Special Mission Committee to Restore the Honor and Trust of Japan (日本の名誉を守る特命委員会) is a committee within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that was formed in October 2014 to refute criticisms toward postwar Japan’s handling of the Japanese military comfort women system during the WWII. It is headed by Hirofumi Nakasone (中曽根弘文), and Tomomi Inada (稲田朋美) spoke at the inaugural meeting along with him.
The committee me 13 times over the next year to discuss “false” depictions of the comfort women system in foreign media and textbooks, and issued a report in July 2015 calling on the Japanese government to more aggressively “correct the misperceptions regarding the comfort women issue.”
Members of the committee were:
- Masahiko Takamura (高村正彦), advisor
- Hirofumi Nakasone (中曽根弘文), chair
- Takeshi Iwaya (岩屋毅)
- Itsunori Onodera (小野寺五典)
- Yoshiaki Harada (原田義昭)
- Katsuei Hiarasawa (平沢勝栄)
- Keiji Furuya (古屋圭司)
- Kuniko Inoguchi (猪口邦子)
- Kenji Kosaka (小坂憲次)
- Keizo Takemi (武見敬三)
- Taimei Yamaguchi (山口泰明)
- Tsukasa Akimoto (秋元司)
- Masahito Moriyama (盛山正仁)
- Kenya Akiba (秋葉賢也)
- Tsutomu Tomioka (冨岡勉)
- Shuichi Takatori (高鳥修一)
- Masahiko Shibayama (柴山昌彦)
- Yoshitaka Ikeda (池田佳隆)
- Tsuyoshi Hoshino (星野剛士)
- Michiko Ueno (上野通子)
- Yutaka Kumagai (熊谷大)
Study Group for Japan’s Rebirth (日本再生研究会) is a monthly study group on modern Japanese history founded in 2006 by comfort women denier Koichi Mera. The meetings were held in Japanese mainly for “shin issei” (new first generation) Japanese immigrants according to Mera. As of 2014, annual membership is $60.
Unlike Mera’s other group, Global Alliance for Historical Truth, the Study Group has largely remained unnoticed from the non-Japanese speaking public because it had not exerted itself into public controversies outside the Japanese speaking communities. However, in 2016 the Study Group collaborated with two similarly minded groups from Japan to submit a joint proposal that seeks to deny the historical orthodoxy on comfort women to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
Website: http://www.japansrebirth-sc.org/
Terumi Imamura (今村照美) is a migrant from Sasebo, Japan to Los Angeles and a comfort woman denier. She has been in the leadership position at True Japan Network, a denier organization of Japanese people in the greater Los Angeles area. She spoke out against the proposal to enact a comfort women memorial in San Francisco at the Board of Supervisors meeting in summer 2015 (along with Koichi Mera, Yoshi Taguchi, and Mariko Okada-Collins) and facilitated a denier panel at the UN Commission on the Status of Women Parallel Events (2016) featuring Mio Sugita, Koichi Mera, and Kiyoshi Hosoya.
Tetsuhide Yamaoka (山岡鉄秀), real name Hideyuki Okuda (also goes by “Hardi Odaka”), is the president of Australia-Japan Community Network, even though he actually live in Japan. In addition to leading AJCN’s effort to prevent the establishment of comfort women memorials in Australia, Yamaoka frequently contributes to conservative publications in Japan and speaks to the supporters of revisionists’ lawsuits against Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
In 2017 Yamaoka became a fellow at Historical Awareness Research Committee within the Institute of Moralogy, one of the core organizations comprising Japan Conference. He is also the author of “日本よ、もう謝るな! 歴史問題は事実に踏み込まずには解決しない” (2017) which he translates to “Make Apologies History: Letting the Facts Be Out Guide.”
Yamaoka was forced to resign from AJCN in late 2019 due to violations of internal ethics code. Around the same time, Yamaoka was accused of plagiarizing Ikuko Atsumi, a feminist turned nationalist writer and activist. In August 2020, AJCN announced that it was pressing charge against Yamaoka for embezzlement of its funds when he closed AJCN’s bank account in Japan.
For information about Texas Daddy Japan Secretariat (テキサス親父日本事務局), see Shunichi Fujiki.
