Japanese school-textbook publishers are puzzled over contradictory moves recently made by separate administrative authorities. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology imposed government views on the publishers when it announced the results of screening of textbooks for high school freshmen late last month. The Fair Trade Commission, meanwhile, decided to lift restrictions on sales promotion activities for school textbooks.

Tighter censorship affected social-studies textbooks above all. Censors changed the wording in textbook descriptions of court rulings on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visits to Yasukuni Shrine, the Iraq war and the deployment of Ground Self-Defense Force troops in the country, and Japan's territorial disputes with neighboring countries.

Regarding the Yasukuni issue, the censored versions emphasized that many of the past court rulings on the issue avoided judgment on the constitutionality of Koizumi's visits and that Koizumi made the visits in his private capacity. (Plaintiffs accused Koizumi of contravening the constitutional separation of church and state by making the visits.) Concerning the Iraq war, the examiners changed the phrase "preemptive attack" -- describing the U.S. initiation of hostilities -- to a "military attack." The edited version failed to clarify the U.S. responsibility for starting the war without a cause.