29 local assemblies on mainland have adopted resolutions calling for withdrawal of government textbook screening policy

   As of October 20, five prefectural assemblies (Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Fukuoka, and Kochi) and 24 municipal assemblies on mainland Japan have adopted resolutions calling on the government to retract the controversial Education Ministry instruction to remove from history textbooks references to the Japanese military’s involvement in forcing civilians to commit “mass suicides” during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.

   The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly twice adopted unanimous resolutions against the government decision. Similar resolutions were adopted by all 41 municipalities in Okinawa.

   The Zama City Assembly in Kanagawa Prefecture was the first to adopt such a resolution outside Okinawa. Its statement adopted on June 22 stated, “It is the undoubted historical fact, commonly shared by the public, that during the Battle of Ookinawa, civilians’ ‘mass suicides’ could not have occurred without the Japanese military’s coercion, involvement, or guidance.”

   Tokyo’s Mitaka City Assembly in its resolution pointed out that the government textbook screening policy in question “amounts to denying testimonies of many survivors of the land battle as well as historical facts.”

A resolution adopted by the Kunitachi City Assembly in Tokyo states, “It is important to correctly convey the fact about the Okinawa Battle in order to pursue peace and to prevent another tragic war.”

   The city assembly of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture unanimously adopted a statement in the plenary session expressing “on behalf of citizens of Uji” its support for the September 29 Okinawan rally resolution demanding the withdrawal of the government textbook screening policy and the restoration of the accounts that the Education Ministry removed.

- Akahata, October 21, 2007