A group of authors who angered Asia by glossing over Japan's wartime brutality in a junior high school text are now planning to write books for older and younger students.

The group of nationalist scholars hopes to make the next government inspection for elementary-level textbooks scheduled for 2003.

Their earlier book has angered many Asian countries, particularly China and South Korea, for ignoring major events in Tokyo's aggressive march through Asia. South Korea has scaled back cultural exchanges with Japan. The textbook was adopted by only a handful of schools; the group had hoped to get a 10 per cent share in the textbook market.