Nan. Massacre Was a Hoax * Pearl Ha. Was a Defensive Move
Black Sun 731
This is extracted from "U.S.A. Today" (May 5, 1994):
JAPANESE JUSTICE MINISTER MAKES NO APOLOGY FOR WWII
Japan's new justice minister makes no apologies for his country's role
in World War II, saying a notorious massacre of up to more than 150,000 men,
women and children by Japanese soldiers in Nanjing, China, in 1937 was a hoax.
Justice Minister Shigeto Nagano, 71, made no mention of Japan's Pearl
Harbor attack, which catapulted the United States into the war, but said in an
interview in Mainichi daily Wednesday that Japan wasn't an aggressor in the
war.
Japan has long maintained that its attack on the U.S. military base in
Hawaii was defensive, pre-emptive strike.
The views expressed by Nagano, a World War II veteran, reflect what
many Japanese officials are thought to believe but which few publicly express.
It's sharp turn away from the apologetic attitude of the previous government,
which left office last week. The office of Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata - he's
visiting Europe - release a statement saying Hata thought Nagano's comment was
"not appropriate." China expressed shock and indignation.
"Wall Street Journal" (May 5, 1994):
JAPANESE AIDE DENIES MASSACRE
The Japanese arm's 1937 Nanking Massacre of tens of thousands of Chinese never
occured, Japan's new justice minister asserted in a newspaper interview.
Shigeto Nagano's claim in the Mainichi Shimbun and denial that Japan was an
aggressor in WWII could threaten the new minority government's relation with
Asian nations, where anger persists about Japan's unwillingness to admit to
atrocities in the WWII era. Even Japanese school texts soften description
of Japanese actions in China.
"I think the Nanking Massacre and the vest was a fabrication", Mr. Nagona, 71
years old, said of one of the most infamous episode in Japanese history. "I
was in Nanking immidiately afterwards." Japan's new prime minister said Mr.
Nagano's remarks were "not appropriate".
The 1948 Tokyo war crimes tribunal found that after Japanese soldiers seized
the city in eastern China, now spelled Nanjing, on Dec 13, 1937, they killed
more than 155,000 people and raped many women. China, which put the death
toll at 300,000, insists that Japan approved the killings and rapes to end
resistance.
AP (May 5, 1994):
CABINET MINISTER SAYS JAPAN NO WORLD WAR II AGGRESSOR
TOKYO (AP) - In remarks likely to stir resentment abroad, Japan's new
justice minister said in an interview published Wednesday that Japan was not an
agressor in World War II and that accounts of a notorious massacre by Japanese
soldiers in Nanking, China, were a hoax.
While the views voiced by Justice Minester Shigeto Nagano to the
newspaper Mainichi are espoused by a number of conservative Japanese, it is
rare to hear them from a Cabinet minister.
The Foreign Ministry released a statement Wednesday night from Prime
Minister Tsutomu Hata, who is traveling in Europe, saying he thought Nagano's
comment about the "Rape of Nanking" was "not appropriate." Hata said he
planned to ask Nagano what he meant by the remarks.
Other reaction to the remarks was initially muted, with most top
government officials out of the country during national holidays. Officials
at the Justice Ministry and Nagano's office were not available for comment,
and calls to Nagano's home were not answered.
The number of Chinese killed in the Nanking remains a matter of
speculation. China says 300,000 were killed when Japanese troops entered
Nanking - now called Nanjing by the Communist leadership - in 1937,
Some prominent Japanese claim the Chinese death toll is propaganda,
but at least one former Japanese officer puts the figure at at least 150,000.
"I think the Nanking massacres and other (reports of wrongdoing) are
hoaxes," Nagano told the Mainichi. He said he based his view on a visit to the
city shortly after Japan began its occupation there.
Nagano, 71, retired as chief of staff of Japan's army in 1980. He
graduated from the former elite Japanese military academy and served in the
Imperial Army in the war.
In the quoted remarks, Nagano said Japan's aim during the war was to
free Asian nations from European colonialism.
"It is wrong to say the war was a war of aggression," he was quoted as
saying. "We thought seriously about the liberation of colonies, to liberate
a (greater East Asia) co-prosperity sphere."
Nagano's comments are a clear departure from the conciliatory views of
Japan's previous government, which left office last week.
In his first news conference after taking office last August, former
Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa called World War II "a war of aggression" and
said it was wrong. The remarks were denounced by conservative lawmakers and
rightists.
The difference reflects a divisive, painful debate on Japan's role in
the war that has raged in Japanese society for decades.
The debate has taken on additional meaning now because it is linked to
growing discussions about changing Japan's postwar constitution to allow the
country to posses a stronger, more active military.
Income Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa has advocated a new
interpretation of Japan's constitution that would allow it to participate in
"collective self-defense."
There was no initial reaction to the remarks from China or South Korea,
two nations that suffered at Japanese hands in the war.
"New York Times News Service" (May 8, 1994):
JAPAN DISMISS MINISTER OVER WAR REMARK
TOKYO - A former Imperial army officer who served for one week as
Japan's justice minister was dismissed Saturday night, three days after he
calimed that one of the biggest massares of World War II, the Rape of Nanking,
was a "fabrication."
Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata asked the justice minister, Shigeto Nagano,
for his resignation as Japan tried to quell growing outrage all over Asia
about the remarks.
"The bad effect caused in neighboring countries has reached a worrisome
stage, "Mr. Hata reportedly said, according to Japanese news accounds. "We
have to stop the further spread of this trouble."
The dicision came despite Mr. Nagano's effort on Friday to withdraw
his remarks. Saturday night he again offered "apologies for causing such a
big shock and anger in our neighboring countries and worry in Japan."
As recently as Friday night, Mr. Hata appered reluctant to dismiss Mr.
Nagano, 71, who rose to the rank of chief of staff of the postwar Japanese army
before entering politics and becoming a senior member of Hata's Japan Renewal
Party.
But on his return from Europe on Saturday, the prime minister
apparently decided that the comments had done too much damage to Japan's rocky
relation with China and South Korea.
Equally important, the growing protests were threatening the survival
of Mr. Hata's minority government as many political enimies of his coalition
prepared to tie up Parliament for days or weeks with questions about Japan's
responsibility for the war.
Some Japanese officials, trying to put the best face on the handling
of a highly embarassing incident, said Mr. Nagano's ouster showed that there
was no longer any political tolerance for efforts to play down Japan's wartime
responsibility.
Wire Service (May 8, 1994)
JAPAN'S JUSTICE MINISTER QUITS
TOKYO - Japan's justice minister resigned Saturday, three days after he
infuriated neighboring nations by defending Japan's role in World War II. But
the anger over his remarks seemed likely to continue.
A new justice minister, Hiroshi Nakai, 51, was appointed late Saturday night
by Prime from the Democratic Socialist Party, a small left-leaning party.
With red eyes, Shigeto Nagano, 71, announced his resignation and appologized at
a brief news conference for provoking shock and anger in other Asian nations.
Nagano, a World War II veteran and a former chief of staff of Japan's army,
was in office just 10 days.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why don't he (The "Justice" Minister of the nation of Japan) denied Japanese
war crime a few days before the 50th anniversary of Bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Whole Asia will respond to that with massive celebration of the great bombing!
(The 2 bombs saved so many lives, include milloins of Japanese)
If North Korea Bombs Tokyo, other Asian nations are likely to say only: "ooops"
PERIOD
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Kenneth Kendrick
like to waste the time of English teachers? Can't get enough racist
remarks elsewhere? Or can you just not find enough things to be pissed
off about?
Ken Kendrick