Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 November 4 - 10 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japanese gov’t takes a professor who is denier of Nanjing Massacre to UNESCO meetings

The Japanese government has sent a scholar denying the Nanjing Massacre to UNESCO meetings where discussions on whether to add Nanjing Massacre-related materials to the Memory of the World Register list were being conducted.

Akahata on November 10 reported that Japan participated as an observer in the meetings of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee held on October 4-6 in Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, and that Meisei University Professor Takahashi Shiro who criticizes textbook descriptions of the Nanjing Massacre as “masochistic” and “anti-Japanese” accompanied the government delegation there.

Since China applied for a UNESCO documentary heritage pertaining to the Nanjing Massacre last June, Japan has been objecting to inscribing the materials on the heritage list by insisting that the record authenticity is doubtful.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its official website states that the government of Japan considers that such practices as the killing of non-combatants and looting may have happened after the Imperial Japanese Army entered the Nanjing Castle in 1937.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide on November 9 held a press conference and said that the government is considering dispatching Japanese “experts” to the Memory of the World Regional Committee for Asia Pacific, a UNESCO subsidiary.

Citing that the chair of the UNESCO committee is a Chinese and its deputy chair is a Korean, Suga said that some Japanese intellectuals should also be included as committee members.

Past related articles:
> Abe gov’t intends to withhold financial contributions to counter UNESCO ‘Nanjing Massacre’ inscription [October 14, 2015]
> Materials related to Japanese POWs in Siberia and Nanjing Massacre inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage list [October 11, 2015]