On the basis of new NHK chief Katsuto Momii assertion that the use of "comfort women" only seems wrong by "today's morality," one might infer that there exists some shred of international morality in today's Japan and that there was no recognizable human morality here whatsoever in the past.
The sad truth seems quite the opposite: There must have been more morality in existence in Japan during World War II because nobody except a monster could have made such a barbaric assertion in this present day without appearing completely purged of any feeling for the many women raped, beaten, tortured, mutilated and murdered.
If a war crimes tribunal were held right now to judge the puppet that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put in charge of Japan's media hub, would they need much time to reach a unanimously "guilty" verdict about Momii's disgraceful comment?
It seems that Japan's media Frankenstein is rampaging through history on the wings of its master who has just lambasted China mindlessly at Davos, Switzerland.
Buoyed by the bravado of bringing a hapless Japanese public to heel, Abe and his miscreations are now aiming at treating the world like a soul-less species of "yes" people, but it won't take long for other countries besides China and South Korea to start saying "no" once they realize his true ambitions — to bury the past without ever having to face up to it.
As George Orwell said, there is no greater crime against humanity than rewriting the past to promote one's own agenda, and Momii has just written another sad page for Abe in his distorted history text.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.