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:

• Shiro Takahashi – President
• Tsutomu Nishioka – Vice President and Secretary General
• Kanji Katsuoka (勝岡寛次) – Secretary
• Tetsuhide Yamaoka, Australia-Japan Community Network – Secretary
• Youichi Shimada (島田洋一), Japan Education Rebirth Institute – Auditor
• Takashi Ito (伊藤隆), Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform
• Yoshiko Sakurai, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
• Hidemichi Tanaka (田中英道), Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform / Japan Education Rebirth Institute
• Toshio Watanabe (渡辺利夫)

Website: http://harc.tokyo/

Himawari Japan (ひまわりJapan) is a comfort women denier group made up of Japanese women living in New York/New Jersey area, many of whom are followers of Happy Science. It was founded by Yoko Nagato in June 2016 and held a first lecture event featuring Mio Sugita, Shiro Takahashi, Yasuhiro Takasaki, and Shinichi Tokunaga.

In 2018, Himawari Japan was awarded a contract by the Japanese Consulate General in New York to set up a “help line” for Japanese residents in the area whose children are “bullied” due to “historical issues.” In addition, Himawari Japan solicits information about any use of “anti-Japanese” materials at schools including the film Unbroken or any events in the community related to the “comfort women” issue and any other topic connected to Japan’s history. The contract, which runs from May 2018 to March 2019 at $1,000 per month, is widely criticized because of the group’s political slant and lack of expertise on addressing bullying.

Website: http://himawarijapan.org/