{"id":12720,"date":"2014-10-14T08:24:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T18:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12720"},"modified":"2014-10-14T08:37:16","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T18:37:16","slug":"from-hate-speech-to-witch-hunt-mainichi-editorial-intimidation-of-universities-employing-ex-asahi-reporters-intolerable-sakurai-yoshiko-advocates-goj-historical-revisionism-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12720","title":{"rendered":"From hate speech to witch hunt: Mainichi Editorial: Intimidation of universities employing ex-Asahi reporters intolerable; Sakurai Yoshiko advocates GOJ historical revisionism overseas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0It’s the next natural step of Japan’s\u00a0Extreme Right: \u00a0jingoism and terrorism. \u00a0They feel empowered enough in present-day Japanese society (especially in the wake of the Asahi retracting some\u00a0articles on Japan’s “Comfort Women”\u00a0wartime sexual slavery<\/a>) to start making larger threats to bodily harm. \u00a0No longer are they satisfied with being bully boys during demonstrations (beating up Leftists with relative impunity, see here<\/a> and here<\/a>)\u00a0— as seen\u00a0in the article\u00a0below they have to hound from livelihood those who oppose them using nail bombs.<\/p>\n

The tactics behind the practitioners of hate speech<\/a> have morphed into real power to conduct ideological witch hunts. \u00a0And it won’t stop there — the most powerful elements of the Extreme Right are gearing up like never before in the Postwar Era to rewrite history overseas too (see Yomiuri advert below). \u00a0The fact that the Nobel Peace Prize did not go to people advocating for the conservation\u00a0of Article 9 in Japan’s “Peace Constitution”<\/a> is more evidence that the outside world still hasn’t caught up with what’s really going on with Japan’s Right Wing Swing<\/a>. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Editorial: Intimidation of universities employing ex-Asahi reporters cannot be tolerated<\/strong>
\n October 03, 2014, Mainichi Shinbun, courtesy of\u00a0YX<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/mainichi.jp\/english\/english\/perspectives\/news\/20141003p2a00m0na003000c.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Two universities have received letters threatening to harm their students unless the institutions dismiss a pair of instructors, who as Asahi Shimbun newspaper reporters had written articles about the wartime comfort women issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The universities are Tezukayama Gakuin University in Osakasayama, Osaka Prefecture, and Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo. Osaka and Hokkaido prefectural police are investigating the respective incidents on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the two teachers, a professor at Tezukayama Gakuin University, has stepped down following the incident.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tezukayama Gakuin professor was previously said to be the first journalist to report the late Seiji Yoshida’s testimony that he captured women on Jeju Island to work as “comfort women” for Japanese soldiers during World War II, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. In its assessment of its coverage of the issue published in August, the Asahi Shimbun retracted the article about Yoshida’s claim after deeming it a fabrication. Moreover, the Asahi Shimbun later ran a correction saying that a reporter other than the professor wrote the story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The part-time instructor at Hokusei Gakuen University was the first journalist to report a former comfort woman’s testimony. He was accused by some critics of receiving favors from his mother-in-law — a member of an organization supporting former comfort women’s lawsuits against Japan — in reporting the testimony, as well as covering up facts that would be disadvantageous to former comfort women. However, the Asahi’s assessment concluded that he never distorted facts relevant to the issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Asahi Shimbun has been paying a high price for failing to correct its coverage of Yoshida’s fabricated stories for so many years. Asahi President Tadakazu Kimura held a news conference to offer an apology, and the company will commission a third-party panel to review its coverage of Yoshida and its impact on society. There are numerous things that the daily must clarify.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Still, this does not justify the culprits’ attempts to rid society of news reports and writers they do not like by threatening institutions irrelevant to the Asahi controversy. The intimidation has affected not only the universities, but also the instructors’ families, who have become targets for harassment after their private information was posted online.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hokusei Gakuen University has received inquiries from the parents of many students about the instructor, prompting its president to post an explanation on the university’s website. Close attention should be focused on how the university, which is supposed to respect freedom of thought, will respond to the situation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To ensure free discussions, police should apprehend suspects in these cases as soon as possible. Behind the incidents is an atmosphere of intolerance being spread by some magazines and on the Internet — in which dissenters are condemned out of hand as “anti-Japanese” and “traitors.” This is similar to the spread of racist hate speech campaigns across the country. The settlement of the comfort women issue would become increasingly remote if those who incite racial discrimination with violent language are ignored.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The simplistic branding people as “anti-Japan” could be the seedbed for similar incidents. Each and every member of the public should try to eliminate discriminatory words and deeds from their conduct to create an environment for calm discussions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

=============================================<\/p>\n

Ad in September 16,\u00a02014’s Yomiuri Shinbun taken out by Sakurai Yoshiko’s “Japan Institute for National Fundamentals”, courtesy\u00a0http:\/\/en.jinf.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/The_Japan_News.pdf\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SakuraiYoshikoJINFYomiuriAd\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Searchable text:<\/p>\n

\n

Time to hit back at international aspersions over \u2018comfort women\u2019<\/h3>\n

http:\/\/en.jinf.jp\/news\/archives\/3224<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe Japanese military forcibly rounded up 200,000 Korean women and girls and forced them to become sex slaves.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\nThis fabricated story has become widely believed in the international community.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The evidence behind this story was the untrue statements of Seiji Yoshida, who was said to be the former head of the mobilization department of the Shimonoseki Branch of Romu Hokoku-kai, an organization in charge of recruiting laborers and claimed to have participated in forcible abductions. Thirty-two years after The Asahi Shimbun first reported these comments by Yoshida, a man it lionized as a \u201cconscientious Japanese,\u201d the daily admitted these stories were false and retracted them. During this time, Japan was insulted and shamed over the comfort women issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Foreign Ministry bears an even heavier responsibility for this deplorable state of affairs. In August 1993, the Japanese government issued a statement through then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono (the Kono statement), which expressed the government\u2019s \u201csincere apologies and remorse\u201d to former comfort women. After the statement, the misperception that comfort women had been forcibly taken away spread around the world. Despite this, the Foreign Ministry has not presented a single clear counterargument to set the record straight, even to this day.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1996, Radhika Coomaraswamy, a U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women, submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission that accepted Yoshida\u2019s remarks as fact, and jumped to the conclusion that comfort women had been \u201csexual slaves.\u201d This report fueled groups seeking to erect statues dedicated to comfort women in several nations, and influenced the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 adoption of a resolution calling on Japan to apologize to comfort women.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, more than ever, Japan needs to tell the world the facts about this matter and dispel entrenched misperceptions about comfort women. Instead, the Foreign Ministry will build \u201cJapan House\u201d public relations hubs in major cities overseas to promote Japanese cuisine and anime as a pillar of the \u201cstrategic proliferation of information abroad.\u201d Does the ministry have its priorities in the right order?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A task force charged with protecting Japan\u2019s reputation and directly controlled by the prime minister should be set up, and a minister and dedicated secretariat placed in charge of handling this matter. A united effort by the whole government is required\u2014urgently.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

October 19, 2014, Sunday Mainichi 2-page article talking about how “Asahi Bashing” has morphed into nail bombs, presenting danger to Japan’s very democracy. \u00a0Courtesy of XY.<\/p>\n

\"SundayMainichi1019141\"<\/p>\n

\"SundayMainichi1019142\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the next natural step of Japan’s Extreme Right: jingoism and terrorism. They feel empowered enough in present-day Japanese society (especially in the wake of the Asahi retracting some articles on Japan’s “Comfort Women” wartime sexual slavery) to start making larger threats to bodily harm. No longer are they satisfied with being bully boys during demonstrations (beating up Leftists with relative impunity, see here and here) — as seen in the article below they have to hound from livelihood those who oppose them using nail bombs. The tactics behind the practitioners of hate speech have morphed into real power to conduct ideological witch hunts. And it won’t stop there — the most powerful elements of the Extreme Right are gearing up like never before in the Postwar Era to rewrite history overseas too (see Yomiuri advert below). The fact that the Nobel Peace Prize did not go to people advocating for the conservation of Article 9 in Japan’s “Peace Constitution” is more evidence that the outside world still hasn’t caught up with what’s really going on with Japan’s Right Wing Swing. <\/p>\n

Mainichi: Two universities have received letters threatening to harm their students unless the institutions dismiss a pair of instructors, who as Asahi Shimbun newspaper reporters had written articles about the wartime comfort women issue.<\/p>\n

Yomiuri Ad: Now, more than ever, Japan needs to tell the world the facts about this matter and dispel entrenched misperceptions about comfort women. Instead, the Foreign Ministry will build \u201cJapan House\u201d public relations hubs in major cities overseas to promote Japanese cuisine and anime as a pillar of the \u201cstrategic proliferation of information abroad.\u201d Does the ministry have its priorities in the right order? A task force charged with protecting Japan\u2019s reputation and directly controlled by the prime minister should be set up, and a minister and dedicated secretariat placed in charge of handling this matter. A united effort by the whole government is required\u2014urgently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36,19,50,52,20,5,4,14,13,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-education","category-gaiatsu","category-hate-speech","category-history","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-media","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}