Texas Night in NYC (2015) is a series of two Japanese-language panels held on March 9 and 12, 2015 in New York City. It was officially sponsored by New York Seiron-no Kai, Japan Mahoroba Support Agency, Society to Promote Correct Historical Views (Happy Science), and Rompa Project, but in New York the event was billed as a Happy Science event.
Speakers for March 9th:
Speakers for March 12th:
The first panel was cancelled by the original venue, Japanese American Association of New York, after the association found out Yamamoto’s history in violent racist group Zaitokukai. The event was moved to an Italian restaurant nearby, where protesters gathered outside.
Texas Night in NYC (2016) is a comfort women denier event held on March 23, 2016 at the St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City. This is the second consecutive year a “Texas Night” event is held in New York, after Texas Night in NYC (2015).
Speakers are:
Sponsors include:
“The Facts” is a paid advertisement published in the June 14, 2007 issue of The Washington Post by a group of Japanese conservatives calling themselves the Committee for Historical Facts in an attempt to dissuade the U.S. House of Representatives from adopting H.Res.121, a resolution urging Japan to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery.”
Co-signed by dozens of political and public leaders in Japan, the ad is often said to have accelerated the passage of the house resolution by giving credence to the notion that Japan had not fully accepted historical responsibility, rather than preventing it. Nonetheless, the group published a similar ad, Yes, we remember the facts. (2012) five years later.
The ad features five “facts” regarding comfort women, which are the same old denier talking points debunked long ago.
Committee for Historical Facts is made up of:
Below is the list of endorsements for the ad.
From Liberal Democratic Party:
- Kazuo Aichi (愛知和男)
- Masaaki Akaike (赤池誠章)
- Tomomi Inada (稲田朋美)
- Taku Etoh (江藤拓)
- Takashi Otsuka (大塚高司)
- Hideaki Okabe (岡部英明)
- Yuichi Ogawa (小川友一)
- Cyube Kagita (鍵田忠兵衛)
- Yoshitami Kameoka (亀岡偉民)
- Minoru Kihara (木原稔)
- Tsukasa Kobiki (木挽司)
- Manabu Sakai (坂井学)
- Yoshinobu Shimamura (島村宜伸)
- Motoshi Sugita (杉田元司)
- Keisuke Suzuki (鈴木馨祐)
- Kentarou Sonoura (薗浦健太郎)
- Masaaki Taira (平将明)
- Touru Toida (戸井田徹)
- Touru Doi (土井亨)
- Masaki Doi (土井真樹)
- Katsuko Nishimoto (西本勝子)
- Jun Hayashi (林潤)
- Yoshihisa Furukawa (古川禎久)
- Fumiaki Matsumoto (松本文明)
- Youhei Matsumoto (松本洋平)
- Youji Mutoh (武藤容治)
- Tomohiro Yamamoto (山本朋広)
- Atsushi Watanabe (渡部篤)
- Yoshio Nakagawa (中川義雄)
From Democratic Party of Japan:
- Kenko Matsuki (松木謙公)
- Hirofumi Ryu (笠浩史)
- Yoshio Maki (牧義夫)
- Izumi Yoshida (吉田泉)
- Takashi Kawamura (河村たかし)
- Takashi Ishizeki (石関貴史)
- Kenta Izumi (泉健太)
- Hideo Jinpu (神風英男)
- Kenji Tamura (田村謙治)
- Eiichirou Washio (鷲尾英一郎)
- Keirou Kitagami (北神圭朗)
- Jin Matsubara (松原仁)
- Sinpei Matsushita (松下新平)
Independents:
- Shingo Nishimura (西村眞悟)
- Takeo Hiranuma (平沼赳夫)
Professors:
- Hayaru Fukuda (福田逸)
- Kohichi Endoh (遠藤浩一)
- Masahiro Miyazaki (宮崎正弘)
- Shudo Higashinakano (東中野修道)
- Kazuhiro Araki (荒木和博)
- Youichi Shimada (島田洋一)
- Tsutomu Nishioka (西岡力)
- Nobukatsu Fujioka (藤岡信勝)
Political Commentators:
- Hideaki Kase (加瀬英明)
- Kanji Nishio (西尾幹二)
- Kouichirou Tomioka (富岡幸一郎)
- Hisahiko Okazaki (岡崎久彦)
Journalists:
