Public History in Japan

Abstract

This article introduces the history of historiography, specifically public history in Japan in recent times. Although the use of the word public history has not a long history and there have been only a few books and projects with public history as their titles, it does not mean that public history has not attracted wide concerns in Japan. On the contrary, there have been plenty of histories for the public through museums, theaters, television and printing matters because of the high standard of education and literacy rate of the people since the modernization of Japan. In this sense, we can discuss optimistically the future of public history in Japan. However, we should notice the problems of history among the public in that it is often too entertaining and sometimes tends to be abused for arbitrary purposes.