Japan should attempt to build new relations with Asian countries with a forthright admission that its colonial rule and wartime aggression inflicted tremendous pain on them, according to Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura.

He said that by talking to some Chinese and Korean people, he could see that "they still hold incurable feelings toward Japan." Machimura, 52, added that he respects the Textbooks Authorization Research Council's decision to include the issue of "comfort women" in all junior high school textbooks approved for this year.

"Comfort women" is the Japanese euphemism for women, mostly non-Japanese Asians, who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese armed forces members before and during World War II. Nevertheless, he said in a recent interview that the ministry will not block the counter-movement by scholars, teachers and politicians who oppose what they call "masochistic views" of Japanese history. Such people are writing their own versions of history textbooks that do not refer to "comfort women."