Rally held to demand revocation of education ministry instruction on wartime accounts in textbooks

About 1,000 people held a rally on December 2 in Tokyo to demand that the Education Ministry withdraw its instruction to publishers to delete from their textbooks accounts that the Japanese army forced Okinawans into “mass suicide” during the Battle of Okinawa near the end of the Pacific War.

Kinjo Shigeaki, a survivor of the “mass suicide” in Tokashiki Island, related his experience, stressing that it is indisputable that the Army ordered islanders to die in a “mass suicide”.

In March 1945, when U.S. forces landed on the Kerama Islands that include Tokashiki, about 40 kilometers southwest of Okinawa’s main island, many residents were forced to “commit mass suicide.”

Sakamoto Noboru, an author of a history textbook, said “In the effort to offer quality textbooks to high school students, I redrafted my textbook to include the Army’s responsibility for the tragedy and submitted it to the ministry for approval.” He also said, “We will further increase our movement to urge the ministry to accept the revised textbook.”

Participants adopted a resolution demanding the withdrawal of the ministry instruction in order to restore accurate textbook accounts on the Battle of Okinawa.

The rally was organized by the Tokyo Association of People from Okinawa with a group supporting the effort to disseminate factual information about the Battle of Okinawa and was attended by Kasai Akira, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives.
- Akahata, December 4, 2007