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Author: irichen

Published on

November 18, 2024

Dear Ms. Ana Peláez Narváez, chairperson, and Honorable Members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women:

The International Research Institute of Controversial Histories (iRICH) is a Japanese NGO. We research the history of human rights and develop an international understanding and cooperation. Our representatives participated in the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 89th session. We deeply respect the committee members’ efforts and contributions to the progress of women’s rights.

　However, we are strongly against the recommendation regarding the Japanese Imperial House Law in paragraphs 11 and 12 of the concluding observations on the ninth periodic report of Japan (CEDAW/C/JPN/CO/9) and request to delete the recommendation immediately because of the reasons below.

　Concluding observations on the ninth periodic report of Japan (CEDAW/C/JPN/CO/9) Paragraph 11. It also takes note of the State party’s position that the provisions of the Japanese Imperial House Law are not within the purview of the Committee’s competence. However, the Committee considers that allowing only male offspring in the male line belonging to the Imperial Lineage to succeed to the throne is incompatible with articles 1 and 2 and contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention. Paragraph 12. The Committee recommends that the State party look at good practices of other States parties that have reformed their succession laws to ensure equality of women and men, and amend the Imperial House Law to guarantee equality of women and men in the succession to the throne.

1. Before the committee published the concluding observations, we informed the committee members of the various materials about the Japanese Imperial House Law including the facts as follows:

  • “The succession of the Imperial Throne” in Japan is an intrinsic, domestic affair and is outside the jurisdiction of CEDAW;
  • The Charter of the United Nations of 1945 Article 2, Paragraph 7 states “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”;
  • The “succession to the Imperial Throne” has been the practice inherited for nearly two thousand years since the national foundation and thus is an indispensable tradition of the Imperial House. It has nothing to do with discrimination against women;
  • The Catholic Church’s Pope, the Islamic clergy, and the Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism are all exclusively male. Is the committee ready to demand them to “eliminate discrimination against women”?;
  • The Imperial House Law allows a civilian female to join the Imperial Family through marriage which does not permit the opposite. This could be viewed as reverse discrimination against men.

Upon knowing these facts, the committee considers the Imperial House Law to be incompatible with articles 1 and 2 and recommends amending the Law to guarantee the equality of women and men. The recommendation reflects the committee’s lack of understanding of Japan’s unique history, tradition and culture, and it is seen as disrespectful to the Japanese Imperial House. The majority of Japanese citizens feel very displeased and upset about the recommendation.

2. Paragraph 12 of the Ninth periodic report submitted by Japan (CEDAW/C/JPN/9) and the Japan delegation’s response at the 2105th meeting on Oct 17, 2024, is fairly　consistent with the common consensus of Japanese citizens.

That is:

 “Systems such as the Imperial House of Japan and the royal families of other countries have remained in place to this day against the backdrop of each individual nation’s respective history and tradition with the support of their people. The system of succession to the throne in Japan, which is stipulated in the Imperial House Law, is a matter related to the foundation of a State.”

If the committee urges a state party to change its history and tradition, all UN treaty bodies will eventually lose their credibility and the trust of the Japanese people.

3. In the summary records of 2105th Meeting on Oct 17, 2024（CEDAW/C/SR.2105）, Ms. Ana Peláez Narváezhe, the Chair, states as follows:

“Para 69.

The Chair said that she wished to point out that the Committee’s mandate concerned equality between women and men and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, which included issues such as discriminatory royal succession laws. The Committee had raised similar issues with other States parties too. Any and all gender-discriminatory laws were of direct relevance to the Committee and its remit under the Convention. “

During the 89th session, Saudi Arabia was one of the state parties to be reviewed. In 1992, Saudi Arabia issued the Basic Law of Governance, and its article 5 states, “Rulers of the country shall be from amongst the sons of the founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Faisal Al-Saud, and their descendants.” While both Japanese and Saudi Arabia‘s laws rule male succession, in the concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Saudi Arabia（CEDAW/C/SAU/CO/5）, the committee does not address Article 5, nor do they recommend any amendments to it. We believe this reflects a double standard in the committee's perspective.

We agree to the CEDAW’s principle, “determined to adopt the measures required for the elimination of such discrimination in all its forms”, and we hope that women’s rights are to be protected from suffering and discrimination. However, the royal and imperial house is inherited and formed through long-standing traditions and history, and it has nothing to do with “discrimination against sex.”  On behalf of the majority of Japanese, we would like to clarify that the imperial house should not be an issue to be interfered with by the UN treaty bodies.

Therefore, we strongly request CEDAW to delete its recommendation regarding the Japanese Imperial House Law from the concluding observations.

Sincerely,

Published on

On July 10, 2024, the Third International Symposium over the Comfort Women Issue was held at Seiryo-kaikan Hall at Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, to refute the fiction of the comfort women issue and to pursue a true understanding between Japan and South Korea.

The symposium was held once in Tokyo in 2022 and twice in Seoul in 2023.

The persistent lie about the forced abduction of comfort women during the Pacific War has already been perfectly refuted by studies reported during the past two symposiums.

The main goal of the symposium this time was for Japanese, American and South Korean researchers of the comfort women issue to get together in Tokyo, review the activities so far, exchange information
related to the situations in the respective countries, deepen the mutual bonds and clearly show the way to the complete solution of the comfort women issue.

As this is an extremely important theme in terms of the national honor of Japan and peace and security in the entire East Asia, an audience of nearly 300 people packed the hall and the symposium was opened in
the most enthusiastic atmosphere.

The program was as below:

Part 1: Keynote lectures

  1. Mr. Nishioka Tsutomu, Professor at Reitaku University
    The comfort women issue as a historical recognition issue
  2. Mr. Lee Young hoon, ex-Professor at Seoul University Destructive impact of the Japanese military comfort women issue on the South Korean society
  3. Mr. Ramseyer, Professor at Harvard University Historical issues and the issue of U.S. universities -what we should do from now on

Part 2: Study reports

  1. Mr. Lew Seok-choon, ex-Professor at Yonse University Lecture at Yonse University and defamatory criminal charge
  2. Mr. Fukui Yoshitaka, Professor at Aoyama University The problem of the facts and value judgement about the comfort
    women; from a viewpoint of economic analysis
  3. Mr. Kim Byeong-heon, director of the Korean Historical
    Textbook Research Center Judgement document for the comfort women lawsuit against Japan in
    2023 and descriptions of the comfort women issue in school textbooks
  4. Mr. Lee Wooyoun, researcher at the Naksongdae Economic Research Institute Reporting trend of Korean media about the comfort women issue:
    Focus on the Park Yu-ha’s case and the academic riot against Ramseyer
  5. Mr. Matsuki Kunitoshi, director of the Korean Modern History
    Research Center Lawsuit against Japan on the comfort women issue: danger of revival
    of the individual right for claim, which will destroy the Japan-Korean
    relationship

Mr. Matsuki compiled an overall report on this event, which has been published in Hanada+ from August 7. With permission of Hanada+, we will introduce his report in serial form of three Parts.

PART1

PART2

PART3

Published on

Reviewed Book : The Comfort Women Hoax: A Fake Memoir, North Korean Spies, and Hit Squads in the Academic Swamp
Reviewer : Robert Eldrige

Explanation

Robert D. Eldridge, who wrote a book review of Comfort Women Hoax was born in New Jersey, USA in 1968. He earned his doctorate in Japanese Political and Diplomatic History from the Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, in 1999. He is a prominent scholar on the Okinawa issue; he wrote The Origin of the Okinawa Issue—Okinawa in the Postwar US-Japan Relationship 1945-1952 (published by Nagoya University Publishing Society) and won the special award of the Asian-Pacific Awards. Later, he worked as an assistant professor at Osaka University and became deputy director of the diplomatic policy department of the United States Marine Corps in Japan.

In February 2015, at the height of the Henoko struggle*, a man was arrested, leading the protest in front of Camp Schwab, was arrested on the charge of violation of the special criminal law. The legality of this arrest was disputed over whether he crossed the yellow line separating the base and the road. The man argued that he had not crossed the line and the Okinawan media reported that his arrest was illegal. However, the camera installed at the base recorded him crossing the line. Eldridge, unable to leave Okinawa filled with lies and deceptions as it is, sent the image caught by the camera to an anchor of a YouTube program the following March and the scene in question was shown to the public. Although the recorded image was non-confidential, the U.S. Marine Corps succumbed to the anti-United States power in Okinawa and dismissed Eldridge from his post, citing that his revealed inappropriately his confidential duties through a private route.

Eldridge, learning from this experience that lies and deceptions overrule the truth, presumably wrote this book review to warn people of the crisis. He says, “For one having intelligence, nothing is more sinful than to lack courage to do the right thing using intelligence.” He just wanted to give a strong warning that if scholars lack conscience and courage, their attempts to improve and advance the society and culture would only bring deterioration and decay. strongly warn that study for improving and progressing society and culture reversibly invites deterioration and decay of society because scholars lack conscience and courage. Moreover, he wanted conscientious scholars and journalists to endeavor harder for justice.

Body of Review :

The Comfort Women Hoax exposes the lies and myths of the comfort women issue and ends the myths surrounding it. This is done through meticulous, multilanguage, and multiarchival research and cross-disciplinary cooperation. Meanwhile, the book calls for the restoration of integrity and honesty in academia and an end to canceling and censorship. Cont'd...(JAPAN Forward)

Published on

Author : Rhee Young-hoon
Book : Anti-Japan Tribalism

The book entitled Anti-Japan Tribalism was published in July 2019. It sold 110,000 copies in South Korea and became a bestseller selling over 400,000 copies in Japan. The leading author, Principal Lee Young-hoon used the term ethnicism, not nationalism, stating that the Anti-Japan Tribalism means “animosity regarding the neighboring Japan as evil.” Unchanging hostility allows no objective discussion and in it, lies play the role of a totem uniting the ethnicity. At the time of the publication of this book, South Korea was exposed to the stormy anti-Japan policy under the Moon Jae-in administration and the Japan-South Korea relationship was the worst ever. School textbooks were decorated with the statues of the so-called mobilized workers and comfort women right from the front page and the town and TV broadcasting were uniformly painted with anti-Japanese colors. Former President Park Geun-hye and many political dignitaries in her government were imprisoned and things became so critical that many feared that the Federal Democratic Republic of Goryeo, upheld by North Korea, might emerge at any moment. At such a critical time the book Antil-Japanese Ethnicism emerged, like a savior. To prevent the Korean Peninsula from becoming red, it was urgent to recover the Japan-South Korea relationship, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. In order to resume the normal relationship, seminars were held everywhere, inviting scholars and experts. To enlighten the Korean people, conservative patriots desperately endeavored, purchasing tens of copies of the book.

The prologue written by Principal Lee Young-hoon at the beginning of the book was particularly sensational. The title of the prologue says, “liar nation, liar politics, liar study, liar trial, and Anti-Japan Tribalism.” Many Japanese would have felt emotionally moved and relieved after many years of frustrated despair about to burst by the heroic act of the South Korean scholar who has excellently expressed what Japanese have been feeling. I quote a part of it here: “The people of this country don’t regard lies as lies while history and sociology studies in this country are a breeding ground for lies, and universities in this country are factories producing lies.” I cannot help but appreciate these candid and forthright sentences, which convey the high-leveled conscience of the scholars pursuing the truth.

In South Korea, in 1965 and onward, elementary, junior and senior high school textbooks have been teaching that the period under the Japanese rule was that of “seven deprivations.” Namely, they were deprivations of king, sovereignty, land, language, personal names, life and natural resources. Most of the South Koreans believe so. Textbooks teach so, and dramas and movies depict so. Under such circumstances, if Japanese try to tell the truth, there is absolutely no room for objective argument and there are only emotion-ridden reactions. The six co-authors of the book have superbly rejected the untruth and explained the true history based on verified sources.

South Koreans intentionally add the word “forcible” to “mobilization” and blindly believe that the Japanese military arbitrarily took Koreans to mainland Japan and forced them into slave-like labor. Mr. Lee woo-youn, who revealed the lie of forcibly mobilized workers, points out that the root of this grave issue was the book Record of Forcibly Mobilized Korean Workers written by Park Kyon-sik, a teacher at Korean University in Japan, related to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) in 1965, revealing that the South Korean education society has been creating school textbooks for sixty years based on this book without any verification of its validity.

Mr. Joung An-ki, co-author of this book and former Professor at Korea University wrote what the Army Special Volunteers (Korean soldiers) were really like. He stated that all because Army special volunteers trained by the Imperial Japanese Army pledged allegiance to the Emperor, they served the Republic of Korea faithfully and patriotically after independence and with the excellent leadership in the battleground, they were able to prevent the International Communist forces from advancing southward in the Korean War. He clearly stated that with the knowledge and technology which were absent during the Joseon Dynasty, former Japanese Army special volunteer Korean soldiers, equipped with diligence and sense of responsibility, played the important role in establishing the Republic of Korea. At the same time, such history proves how greatly the Japanese predecessors ruled Korea. This book will surely clear the air regarding the general South Korean concept of “merciless Japanese villains robbing land, rice, life and chastity” and help recover the Japanese predecessors’ honor. As mentioned above, the book became a bestseller with sales of over 110,000 copies. Unfortunately, however, history textbooks carrying lies are still used as they are and lies are taught daily at South Korean elementary, junior and senior high schools. Thinking of such lamentable situations, I cannot help but wish sincerely that this book would be read further by many more people. First, more politicians, journalists and educators should read this book. I extend my heart-felt gratitude to the six co-authors of the epoch-making book Anti-Japan Tribalism. Let me mention one more thing. The term “colonial rule” is seen here and there in the book. Fact is that Japan gave everything and contributed to Korea in every possible way. The term “colony” implies exploitation of the land and making people obey the rule. I would like to have the term “colonial rule” replaced with a better expression. Then, this book would leave nothing whatsoever to be desired.

Book : Japanese / English (Link to Amazon)

Published on

Book : Comfort Women Hoax: A Fake Memoir, North Korean Spies, and Hit Squads in the Academic Swamp

Reviewer : Robert Eldrige.

Explanation

Robert D. Eldridge, who wrote a book review of Comfort Women Hoax was born in New Jersey, USA in 1968. He earned his doctorate in Japanese Political and Diplomatic History from the Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, in 1999. He is a prominent scholar on the Okinawa issue; he wrote The Origin of the Okinawa Issue—Okinawa in the Postwar US-Japan Relationship 1945-1952 (published by Nagoya University Publishing Society) and won the special award of the Asian-Pacific Awards. Later, he worked as an assistant professor at Osaka University and became deputy director of the diplomatic policy department of the United States Marine Corps in Japan.

In February 2015, at the height of the Henoko struggle*, a man was arrested, leading the protest in front of Camp Schwab, was arrested on the charge of violation of the special criminal law. The legality of this arrest was disputed over whether he crossed the yellow line separating the base and the road. The man argued that he had not crossed the line and the Okinawan media reported that his arrest was illegal. However, the camera installed at the base recorded him crossing the line. Eldridge, unable to leave Okinawa filled with lies and deceptions as it is, sent the image caught by the camera to an anchor of a YouTube program the following March and the scene in question was shown to the public. Although the recorded image was non-confidential, the U.S. Marine Corps succumbed to the anti-United States power in Okinawa and dismissed Eldridge from his post, citing that his revealed inappropriately his confidential duties through a private route. Eldridge, learning from this experience that lies and deceptions overrule the truth, presumably wrote this book review to warn people of the crisis. He says, “For one having intelligence, nothing is more sinful than to lack courage to do the right thing using intelligence.” He just wanted to give a strong warning that if scholars lack conscience and courage, their attempts to improve and advance the society and culture would only bring deterioration and decay. strongly warn that study for improving and progressing society and culture reversibly invites deterioration and decay of society because scholars lack conscience and courage. Moreover, he wanted conscientious scholars and journalists to endeavor harder for justice.

Body of the review placed in Japan Forward.

The Comfort Women Hoax exposes the lies and myths of the comfort women issue and ends the myths surrounding it. This is done through meticulous, multilanguage, and multiarchival research and cross-disciplinary cooperation. Meanwhile, the book calls for the restoration of integrity and honesty in academia and an end to canceling and censorship.

I have never gone from anger to laughter as fast as I have when I was reading the new book, The Comfort Women Hoax, by J Mark Ramseyer and Jason Morgan.  ......

Cont'd (Japan Forward)

Published on

Book : Harvard Professor Tells Us the Truth about the Comfort Women Issue (Subtitle: Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War), written by John Mark Ramseyer, translated by Lee Woo-youn and Lew Seok-choon, published by Media Watch Company

Reviewer : Kunitoshi Matsuki, Senior Researcher, iRICH

Introduction: This book was written by Harvard University Professor Mark Ramseyer and published on January 3, 2024, by a South Korean publisher in the Korean language. The title reads Harvard Professor Tells Us the Truth about the Comfort Women Issue (subtitle: Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War). This book was translated into the Korean language by Mr. Lee Woo-youn of Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research and Mr. Lew Seok-choon of Yonsei University.

As mentioned in the book review, together with the Japanese translation book Complete Refutation by Prof. Ramseyer of the Comfort Women-Sex Slaves Theory published in 2023 (Heart Publishers), the book is an epoch-making study on the comfort women. Professor Ramseyer’s thorough study has been translated into the Korean language and published in South Korea, which will surely have tremendous influence over the South Korean public opinions.

Regarding the book review of the Japanese version of the book, Professor Ramseyer’s Complete Refutation, please refer to the review by Jason Morgan mentioned above in the introduction to a recent study of international controversial histories.

The reviewer Matsuki is a fellow at our International Research Institute of Controversial Histories. He has lived in South Korea for four and a half years, working as a representative of a general trading company and is well experienced and knowledgeable about Korea. He has written two books, The Fact is Japan’s Annexation of Korea Saved South Korea (WAC inc.), and Gunkanjima [Battleship Island] A World Heritage Site Soiled by Korea (Heart Publishers), as well as many more Korean-related writings.

The Korean people’s eccentric and emotional responses Matsuki mentions in his review should be widely recognized worldwide and in this respect, hopefully this review will help to spread his observations all over the world.

The significance of the concurrent publications of Professor Ramseyer’s papers in Japan and South Korea

The book titled Harvard Professor Ramseyer’s Complete Refutation of Comfort Women Being Sexual Slaves (hereinafter, Complete Refutation), published by Heart Publishers in 2013, contains the professor’s papers that completely refuted the theory of comfort women being sexual slaves.  It was published on December 13, 2023, in Japan and the publication of the same book translated into the Korean language followed on January 3, 2024. The title of the Korean version of the book is Harvard Professor Tells Us the Truth about the Comfort Women Issue with the subtitle Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War (hereinafter The Truth about the Comfort Women Issue).

The structure and contents of the book are nearly identical to Complete Refutation and the only difference is that in the last chapter of the Korean book, a paper entitled “Connection with North Korea”, co-authored by Professor Ramseyer and the former Waseda University Professor Arima Tetsuo is added.

The translation into the Korean language of Prof. Ramseyer’s papers was done by Mr. Lee woo-youn, researcher at Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research and Mr. Lew Seok-choon of Yonsei University. Mr. Lee woo-youn is one of the authors of the book Anti-Japanese Ethnicism published in Korea in 2019 and as an economist, he objectively analyzes the development stages of the Korean economy and highly praises the governance by Japan. From December 2019 onward, he has been single-handedly conducting regular demonstrations asking for “the removal of the comfort woman statue, the suspension of the anti-Japan Wednesday meeting and the dissolution of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance (The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan). He is truly a man of action.

The other translator, Mr. Lew Seok-choon, is a sociology doctor. He studies the period of Japan’s rule of the Korean Peninsula from the perspective of “developmental sociology” while maintaining a balanced and impartial viewpoint. As mentioned later, during his lecture at Yonsei University, he talked about the “truth about the Japanese rule,” and as a result, he was expelled from his teaching job, indicted by the anti-Japan forces and is now fighting his case in the court.

The successful publication at this time of The Truth about the Comfort Women Issue owes much to both translators for their passion and sense of duty. The significance of what Ramseyer papers say in refutation of the comfort women-related lies being known to the general Korean public is enormous. The publication of this book will be epoch-making and a significant step toward the complete resolution of the comfort women issue.

Customarily, for decades, the comfort women issue in South Korea has been treated as a “sacred region,” which no one is allowed to deny. If one dares to tell the truth about the comfort women who were in fact prostitutes, one is surely condemned as a traitor for defaming the victimized comfort women and worse still, is completely ostracized socially.

The author and editor of Anti-Japanese Ethnicism (Miraesa, 2019), Mr. Rhee Young-hoon, professor emeritus of Seoul University said in 2004, “Military comfort women were professional prostitutes.  What scholar in his right mind would assert that Korean Governor’s Office forcibly mobilized them?” He was perfectly right in saying so. However, he was asked to resign from the professorship by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. In September of the same year, he was forced to perform a Korean-style humiliating bow-down on the ground to comfort women.

Ms. Park Yu-ha, professor emeritus of Yonsei University, wrote in her book Comfort Women of the Empire, published in 2013 (Ppuriwaipari, 2013) the truth that “Japanese soldiers and comfort women were in comradely relationship.” She was sued by former comfort women for libel at the district court, she lost one suit after another, and it took her ten years to finally win the verdict of not guilty at the Supreme Court in April 2024.

Moreover, Mr. Lew Seok-choon, one of the translators of the Ramseyer papers, during his lecture on developmental sociology logically explained that stories regarded as “common sense” in South Korea such as “40% of farmland was robbed by Japan,” “Rice was exploited,” “Young people were forcibly taken and forced into slave-like labor,” and “Women were taken to join Volunteer Corps and made comfort women,” were in fact far from the truth of the Japanese rule. Feeling outrage over his views, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance and former comfort women sued Mr. Lew for libel. Mr. Lew Seok-choon partially won in the first trial, but both the plaintiffs and the defendant appealed to the higher court, and the lawsuit is still going on.

When Professor Ramseyer’ paper was posted in the English news site of the Sankei Newspaper on January 12, 2021, the entire South Korea turned into a mayhem. What a disgrace for Korean people that a Harvard scholar revealed the “truth” of the comfort women issue! Korean public broadcasting KBS, equivalent to Japan’s NHK, fiercely attacked this revelation, day after day.

The general Korean public, instigated by the fanatic media, without understanding the contents of the paper written in English, emotionally labelled Professor Ramseyer “Japanese with blue eyes” and bombarded him with all manners of abusive language.

Why, on earth, do such totally unreasonable situations occur in Korea, totally nullifying the freedom of study and damaging human rights?

Essentially, the “history” has been changed arbitrarily in China and Korea every time the government changes and it is impossible there to present the “true history” through examination, investigation and verification. To them, “history” is a means of self-justification, and it is utmost important to make up “history to be” that is convenient to them and push it forward on and on. Let me show a concrete example.

According to Mr. Matsumoto Koji, former Ministry of Industry and Trade official who once served as counselor at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, at a seminar held by “Japan-South Korea Joint Study Society of History Textbook” established in 1991, Professor Yoon Sei-tetsu of Seoul University reportedly said, “Respecting the position of victimized South Korea, if Japan abandons its insistent and stubborn attitudes sticking to the truth and rewrites the textbook, the issue will be solved.” Mr. Matsumoto points out that scholars representing South Korea and appearing in front of Japanese mostly have the same way of thinking as the professor.

As made clear so far, in the Korean society, even if a scholar proves something based on historical facts, Koreans would never be persuaded into admitting it if it is different from what they think is right. On top of that, the comfort women issue has been within the “untouchable sacred territory” for long. They become hysterical at the mere mention of the truth and instantly require bowing-down on the ground and apology and resort to lawsuits. Irrationality like the one displayed in the witch hunts of the Middle Ages has found its own way in Korea.

How, then, can we overcome such a situation? The only way would be for those telling the truth to cross the national boundaries and act together hand in hand. In this sense, the concurrent publications and sales of Ramseyer’s books Complete Refutation and The Truth about the Comfort Women Issue in Japan and South Korea were an excellent feat.

Japanese and South Korean scholars on the comfort women issue should continue to deepen the mutual bond and strongly appeal in unison to the peoples of Japan and South Korea and to the world about revealing the true history. Only then, South Korean common sense will become non-common sense and a day will surely come when the Koreans will accept the truth about the comfort women issue.

Of course, that will not be an easy way to take, particularly in South Korea, still dominated by anti-Japan feelings. The publishers must have felt life-threatening fear when they released all Ramseyer papers in a book.

However, if we become daunted to face the fearful conflict, we cannot move forward. The publication of the Truth about the Comfort Women, exposing the true nature of comfort women into daylight can become a great breakthrough in solving the comfort women issue.

In concluding this review, I would like to extend my heart-felt respect to Mr. Lee woo-youn and Mr. Lew Seok-choon, who translated this book and to Media Watch Company, the publisher of this book, for their courage and determination.  

Published on

Reviewer : Yano Yoshiaki Senior Researcher, iRICH

Book : Kim Byeong-heon Red Wednesday—Lies of Comfort Women Campaign Alive for 30 Years

Explanation

Reviewer Yano is a fellow at the International Research Institute of Controversial Histories who teaches at Gifu Women’s College, Nippon Keizai University and elsewhere as visiting professor after he served in Japan Self-Defense Forces as Lieutenant General. Based on his professional experiences covering security issues, Mr. Yano has made many suggestions regarding international conflicts in the world and Japanese domestic controversial histories from the viewpoint of Japan. He is the President of General Incorporated Foundation Japan Security Forum.

His review was written to promote the sale of the book Red Wednesday right after its publication.

Author Mr. Kim Byeong-heon, in his capacity of a scholar and activist, exposed lies spread by the former Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, currently the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan and has been disseminating the truth in the area of speech and action. His brave fight, which he started alone, has moved many Korean people into forming a large movement. At times, he and his movement overwhelmed the Korean Council for Justice during rallies held to blame Japan for the alleged forced abduction of “comfort women.” In addition, Mr. Kim Byeong-heon acted as a Korean far and wide outside South Korea, visiting the “Anti-freedom of Expression Exhibit” held in Nagoya, Japan, and saying “no” to the comfort woman statue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., at the very time when a comfort woman statue was established there.

Regarding Mr. Kim Byeong-heon’s assertions and activities, reviewer Yano stated that they not only help Japanese people learn the true history but also, they are counterattacks against the false education provided in South Korea and traitor-like actions within South Korea regarding the policy toward North Korea.

In addition, the reviewer states that the book emphasizes the important fact that by resolving these issues, a true friendship will sprout between Japan and South Korea and that through future-oriented development, the democratic camp will outdo the communist power. The publication of this book in Japanese will not only satisfy the conservative Japanese but will also become a good opportunity for sensible researchers and experts in Japan, South Korea and the world over to unite as one and address the concerns expressed by Mr. Kim, hopefully this book will be translated into many more languages and published in many more countries.

Book Review

One pending issue between Japan and South Korea makes me unconvinced and indignant as a Japanese. It is the so-called “comfort women” issue, which, together with a lie made up by a Japanese man named Yoshida Seiji and the false reporting by the Asahi Newspaper, deplorably developed into an international issue.

In the first place, no system of “military comfort women” existed. What did exist were prostitutes working for the military, regulated by a legal licensed prostitution system and brothel owners who employed them at their businesses. More than half of these prostitutes were Japanese, but none of the former Japanese prostitutes demanded compensation from the Japanese Government, neither did they file lawsuit against the former Japanese military on the charge of forced abduction.

This issue became critical in the relations between Japan and South Korea because the extreme-left powers in South Korea, such as the former Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, currently the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, adhering to the North Korean Juche Idea, have been conducting anti-Japan activities within Korea. Their assertion has proved to be political propaganda, exaggerating lies made up in Japan and piling up more fallacies, through study by Japanese researchers.

An essential characteristic of this book is that President Kim Byeong-heon of the Korean History Textbook Research Institute, one of the conscientious scholars in Korea, speaks for the Japanese people who have been hurt and dishonored by unduly criticism and defamations inflected upon them in the past.

In this book, Mr. Kim Byeong-heon has proved, beyond doubt, that assertions made by the extreme-left powers within Korea without any public or material proof, sometimes distorting documents, using them to their convenience and ignoring the true situation at the time cannot stand his examination by historical study, through his own logical analysis based on reliable evidence and available data from that period. 

Mr. Kim’s criticism targets the statements made by self-proclaimed “former comfort women” which form the basis for the leftist assertions, the judgment by the judicial branch, the Coomaraswamy Report, descriptions in Korean school textbooks and Hosaka Yuji’s assertion at the defamation lawsuit against Mr. Kim, ranging far and wide and covering almost all the points of argument brought by the ultra-left powers. Thus, the extreme-left arguments are perfectly refuted.

In this respect, this book is extremely delightful for Japanese to read. However, to overly emphasize his arguments would be unfair to Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim deeply regrets that false assertions made by the extreme-left powers became the justification for the judgment by the Seoul Central District Court and unabashedly appear in school textbooks as historical facts.

In this book Mr. Kim writes, “Judge wrote totally false judgment, textbook authors write wrong history in textbooks and schools teach children wrong history. What a shame!”

I can feel Mr. Kim’s fear as a true patriot between the lines: if things go on like this, South Korea will be branded as a liar in the international community and face a life or death crisis.

Mr. Kim is not just a writer or researcher. He is also a man of action who represents the National Action to Abolish the Comfort Women Act. Since January 8, 1992, Wednesday meeting aiming to solve the comfort women issue has been held every week in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

On December 14, 2011, celebrating the 1,000th Wednesday meeting, a comfort woman statue called “A statue of a girl of peace” was installed. Thus, as the namesake of this book’s title, the “Red Wednesday meeting” became customary, organized by the extreme-left powers to criticize the forced abduction of “comfort women.”

However, Mr. Kim Byong-heon started a noble action. On July 14, 2021, the day of the 1,500th Wednesday meeting, he staged a one-man demonstration against this customary meeting. I cannot help but admire and respect this courage and strength to act alone. Mr. Kim is truly worthy to be called a genuine intellectual embodying the true Korean spirit and pride.

Nowadays, at the “Red Wednesday” meeting, those who join Mr. Kim in his protest are majority while the numbers of the extreme-left protestors diminished to become a minority, having lost their past momentum. Finally, time has come for the patient voices of justice of Mr. Kim, his sympathizers, and supporters to be heard and justly appreciated.

The situation in northeastern Asia is getting more and more tense, especially with the deepening conflict between the United States and China over the Taiwan Strait and the frequent missile launches by North Korea. Under such circumstances, the alliances between Japan and Korea and among Japan, Korea and the United States will surely become vital in security and other fields.

I would like to strongly recommend this book to the readers in Japan and South Korea as a monumental academic work, which contributes toward the mutual understanding between Japan and South Korea and building a trustful relationship, ahead of the time.  

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Reviewer : Kenichi ARA Councelor iRICH

Book : Bernhard Sindberg The Schindler of Nanjing, written by Peter Harmsen (Casemate Publishers, 2024)

Explanation

This book is a biography of Bernhard Sindberg, a Dane, who was living in Shanghai when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. As the war front expanded toward Nanjing, the Danish company he was working for, fearing potential damages if the war reached its cement factory then under construction in the suburbs of Nanjing, sent Bernhard Sindberg to the factory early in December and placed him in charge of the business until March of the next year.

According to the summary stated on the book’s title page, when the alleged massacre was being committed within the walled city of Nanjing, Sindberg accepted ten thousand refugees near the factory and protected them from the Japanese military oppression. Thus, he is said to have been an Asian counterpart of Oskar Schindler, who saved Jews from the Holocaust.

Sindberg was a little known twenty-six years old young man at that time and there was not much to mention about him. So, this biography covers mostly events that happened at the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Later, Sindberg was naturalized in the United States and fought in the Pacific War. He died in Los Angeles in 1983.

The author Peter Harmsen studied history at the National Taiwan University. He is fluent in the Chinese language and worked for over twenty years as a correspondent of a news agency in East Asia. During those years, he wrote three books on the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War, including Shanghai, 1937, which became a best seller. Along the line of writing, this book was written and published in 2024 by Casemate Publishers in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Reviewer Ara Kenichi was born in 1944 in Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku University. At present, regarding the issue of the Nanjing incident, he is considered the top scholar or among the top scholars in that field. Therefore, this review has gravity. While in high school, Ara read Dai kaigun o omou (Think of the Great Navy) written by Ito Masanori and felt disheartened by the fact that Japan did not possess armed forces. Then, he came to study the history of Showa and Japan after the War. In the process, he became critical of the actions of Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, who excluded former military men when creating the National Police Reserve. His books on military history are Nanjing Incident: 48 Japanese Testimonies (Shogaku-kan, 2002), Reexamination: What Really Happened in Nanjing (Tokuma-shoten, 2007), The Second Sino-Japanese War Was Plotted by Germany—Mystery Ensconced in the Battle of Shanghai and German Military Advisors (Shogaku-kan, 2008), Secret Record: Coup d’etat Plan by Japan Defense Army (Kodan-sha, 2013) and many others.

Book review

What happened in the vicinity of Tsitsashan Temple

The name of Bernhard Sindberg has been known to those who studied the Nanjing Incident. “Document of the Nanking Safety Zone Number 60 Memorandum by Tsitsashan Temple”, submitted to the Tokyo Trials states: “Since the fall of Nanking, refugees have been coming here for shelter and aid, in hundreds daily. As this is written we have already about 20,400 people under the roof of this temple, mostly women and children. ...Beginning from January 4, we will briefly describe the daily outrages: January 4, a truck arrived with Japanese soldiers...” There were 24 and more cases of rape, 3 cases of murder and many cases of looting. “About January 20, a new detachment of troops arrived...The Lieutenant in charge of the new soldiers is a good man. Since his arrival things have been a good deal better.” This memorandum was submitted to the International Committee of the Nanjing Safety Zone by Bernhard Sindberg.

Although “Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone Number 60 Memorandum” was not read aloud in the court, when Reverend Magee took the stand, he stated that when he went to the cement factory at Tsitsashan in February 1938, a village master told him that there were 10,000 refugees in the factory and Japanese soldiers came there to demand women and when refused, they resorted to violence. Besides, the Dane told him that a man headed for the walled city of Nanking but was found killed in the city.

In the early 1990s, a record of Reverend Magee’s visit to Tsitsashan was revealed. According to the record, around February, the number of refugees at the temple of Tsitsashan was reduced to 1,000, but instead, refugees at the cement factory increased to 10,000 and Sindberg took care of them. According to Sindberg and the villagers in the area, 700 to 800 civilians were killed, and uncountable women were raped, but the invaders were still asking for more women and some people were killed.

“Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone” and the Japanese military movements

First point to mention is that “Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone” was a record of propaganda operations conducted by missionaries in Nanjing at that time and thus it cannot be considered a factual record. Besides, if we examine the Japanese military movements at that time, Magee’s statement and the record of the visit to Tsitsashan contradict the established facts.

Nanjing fell on December 13, and the troops that had advanced to Nanjing were ordered to move to a new deployment on the 20th. It was decided that the 16th Division would guard Nanjing and other divisions would move to Suzhou and Wuhu and elsewhere and they began to move around the 24th. The main part of the 16th Division was positioned within the walled city of Nanjing to guard it and other parts were stationed at Molingguan, Xiaohuamen, Tangshuizhen, Tsitsanshan, Xintang and Danyang in the suburbs of Nanjing.

Tsitsashan is located 25 kilometers northeast of Nanjing City. Leaving Nanjing City in the morning, you will arrive at Tsitsashan by the evening. Along the railroad connecting Nanjing and Shanghai, there is Tsitsashan station and around the station are located the Tsitsashan Temple and a large cement factory.

In the suburbs where the 16th Division was deployed, at first, the Chinese Army had been positioned to defend Nanjing. Then, the Japanese Army heading for Nanjing advanced with air attacks and the Chinese Army was defeated and ran away. The Japanese Army advanced through the area to Nanjing City and the area became the rear zone.

The 16th Division fought in North China in September 1937, then moved to Central China and Nanjing and guarded Nanjing. In the suburbs, guarding and training were the main tasks. While officers were busy making detailed battle reports and keeping a staff diary, soldiers could afford to relax and rest leisurely.  

There was not enough food until the fall of Nanjing, but after the fall, the transport corps arrived and by late December, food began to arrive via the Yangtze River. The New Year’s Days nearing, mochi rice, kazunoko (herring roes), kachiguri (dried chestnut) and canned sea bream arrived and “mochitsuki” (making mochi event) was held here and there. Though some troops were kept engaged, the railroad between Shanghai and Nanjing was restored and things were peaceful and quiet in general.

Troops deployed at the cement factory were the 1st Company and 1st Machine Gun Squad of the 1st Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment of Nara. There is a record of an interview of Corporal Okazaki Shigeru by Mr. Higashinakano Shudo (The Front Line of Nanjing Incident Study, combined 2005-2006 edition, Tenden-sha, 2005). Okazaki Shigeru was the chief of the Light Machine Gun Squad and supposedly had led a platoon, had a good command of soldiers’ actions and fully understood how soldiers lived at the cement factory.

According to the interview, there was no civilian house around the factory. Barbed-wire fences were put around the factory and there was no free entrance or exit. Food was enough and all that soldiers did was to take care of the weapons. The soldiers were fed up with boredom, having nothing to do. Card games became very popular and a soldier deeply in debt from losing attempted to run away. Except this incident, nothing out of order or discipline occurred. At Tsitsashan Temple, several kilometers away, probably the rest of the 1st Battalion was stationed.

Although the 16th Division was deployed, it was decided to move the troops on January 8. Soldiers were told that they were leaving Nanjing, but no further information was given to them and so, many thought that they were making a triumphant return. On the 13th, an order was issued, and preparation began. It would take several days for the direction to reach everyone, but a farewell party was to be held at the Division Headquarters on the 17th. The Japanese Army spent about twenty days at Tsitsashan and during the last week, all were busy preparing for the departure.

Upon leaving Nanjing, some troops headed for Shanghai on board of a ship and some headed for Shanghai by train. The troops guarding Tangshuizhen marched to Zhenjiang, closer to Shanghai, and then took the train to Shanghai. The troops at Tsitsashan probably took the same route. They left Nanjing between the 20th and the 28th of December. The 16th Division headed again for North China from Shanghai.

These movements of the Japanese Army show that the 16th Division was not at Tsitsashan, contrary to the alleged claim that at Tsitsashan Temple Japanese soldiers kept asking for women even after January 20th and were making the same demands at the cement factory even in February.

Questions about this book’s descriptions   

According to this book, Bernhard Sindberg, The Schindler of Nanjing, there were many refugees at Tsitsashan and refugees took shelter in Tsitsashan Temple, lived in makeshift huts made of straw and bamboo, rarely escaping from snow and cold. Soon, the refugees at Tsitsashan Temple moved to the cement factory.

On January 11, Sindberg wrote in a letter that the factory was a safe place and there were 100 employees and their families. Around the factory, there were 3,000 to 4,000 refugees. Food could be sustained until mid-February.

On January 23, Sindberg took 20 ducks to a member of the International Committee of the Nanking Safety Zone within the walled city. Food was more abundant at the factory than within the city. Although Sindberg had nothing to do with the International Committee of the Nanking Safety Zone, it was only an hour’s ride by car from the cement factory to Nanjing and he frequently travelled between the factory and the walled city. On December 20, Sindberg visited the International Committee of the Nanking Safety Zone for the first time and met Chairman Rabe, Smythe and Rev. Magee.

According to the book, Japanese soldiers never entered Tsitsashan Temple. A paper notice was posted on the cement factory and when Japanese soldiers came to the factory for women, the factory showed the Danish national flag, and the Japanese soldiers went away. Sindberg never actually saw civilians murdered. The book’s descriptions are far from the evidential materials submitted to the Tokyo Trials.

Incidents mentioned as atrocities committed by the Japanese Army did not exist at all in the first place or they were committed by defeated Chinese soldiers or outlaws. As “Documents of the Safety Zone” which allegedly recorded what took place within the walled city turned out to be records of imaginary events, “Documents of the Nanjing Safety Zone Number 60 Memorandum” and the record of Magee’s visit to the area would have been of the same nature.

What did Peter Harmsen intend to write?

What did Peter Harmsen intend to write? Did he intend to write about Japan’s atrocities and illegal acts?

However, he did not even think of referring to the Japanese Army’s sources to verify whether the Japanese Army was actually at that spot at the time. He just copied the records of the Tokyo Trials and the missionaries and attributed the damages at the factory solely to the Japanese Army.

Did he intend to write how cruel and miserable the battlegrounds were? There were refugees in the region due to the military operations on both sides. Here again, Peter Harmsen attributed it all to the Japanese Army, paying no attention to the Chinese Army at all. Sindberg reportedly rescued refugees, but when it comes to the true situation of rescuing them, they were rescued not from the Japanese Army but from the defeated Chinese soldiers and Chinese outlaws.

Did he try to write about Sindberg’s gallantry?

Sindberg left for China at the age of 23. On the way, aboard the ship, he hit the boatswain and tried to stab another crew member with a knife, and had to be confined. Three years later, he was assigned as a manager of the cement factory. On his way to the factory, he was admonished to follow the Japanese Army’s orders. At the factory, he threatened people around him with a pistol. He was forced to resign from his managerial post in March 1938. He was a violent person rather than a brave man.

Why was he compared to Schindler?

The subtitle of the book reads The Schindler of Nanjing.

Schindler ran a munition factory in Germany and employed Jewish workers. He sympathized with the Jewish people and was on good terms with the officer of the concentration camp. He saved the lives of 1,200 Jews in the camp on the pretext of raising the norm.

Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing describes how the German national flag that brought millions of deaths was used to save lives in Nanjing. He compares refugees in Nanjing to rescuing Jews in Germany.

In Europe, there has been a history of anti-Semitism. During World War II, Germany persecuted Jews. While there was anti-Semitism in Europe, there was Pan-Asianism in East Asia. It aimed to cope with Europe and America through Japan-China cooperation. The Second Sino-Japanese War broke out and Japan and China fought against each other. However, Japan did not try to annihilate the Chinese people nor to oppress Europe and America.

Schindler was the kind of person who tried to forge report cards. He operated as a spy in Czechoslovakia and made a lot of money and expanded his factory through black market trading. I cannot help but think that Sindberg is compared to Schindler based on such human characteristics they had in common.

There was another person who was also compared to Schindler in the past. When the diary of the German John Rabe was published, Rabe was compared to Schindler for having saved Nanjing citizens.

Rabe was engaged in trade in Nanjing and after Nanjing fell, he worked to rescue citizens. However, civilians were not killed in Nanjing, so Rabe did not protect citizens from killing. Rabe’s actions were directed against Japan and only helped delay the restoration of Nanjing. There was no comparison to Schindler.

Conclusion

Why, then, has such a book been published now?

The book Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing bears nothing new, from the aspect of historical sources and materials, only citing sources from the war trials conducted to exact revenge, with nothing added in terms of new evidence. I dare to say that since Japan has not at all been eager to correct the history records and disseminate the truth, there has been a global trend to make it permissible to write anything about Japan, even if it is not based on facts. The publication of this book reflects that trend.

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Autrhor : Tadashi Hama

Reviewed Book : Harry Wray, Seishiro Sugihara  Is Japanese Debate on the Atomic Bombing All Right as It Is—the first US-Japan dialogue over the atomic bombings (published by Nisshin-hodo, 2015)

The book reviewed is Is Japanese Debate on the Atomic Bombing All Right as It Is—the first US-Japan dialogue over the atomic bombings (published by Nisshin-hodo, 2015). In the book, American Harry Wray criticizes the view of the atomic bombings the Japanese people generally have. On the other hand, Japanese Sugihara Seishiro comments and counterargues, chapter by chapter, stating his views on the Japanese side. Thus, this book is considered the first Japan-US dialogue over the atomic bombings. In the Japanese version of the book, the English texts written by Harry Wray are translated into Japanese by Ms. Yamamoto Reiko, who obtained her doctorate at Meisei University and studied the purge of teachers under the US occupation at the university’s Center for the Study of Postwar Education. The book was published in 2015 by Nisshin-hodo. The English version, titled Bridging the Atomic Divide: Debating Japan-US Attitudes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was published in 2019 by Lexington Books. Japanese texts written by Sugihara were translated into English by Chinese-Australian Norman Hoo.

