Reference News Network August 20 report: The German Broadcasting Station website published an article titled "Reflections on World War II 80 Years Later: Japan's Entanglement with History" on August 16. The author is Julian Rial. The full excerpt is as follows:

August 15 marks the 80th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender. This moment has once again drawn global attention to the question of how Japan faces and reflects on its history. The intense debate within Japan over the narrative of World War II has led to it often being referred to as a "war of history."

In Japan, voices that were once on the far right have become increasingly loud in recent years. These individuals persist in denying or downplaying Japan's atrocities during World War II. Revisionist groups hope that the victim countries will "leave the atrocities committed by Japan in the Asia-Pacific region in the past."

Hiroshi Shigemitsu, president of the "Association for Disseminating Historical Facts," based in Tokyo and attempting to deny Japan's wartime crimes, told Deutsche Welle: "Now that few people who experienced the war are left, I believe neighboring countries will not stop talking about this history, because it is an effective tool to criticize Japan." The organization translates its nationalist revisionist works into English to spread its narrative.

The journal "Georgetown Journal of International Affairs," published by Georgetown University, once stated that Shigemitsu's association is part of a network of "interconnected, small but vocal lobbying groups" that emerged in the 1990s as part of the "denialist movement." Other groups with similar objectives include the "International Institute for Contested History" and the "Committee for Research on Historical Perception."

Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, emeritus at the Australian National University, who has written about Japanese history, pointed out: "The narratives of these groups are similar to those of Holocaust deniers. They take information out of context, carefully select data from relatively obscure and obscure sources to support their arguments, piece together scattered information without considering the background, ignore the reliability of sources, and disregard conflicting evidence, thereby fundamentally distorting history."

She added that such arguments are embedded within a broader 20th-century view of Japanese history: portraying Japan as a victim and attributing its negative image before and during the war to international conspiracy theories.

A 2021 report from Georgetown University also noted that a "significant number" of conservative Japanese legislators are affiliated with lobbying groups that spread revisionist views. These groups also collaborate with diplomats to conduct propaganda abroad, opposing the erection of "comfort women" monuments in places like the United States and Germany.

Yūji Hoshino, professor of history and political science at Sejong University in South Korea and a long-time critic of Japan's failure to confront historical issues, said: "I see many Japanese right-wingers trying to erase everything Japan did during its colonization of the Korean Peninsula, its invasion of China and Southeast Asia. These people often say that Japan brought development and modern technology, which only further angers Koreans."

Hoshino pointed out that Japan's history textbooks still downplay military atrocities, and about events such as the Nanjing Massacre, the abuse of civilian laborers and prisoners of war, and other war crimes, they often remain vague and incomplete.

"Those who forget the past will inevitably repeat it," he said: "Japan must learn lessons from history. Germany and France once jointly wrote common history textbooks. I think Japan should also cooperate with China and South Korea to do the same."

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540492181929247241/

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