Regarding Koichi Katsuta's May 8 letter, "Fictions aimed at milking Japan": Nationalists like Katsuta love to claim that Japan was the victim nation in World War II and that [claims of atrocities] were all lies to hurt Japan. He says the use of the term "sex slave" is incorrect, because no women were forced into slavery.
Perhaps the invasion of China was all a misunderstanding, and Japan just didn't realize the land was already taken by someone else. The 40-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula and the horrifying things done in the name of erasing Korea as a culture and people were all a misunderstanding as well.
Perhaps everything Japan has ever done in its history was really just about it trying to be super-nice to someone. All the torture, the Rape of Nanking, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Unit 731, the occupation of Indonesia, Burma, China, Korea, et al. were just a huge misunderstanding, and in fact, those countries should apologize to Japan for having soiled its name with accusations of historical fact.
Of course. I'm being sarcastic. How is Japan supposed to mend the wounds of the Pacific War when historical revisionists like Katsuta are allowed to spew their ridiculous tripe?
It's time that Japan enacted a law similar to Germany's law against denial of the Holocaust. Anyone that denies the reality of the horror of Japanese imperialism should be thrown in jail.
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.