ID :
35231
Fri, 12/12/2008 - 12:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/35231
The shortlink copeid
Defense chief mulls scrapping history course founded by ex-general
TOKYO, Dec. 11 Kyodo - Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Thursday he will consider scrapping a history course at a Self-Defense Forces academy initiated by ousted Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami.
Hamada also said he thinks the course's selection of lecturers was improper,
pledging to pick lecturers ''appropriately'' when providing ranking officers
with advanced education.
''I will consider options including that of abolishing it,'' he told the House
of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Hamada also apologized for his oversight in the matter, saying, ''I have to
reflect on myself if you say my civilian control as a minister has fallen short
by allowing it (the selection) to happen.''
But he dismissed the idea that views different from the government's position
on Japan's colonial rule and war aggression have permeated the ranks of SDF
officers, and ruled out the option of conducting a ''thought investigation'' on
them.
''The act of checking (SDF officers' thoughts) will lower their morale. There's
no sign of a coup d'etat happening even without such checks,'' he said.
As head of the SDF's elite Joint Staff College, Tamogami set up a course on the
views on history and the nation for ranking officers in 2003 and invited as
lecturers those whose views seemed to conform to his.
Such lecturers included Atsushi Fukuchi and Akinori Takamori, both executives
of a group that edited a history textbook criticized as attempting to gloss
over Japan's wartime aggression.
The two have continued to give lectures at the school through the current
academic year.
In late October, Tamogami, 60, was sacked as the ASDF chief over an essay he
wrote arguing that Japan was a benevolent colonial ruler and not an aggressor
before and during World War II. He was forced to retire from the force shortly
afterward.
The government has followed a 1995 statement by then Prime Minister Tomiichi
Murayama stating that Japan inflicted tremendous damage and suffering on Asian
and other countries ''through its colonial rule and aggression.''
Hamada also said he thinks the course's selection of lecturers was improper,
pledging to pick lecturers ''appropriately'' when providing ranking officers
with advanced education.
''I will consider options including that of abolishing it,'' he told the House
of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Hamada also apologized for his oversight in the matter, saying, ''I have to
reflect on myself if you say my civilian control as a minister has fallen short
by allowing it (the selection) to happen.''
But he dismissed the idea that views different from the government's position
on Japan's colonial rule and war aggression have permeated the ranks of SDF
officers, and ruled out the option of conducting a ''thought investigation'' on
them.
''The act of checking (SDF officers' thoughts) will lower their morale. There's
no sign of a coup d'etat happening even without such checks,'' he said.
As head of the SDF's elite Joint Staff College, Tamogami set up a course on the
views on history and the nation for ranking officers in 2003 and invited as
lecturers those whose views seemed to conform to his.
Such lecturers included Atsushi Fukuchi and Akinori Takamori, both executives
of a group that edited a history textbook criticized as attempting to gloss
over Japan's wartime aggression.
The two have continued to give lectures at the school through the current
academic year.
In late October, Tamogami, 60, was sacked as the ASDF chief over an essay he
wrote arguing that Japan was a benevolent colonial ruler and not an aggressor
before and during World War II. He was forced to retire from the force shortly
afterward.
The government has followed a 1995 statement by then Prime Minister Tomiichi
Murayama stating that Japan inflicted tremendous damage and suffering on Asian
and other countries ''through its colonial rule and aggression.''
