戦争体験継承が平和意識の形成に及ぼす影響 : 中学生に対する平和意識調査の時系列的分析

World War II, which ended more than 70 years ago, became the past event in 2015. Japanese people reflected on World War II and have developed a democratic society. Because the number of older people from the wartime generation has decreased, it is becoming very difficult to pass wartime experiences directly on to the younger generation. The attitude survey conducted in 2016 clarifies the kind of peace consciousness junior high school students have. I compare the survey results of a survey taken in 2016 with those taken in 1997 and 2006. This comparison elucidates junior high school students’ peace consciousness, what they have learned about wartime experiences, and their participation in peace building. This paper analyzes the differences in attitudes between 1997 and 2016 and describes the survey results in the following order: 1) How students recognize the situation concerning peace and war, 2) Passing on the experiences of World War II, 3) Visits to peace museums, and 4) Methods of peace building. The attitudes of students who replied to the three surveys in the past 20 years seem to be oriented toward pacifism. There has not been a major change in their attitude. As for agents telling students about World War II, the biggest agent was school teachers in the 2006 survey, but in the 2016 survey the main agent was television. Peace education by schoolteachers and television in Japan has resulted in a generation of antiwar and peace-oriented junior high school students. We can conclude that peace education in Japan has achieved the function of political socialization. Under the Constitution of Japan, which assumes pacifism as one of its ideals, junior high students have been taught to think of pacifism. It should be the current responsibility of schools and the mass media to support peace-oriented students’ attitudes and their wish to contribute to peace building.