Hiromichi Moteki (茂木弘道) is the secretary general of the Society for Dissemination of Historical Fact and a comfort women denier. He is also the owner of Sekai Shuppan, a publisher specializing in translating Japanese books to English, which aligns with Moteki’s and SDHF’s goal of translating Japanese historical denier literature such as Shudo Higashinakano’s The Nanking Massacre: Fact Versus Fiction, which Sekai Shuppan published in 2005.
Website: Sekai Shuppan
Akiko Okamoto (岡本明子) is a conservative writer and activist previously affiliated with Japan Conference who served as the founding secretary general of Japan Family Value Society. As a writer, she was influential in the anti-feminist (or anti- so-called “gender free” movement) backlash in the mid-2000s. She was one of the first Japanese conservative activists to lobby at various United Nations committees, and assisted other conservative activists and groups including comfort women deniers to do the same.
Okamoto was also among the first to call attention to the establishment of comfort women memorials in the U.S. as a threat to Japan’s national pride. In the May 2012 issue of Seiron, a conservative opinion magazine, Okamoto warned how Japan was losing ground in the U.S. and in the United Nations on the issue of comfort women as evidenced by the establishment of a comfort women memorial in Palisades Park, New Jersey, even as the Japanese conservatives consolidated their dominance over domestic discourse over comfort women. Her article served as a rallying cry for Japanese conservatives and comfort women deniers to begin propagating “Japan’s position” regarding comfort women at the United Nations and in foreign media.
Okamoto herself appears to be largely retired from public involvement in conservative politics, but her successor Kiyoshi Hosoya of FAVS and other conservative activists continue to lobby against comfort women at the United Nations level.
Japan Family Value Society (FAVS, 家族の絆を守る会) is a conservative Japanese group dedicated to preserving “traditional Japanese families” through opposition to legislations aimed at improving the status of women such as anti-discrimination policies and legalized abortion. The organization also calls on Japan to withdraw from the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
At the founding in 2007, FAVS was part of the network of Japan Conference with Japan Conference’s Akiko Okamoto (岡本明子) as the Secretary General, although the organization appears to be less prominent under the leadership of Kiyoshi Hosoya today.
Under Okamoto, FAVS was one of the first Japanese right-wing groups to participate in the United Nations processes as an NGO along with “family values” and anti-abortion groups from around the world as a member of the World Congress of Families. More recently under Hosoya, FAVS focuses on comfort women denial at the United Nations level in collaboration with Global Alliance for Historical Truth, of which Hosoya is a board member, Alliance for Truth about Comfort Women, and Nadeshiko Action. It is unclear how much ties the organization maintains with the Japan Conference now.
Japan Policy Institute (日本政策研究センター) is a nationalist think tank founded by Tetsuo Ito, a board member of Japan Conference. It is described in Japanese media as a right-wing “brain” of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration. JPI’s focus areas include comfort women denial, history, and anti-feminism.
Website: http://www.seisaku-center.net
Historical Awareness Research Committee (歴史認識問題研究会) is a group consisting of far-right nationalists in Japan. It was first announced by Shiro Takahashi in his column on Sankei Shimbun newspaper on August 31st, 2016 and formally founded on October 1st, 2016. HARC aims to collect “evidences” that support its nationalist views, including comfort women and Nanking atrocities denial, and publish them in foreign languages to influence the international community.
At the time of founding, HARC distributes materials produced and previously distributed by Society for Dissemination of Historical Fact and Japan Policy Institute. Its office is housed at the Institute of Moralogy (モラロジー研究所), a semi-religious entity affiliated with Japan Conference.
Board members of HARC are:
Website: http://harc.tokyo/
Genki Fujii (藤井厳喜), alternatively spelled Gemki Fujii and also known as Noboru Fujii (藤井昇), is a conservative political commentator and comfort women denier (no relation to Mitsuhiko Fujii). He ran unsuccessfully for the parliament twice under Sunrise Party of Japan (たちあがれ日本) in 2010 and Japan Innovation Party (日本維新の会) in 2012. Fujii is on the board of Global Alliance for Historical Truth.
Fujii is the founder and owner of Cambridge Forecast Group of Japan, which includes publishing company Direct Publishing and online channel World Forecast. Direct Publishing published the Japanese translation of “Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency” written by conservative political commentator Doug Wead.
Fujii’s Direct Publishing offers his book, “Nihon jin ga shiranai taiheiyou sensou no oouso” (日本人が知らない太平洋戦争の大嘘, Big Lies about the Pacific War that Japanese People Do Not Know) for free on its website (550 yen or about $5.50 for shipping and handling required) in which Fujii advances heterodox claims such as that President Franklin D. Roosevelt conspired with the Chinese to entrap Japan into the WWII, or that the U.S. ignored Japan’s offer to surrender toward the end of the WWII until after atomic bombs could be used.
Fujii has spoken at J-CPAC (later renamed CPAC Japan) held by Japanese Conservative Union, and his company is a “Presenting Sponsor” for the (American) CPAC 2021 which is the second highest sponsorship level said to cost $125,000.
Makoto Sakurai (桜井誠) is the founder and former president of anti-Korean extremist group Zaitokukai and a comfort women denier.
In 2016, he ran unsuccessfully for the governor of Tokyo, and founded Japan First Party (日本第一党) afterwards.
Makoto Sakurai has no relation to Yoshiko Sakurai.
Shigeharu Aoyama (青山繁晴) is a conservative political commentator turned politician and a comfort women denier.
After visiting San Jose, California, Aoyama claimed to have heard first-hand testimonies about bullying experienced by Japanese children in the U.S. resulting from the construction of comfort women memorial in Glendale, California, which is over 300 miles away from San Jose. When the group of Japanese parents in San Jose who had sponsored Aoyama’s visit publicly contradicted his statement, he backtraced the comment, saying that the bullying stories were from elsewhere, even though he had not visited Glendale or anywhere near comfort women memorials in the U.S. by that time.
In June 2016, Aoyama ran for the House of Councilors and won a six-year term.
Koichi Sugiyama (すぎやまこういち) is a composer most known for creating music for popular video game series Dragon Quest and a comfort women denier. As a member of the Committee for Historical Facts, he singlehandedly financed the paid advertisements The Facts (2007) and Yes, we remember the facts. (2012).
Committee for Historical Facts (歴史事実委員会) is the group behind paid advertisements The Facts (2007) and Yes, we remember the facts. (2012) that deny the history of comfort women. It appears to be closely connected to the Society for Dissemination of Historical Fact, but it is unclear whether or not it is the same entity.
Committee members at the time of the 2007 ad were:
Committee members at the time of the 2012 ad were: