SDHF Newsletter No.276 WGIP and ‘Historical Warefare’No.2 Prologue

War Guilt Information Program (WGIP) and “History Warfare”
By Takahashi Shiro
Published by The Institute of Moralogy
Series No. 2: Prologue: A trip to visit overseas archives

May 5, 2020

In this prologue, Professor Takahasi Shiro traces his involvement in research of postwar education history, the core of which was the War Guilt Information Program (WGIP) conducted by the US occupation force (GHQ). His route was not a straightforward one.
He visited the United States in 1980 with a firm determination to study the history of Japanese postwar education by reading as many GHQ-related papers as possible. His three years of research was not smooth but on the final leg he finally came across very important papers concerning the “Shinto Directive”, which formed the kernel of Allied occupation policy against Japan, which “would destroy the enemy’s philosophy itself” as President Roosevelt stated.
After he returned to Japan, Professor Takahashi was heavily involved in educational reform projects, an expert on the Government’s ad hoc educational reform committee, a lecturer and entrance examination examiner for Matsushita Seikei Jyuku, chairman of a committee for research and study on sound growth and development for youths for the Ministry of Home Affairs, and so on. So, his ongoing study on the WGIP did not make significant progress.
On his sixty-second birthday, November 20, 2012, he made up his mind to return to his “beginning”, the study of postwar Japanese education history. His trip to visit overseas archives started December 2012. From these trips, he collected 16 important papers, which are listed in the notes on page 18:

URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/book-article/1528/
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/WGIPe2.pdf

Questions are welcome.

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Acting Chairman
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact