Japanese Education Minister Distorts History Once Again

Japanese Education Minister Distorts History Once Again. July. 12, 2005 03:15. by Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com.

The Japanese minister of Education, Science and Technology, Nariyaki Nakayama (62), has made bizarre remarks concerning “comfort women” for Japanese military forces during Japanese colonial rule in the past. Recently, he has once again distorted history.

The Kyoto News reported that Nakayama read an e-mail from a female in her 20s supporting his past remarks on comfort women for over 10 minutes at a lecture in Fukuoka on July 10.

Before reading the e-mail from a Japanese female graduate student in Canada, the minister said, “If I talk about my views on history, my remarks could cause misunderstanding, so I decided to read you a letter instead. I ask for your kind understanding.”

Nakayama said in June, “There was no such term as ‘comfort women for military forces’ back then,” virtually denying the existence of the comfort women. His remark met with strong criticism in Korea and China.

It is an accepted fact that during World War II, the Japanese military built “comfort centers” where their forces stayed and used “comfort women.” Denying the existence of the term, “comfort women for military forces” just because the phrase “for military forces” was not included came to many as nothing more than a technicality intended to cover up the crimes of the Japanese military.