 Education minister praises textbooks for reducing reference to Japan's wartime atrocities Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on November 29 severely criticized Education Minister Nakayama Nariaki for praising recent history textbooks for reducing references to "comfort women" and "forced labor." Ichida, speaking at a news conference, said, "It is a historical fact that the Japanese military forced people in Korea and Taiwan to serve as 'comfort women' and laborers." "A reflection on the war of aggression is the starting point for Japan's post-war period and is a responsibility of this county to the people in Asia and rest of the world. Contrary to this view, the minister's remarks apparently indicate his idea that textbooks should not talk about Japan's past wrongdoing. Such an attitude must not be allowed," He said. On November 27, Education Minister Nakayama at a town hall meeting in Oita Prefecture said, "I was really glad that recently there are fewer words such as 'comfort women' and 'forced labor' used in textbooks." (end) |