Public outrage over what is widely seen as a pro-apartheid column penned by conservative author Ayako Sono has shown no sign of abating more than a week after its publication.
As of Friday morning, 111 university professors and scholars nationwide had expressed their support for a letter of protest by some members of the Kyoto-based Japan Association for African Studies in which they called for the column to be retracted.
The letter, submitted to Sono and the Sankei Shimbun on Monday, argues that the author's stance that immigrants should live in segregated communities is tantamount to defending South Africa's apartheid policies and deserved international condemnation.