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Early 1900s
[The following are sample pages from textbooks used in schools in Japan in the early 1900s.]
Ministry of Education approved reading textbook
Issued in 1900 by Kinkodo Books, Co., Ltd., Tokyo.
"Taro is playing war games with his friends.
Holding a toy sword, the commander leads the team.
A dog pulls a cart carrying a thick bamboo stick, imitating a cannon."
"This picture shows Japanese troops fighting Chinese soldiers. The next picture shows a Japanese battleship fighting a Chinese battleship.
Japan won all these battles."
Elementary School Moral Textbook
Issued in 1900 by Kinkodo Books, Co., Ltd., Tokyo.
"During the [1894-95] war with China, a Japanese bugler boy was shot in the chest. But he continued blowing the bugle until his dying moment."
Elementary School Moral Textbook
Issued in 1901 by Fukyusha Co., Ltd., Tokyo.
"A sailor on [the Imperial Japanese Navy] Cruiser Matsushima, shot and in pain, asked his officer, 'Has the enemy ship not sunk yet?'
When the officer replied, 'The enemy ship is already useless,' the sailor died with a happy smile."
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