A small organization, little known to the public, has helped restore much of Japan's controversial past - and it is only getting started.

Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp black suit, Japan's education minister, Shimomura Hakubun, speaks slowly and deliberately, like a schoolteacher. His brow creases with concern when he talks about Japan's diminished place in the world, its years of anemic economic growth and poorly competing universities. Mostly, though, he appears worried about the moral and spiritual decline of the nation's youth.