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and in paying compensation to forced laborers, which actu-ally only happened in the 21st century.”From around the turn of the millennium, some politicians in Japan have been active in denying certain aspects of the war, such as the factuality of the Nanjing Massacre, and the existence of comfort women, Saaler notes. These revisionist politicians also attempt to “relativize” the war, arguing that it was “a war for Asian liberation” rather than a “war of ag-gression,” as they aim to overcome what they consider to be misrepresentations of the war in the postwar era and reaffirm what they consider to be Japan’s national identity.Saaler believes that there have been positive side effects to the political discourse. Historians have felt more of a duty to study history carefully by analyzing critically gathered and verifiable evidence. According to Saaler, various academic projects started in the early 2000s, including one that in-volves the compilation of teaching materials by scholars from Korea, China, Germany, and Japan. Saaler recently finished editing the English translation of one of these textbooks.For each chapter, a scholar from a different country led the team in writing a draft that was then circulated and discussed. After 10 years of working together, the international group of scholars produced a two-volume textbook and the English translation, edited by Saaler, is soon to be published. He re-calls, “It was easy to cooperate with historians from Korea and China, as we did not disagree much about facts. However, some chapters remained controversial and were published in separate versions in the different language editions.” Historians, now more than ever, recognize the importance of an academic approach when looking back on the war and a critical approach to history education. On the academic side, historians traditionally have had difficulty maintaining their independence, because they have often had to work under the scrutiny, and even under the direction, of government au-thorities. Moreover, the government at times quotes its own “ostensibly academic” writing, especially with respect to the wartime situation, to legitimize its actions. “As non-historians in Japan increasingly reinterpret the war, historians need to emphasize the importance of academic freedom, and they need to counter un-academic reinterpretations of history,” Saaler says.Saaler believes it is important to be more critical and skep-tical about historical sources because “Nowadays, informa-tion from internet sources is more conveniently accessed and disseminated than other information is, so people need to be more critical and analytical in assessing sources.” Such an ap-proach, he says, will lead to more meaningful academic dis-course and political activity and this kind of critical thinking is at the core of the teaching philosophy of the Faculty of Liberal Arts.While Saaler appreciates the right to engage in political demonstrations within such movements as SEALD (Stu-dents Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy) led by a new generation of Japanese anti-war protesters, he is concerned by the fact that such activism can be problematic for young people in their job hunts. “Some people feel pressure when they participate in these activities, because they face the risk of extra difficulty getting jobs. Some politicians have even warned young demonstrators of this risk. When that employ-ment discrimination occurs, it is a problem, but it can be over-come.” As for Sophia University, Saaler strongly commends the fully staffed international Faculty of Liberal Arts and its di-verse programs that foster the kinds of collaboration that he believes are so important to academic progress and the un-derstanding of multi-perspective approaches to history. While the professor values opportunities to work on global academic projects, it is Sophia’s unique combination of location, inter-national community and environment, and size and quality of the faculty that make the University most attractive. The Importance of an Academic Approach and Critical ThinkingProfessor Saaler edited the Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese His-tory, scheduled for release fall 2017.© Routledge14Research