Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is finalizing plans for a public debate with the right-wing, anti-Korean group Zaitokukai over the definition of hate speech and the need to balance freedom of expression with others' human rights.
The debate, expected to take place in Osaka sometime this month, comes amid rising domestic and international attention to hate speech in Japan, and follows revelations of apparent connections between Zaitokukai and senior members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet.
Hashimoto is a populist who made internationally-controversial comments last year about Japan's military wartime brothels, saying the so-called "comfort women" system had been necessary at that time.