THEY CONSIDER ARMENIANS NATIONAL MINORITY
A1+
28 March, 2008
Armenian History is taught in Japan as part of history of national
minorities living in the former Soviet Union and not as a separate
subject, History teacher Takayuki Yoshimuka told A1+.
He learned Armenian letters in Japan and improved his speaking
skills in Armenia while studying in Yerevan State University in
2001-2002. Takayuki Yoshimuka says he took interest in Armenia after
getting familiarized with the Karabakh conflict.
"The USSR used to say that all conflicts in their superpower are
solved but as we see it isn’t so," the Japanese historian says.
This time he has come to Armenia to get information on the Great
Repatriation of 1946. Yoshimuka says his compatriots are not
that interested in Armenia. They don’t even know of the country’s
existence. The ignorance is determined by the policy of Japanese
authorities. The country hasn’t got an embassy in Armenia while a
Japanese Embassy was opened in Azerbaijan ten years ago. Yoshimuka
thinks the reasons are quite obvious: Azerbaijan has got oil. Besides,
Japanese media rarely refer to Armenia.
To note: there are only 30 Armenians living in Japan today.