A Tokyo publisher said Monday it would rewrite part of its history textbook, which has been condemned by Japan's Asian neighbours for allegedly glossing over the country's wartime atrocities.
Fuso Publishing Inc. told the education ministry that it would revise nine parts of the junior high school textbook, including five parts which have been called into question by the South Korean government.
"It is not that we have complied with requests for revisions but it is a result of our self-examination," said a group of authors of the book.
The group, which calls itself the Society for History Textbook Reform, is made up of avowedly nationalist historians who assert Japan has become too "masochistic" in assessing its past.
The book's clearance in April by the government as suitable for use in schools has drawn angry reactions in several Asian countries invaded by Japan, souring relations with China and South Korea in particular.
The book plays down events such as the Nanjing Massacre in China and the use of hundreds of thousands of Asian women as sex slaves for Japanese troops -- TOKYO (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
