Chairman, Seishiro Sugihara
Today, in the 21st century, a war of controversy over another country’s history should never be allowed essentially. However, Japan has been subject to groundless war on history staged by other countries and history of Japan has been unreasonably degraded.
Moreover, presently in the 21st century, there still exist states that are totally dominated by a single party or family. In such states, a dictatorial party or family tries to maintain its absolute rule, harshly oppressing the people’s human rights domestically, and incessantly carrying out the policy of expansion and enlargement internationally to have the people realize the value of the despotic rule. They disrupt international order without limit. Therefore, any state ruled by a single party or family is an entity totally impermissible in the 21st century. In carrying out its policy of expansion and enlargement, such state not only uses military forces but also stages historical, legal and psychological warfare.
On September 10, 2013, the People’s Campaign for the Truth of Comfort Women was organized, unifying various bodies which had been individually fighting to resolve the issue of comfort women. In July 2014, this organization sent its first research delegation to the United Nations in Geneva. In July 2015, the organization made a speech at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the first time.
In the first place, words “sex slaves” referring to comfort women were first used when a certain Japanese lawyer said that comfort women were “sex slaves” during his speech at the United Nations in 1992. Had there been an organization like this at the time and had a delegation been sent to the United Nations to immediately protest and counterargue against the lawyer’s speech, the idea of identifying comfort women with sex slaves would have never been conceived nor disseminated to the world. The movement of building statues of comfort women all over the world on the part of Korea would have never taken place.
Through this bitter experience, we have learned how important it is to disseminate historical controversy to the world. We have started this study institute to disseminate historical controversy to the world from the standpoint of Japan, to protect Japan from groundless criticism against our history and cope with the boundless warfare over history. We are firmly determined to play a vital role in this endeavor.