The book’s coauthor Harry Wray was born in Nebraska, USA, in 1931 and died in 2017, without seeing the English version of this book. Mr. Wray finished the graduate school at the University of Hawaii in 1971 and lived in Japan for many years, teaching at various universities in Japan. In his study of the educational reform during the Occupation period, he interviewed fifty Japanese who worked for the educational reform during the Occupation and twenty-eight members of the Allied Forces personnel, making a great contribution to the study of educational reform during the occupation period. He was a Japanophile.

The other author, Sugihara Seishiro, was born in 1941 in the city of Hiroshima and lived there until immediately before the atomic bombing on the city, close to the very epicenter. In 1967, Sugihara finished the master’s course in education at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo. It is said that he did not advance to the doctor’s course because he was in conflict with the senior professor who led lecturers at the Japan Teachers’ Union that played an enormous role in spreading the self-deprecating view of history in postwar Japan.

Reviewer Hama Tadashi’s review was posted on the website of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact in September 2019 as followed:

<Book Review>
Bridging the Atomic Divide: Debating Japan-US Attitudes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By Harry Wray & Seishiro Sughihara
Lexington Books
Reviewed by Tadashi Hama

Newsletter No. 231 introduced this newly published book, which discusses, in a frank and candid manner, an extremely sensitive subject that Japanese and Americans have long avoided.

      The book is reviewed by Mr. Tadashi Hama and is also accompanied by a comment on the review by, Professor Seishiro Sugihara, the book’s author.

     Mr. Wray wrote that his wish was to “have a dialogue about the atomic bombs...,” a “balanced dialogue”, and a dialogue which “must not be like the Tokyo Trials conducted during the Occupation...a one-sided affair imposed by the victorious nations on the losing side...” However, the book starts off by berating the Japanese for their “litany of clear-cut crimes against humanity”, and mentions, among other things, forcing Korean women to be “prostitutes”, or so-called “comfort women”, and the “rape of Nanking”, assuming that these were established historical facts.

     Mr. Hama’s criticism is that this line of thinking will not bring about a “balanced dialogue” of historical perception at all. He further details Wray’s slanted, one-sided thinking.

    In his comment, Mr. Sugihara, while acknowledging Mr. Hama’s view, emphasizes that FDR ultimately shoulders responsibility for the atomic bombings and his actions have determined the context of the dialogue on this important issue. It is recommended that his comments be also read.

Reviewer Hama newly included, among the reference literature, the books Lone Eagle—The Wartime Journal of Charles A. Lindbergh (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970) and Summer, 1945: Germany, Japan and the Harvest of Hate, written by Thomas Goodrich (The Palm Press, 2018) and stated that in the Japan-US War, many atrocities were committed by the U.S. side. Based on this fact, regarding the atomic bombings, he denies Harry Wray’s accounts of the US side and emphasizes that there was no rightful cause for the United States to drop atomic bombs.

Since reviewer Hama has based his statements on historical facts, there is no exaggeration nor fiction in his accounts. In this respect, his review should be read by many Americans.

On the other hand, Harry Wray’s assertions are popularly cited in the United States, such as that the dropping of the atomic bombs was meant to end the war sooner and reduce the number of victims on both sides and that in fact the atomic bombings spared many potential victims. And if Japan had readily accepted the Potsdam Declaration when it was issued, no atomic bombs would have been used and therefore, Japan should be held responsible for the result to a relative extent.

Certainly, the later estimate of the number of victims saved by the atomic bombings may have been somewhat exaggerated, but it is true that many lives were spared. It is also true that there would have been no atomic bombing if only Japan had promptly accepted the Potsdam Declaration when it was issued.

How, then, is Sugihara, representing Japan, to refute the American assertions? The point to argue is that chances for the United States to make Japan surrender before the Potsdam Declaration was issued, rendering it useless to drop atomic bombs were many, many times more than the chance for Japan to accept the Potsdam Declaration.

What made it difficult for the United States under the then President Truman to carry out the policy of making Japan surrender before dropping atomic bombs was that the predecessor President Roosevelt had forced Japan into unconditional surrender. On the opening of the war between Japan and the United States, President Roosevelt blamed Japan for attacking Pearl Harbor “without declaring war”, instigating the Americans to fight the war against Japan and stirring up hate against Japan. In fact, the war between Japan and the United States was staged, without the knowledge of the peoples of both countries with the United States provoking Japan into the war. The alleged delay in handing the “declaration of war” on the part of Japan was not intentional but a mere blunder in clerical work. Although he knew this fact, Roosevelt instigated hostilities against Japan and forced Japan to unconditionally accept the Potsdam Declaration. By doing so, he manipulated his people to gain their strong support. Consequently, the US-Japan war obliged the United States to deploy the ground battle on the soil of mainland Japan and the United States had to continue fighting even after the defeat of Japan became evident, causing more casualties on both sides, to no avail.

Thus, coauthor Sugihara asserts that Roosevelt forced the American people to unnecessarily suffer an enormous number of casualties and in this regard, Roosevelt betrayed the American people as well. Sugihara adds emphatically that he wants the Americans to know this fact.

This review should be read widely by Americans to understand better the issue of atomic bombings.

Review : Japanese / English

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Satoru Nakamura, Senior Researcher of iRICH, had a NGO speech on 55th UN Human Rights Coucils in Geneva. He had speech about Recommendations of Okinawan Indigenous People.

Thank you. Mr. Vice-President. This Council and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination have recommended six times that the Japanese government must recognize the Okinawans as indigenous people and protect their rights. However, most Okinawans are unaware that they are considered indigenous by the UN and have been repeatedly recommended to do so. Even Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, who addressed at the last Council meeting, has repeatedly stated that they have never been declared indigenous or even discussed by the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly or Okinawan society. The fact that such recommendations are being issued when the Okinawans have neither discussed nor demanded them is clearly an effort by a specific government to divide the Japanese people and weaken them by making them fight each other. The UN should not issue recommendations based on a purposely manipulated and separatist report by those specific groups. We call on this Council to dispatch the Special Rapporteur to Okinawa to meet with Okinawans to learn about the real situation in Okinawa without prejudice. We then ask the Council to revisit these recommendations. Thank you very much.