The Japanese government is pressing forward with an education overhaul — one of the key goals of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants to instill national pride among Japanese children.

Wednesday’s newspapers were filled with headlines on two significant new steps that will allow the central government to better project its views on teaching of students.

One involves a revision to teaching manuals for middle schools and high schools to emphasize Japan’s territorial claims. The other is the ruling party’s proposed plan to give greater authority to elected local officials to oversee boards of education and set policies for teaching. “We intend to implement a fundamental reform of the existing system” related to boards of education, Mr. Abe told a parliamentary session Tuesday.

Coming after particularly vitriolic arguments over disputed territories and the interpretation of wartime history in recent weeks, Japan’s neighbors immediately fired back. That dashed any hope that nerves would begin to calm down a month after Mr. Abe’s surprise visit to a controversial Tokyo war shrine set off the anger of China and South Korea....