&gt;as a way of teaching them their &quot;feeling of Japanese identity&quot;<p>In my opinion, if it must be taught rather than naturally experienced, it can&#x27;t be worth much. This just goes to show how much people are invested in using anything to push their own agenda.<p>That said, it&#x27;s hardly uncommon to create an identity, say that it exists, then control people with it. Look at any nation in any war for example.<p>For me, it doesn&#x27;t make any sense to have an idea of &quot;Japanese-ness&quot;; it&#x27;s based around culture and that can be learned an experienced. If all that&#x27;s to it is knowledge, there&#x27;s no reason to push it as something unique. It&#x27;s not dissimilar to a physicist teaching their fellow physicists the &quot;feeling of physicist identity&quot;.