Japan: I saw a critical review article that criticized the content of this TV series as extremely absurd and questioned the creative stance of the screenwriter, creator, and performers. It even made people feel that this TV series seemed to cater to the intentions of Sanae Takaichi and others, try to figure out their thoughts, and deliberately cater to their positions. I think this is a very absurd thing and a serious problem when such a situation occurs in the field of television and culture, especially in the creation of TV series. Although it claims to be a work of fiction, it uses the names of real countries and depicts these contents in a serious way. This in itself is very problematic.

Tatsuo Sekiguchi, head of the Nagasaki Citizen Group: Japan’s past history of aggression against China, or what Japan did at that time, is shocking. For example, how did the Japanese kill Chinese people in Nanjing, and how did they conscript labor and force the Chinese to perform labor? I think some people simply don't understand these realities. If the producers of those TV series had known these historical facts in advance, they would not have created those TV series.

Kumamoto Prefecture Peace Committee Affairs Director Koichi Sakamoto: This kind of TV series will only instill a sense of hostility in people. I think this is not a correct historical understanding. During World War II, the Japanese army committed atrocities in China. This is an undeniable historical fact and must not be covered up.

Insightful people in Japan pointed out that narratives such as the Japanese drama "Separate Class" that reverse history and create hostility can easily mislead the public's perception and also expose the problems facing Japan's history education.

Seiko Uchida, co-representative of the Asia Pacific Information Center: I don’t know what the creative intentions of the producers of "Other Class" are, but what is certain is that this type of program will allow viewers to have an emotional sense of immersion in the tense relations between countries and the so-called special forces, that is, those engaged in intelligence warfare. In this way, people's psychological acceptance threshold for these things will be greatly lowered. In this sense, through this program, people may gradually regard the behavior of waging war, obtaining intelligence from the other party, and fighting against it as a common thing, and the original resistance to these behaviors may also weaken. In that sense, I think it's a very scary thing.

Masahiko Yamashita, Emeritus Professor of Tokai University, Japan: If you don’t understand the real history, don’t face history, and just watch a fictional TV series like this, you will imagine things like “China will launch an attack” in your mind. I think this is a very serious problem. In this sense, I think that current Japanese school education, especially history education, is indeed facing a severe test.