Originally published on October 17, 2019.
This article discusses the Sankei Shimbun’s bilingual Japanese-English edition of History Wars and examines the comfort women issue, the Nanjing Incident, anti-Japanese propaganda, and the importance of information warfare in the international arena.
It praises the Sankei Shimbun for doing what Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have done and argues that Japan must defend its honor by presenting the truth in English.

October 17, 2019.
It was also because I encountered information in English that I came to realize that the so-called “Nanjing Massacre” did not exist and that the comfort women were not “sex slaves.”
I am republishing the chapter I originally posted on August 18, 2015, under the title:
The Sankei Shimbun Is Struggling to Do What Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Should Have Done.
The following is from the book review section of the Sankei Shimbun on August 16.
It is a review written by Mr. Henry S. Stokes, former Tokyo bureau chief of The New York Times, under the title “To Defend Japan’s Honor.”
Emphasis in the text is mine.
History Wars
Rekishi-sen
Why Did the False Accusation of the Century Occur?
Japanese-English Bilingual Edition
Sankei Shimbun Co., Ltd. (Sankei Shimbun Publishing, 1,200 yen plus tax)
“This is truly a ‘war.’
The main enemy is China, and the battlefield is America.”
“The present situation is that, against the joint front formed by activist groups in Japan, South Korea, and the United States together with China and North Korea, Japan is defending itself on the main battlefield of the American mainland while waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.”
“One can clearly understand how Japanese diplomacy, which has tried to show sincerity by apologizing first to forces that maliciously seek to degrade Japan, has failed.”
The fact that the Sankei Shimbun has published the Japanese-English bilingual edition History Wars is, in effect, the raising of a signal fire for battle on the world stage.
The opening messages by Sakurai Yoshiko, Hata Ikuhiko, and Nishioka Tsutomu, all of whom have deep connections with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, are encouraging to us as comrades.
The “history war” in English has now begun in earnest.
This book consists of four chapters.
Chapter One proves that the comfort women issue is a false accusation against Japan.
Chapter Two deals with the anti-Japanese propaganda activities being carried out in America through cooperation between Korean-American and Chinese-American anti-Japanese coalitions.
Chapter Three brings into sharp relief the comfort women issue, whose facts have been distorted and transmitted to the world.
Chapter Four criticizes the Japanese government for failing to refute false claims, citing the example of how the “Nanjing Massacre” has come to be treated as an established fact.
I have read this book over and over again, but this was the first time I had ever seen such detailed information in English.
The Sankei Shimbun is struggling to do what Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have done.
I hope that many Japanese citizens will join this effort by introducing and presenting this book to their acquaintances and friends overseas.
It was also because I encountered information in English that I came to realize that the so-called “Nanjing Massacre” did not exist and that the comfort women were not “sex slaves.”
On the other hand, the greatest reason why many Western journalists and historians believe in the “Nanjing Massacre” and the “comfort women as sex slaves” theory is that an enormous amount of information exists in English.
Near San Francisco’s Chinatown, the “Overseas Anti-Japanese War Memorial Museum” is opening.
In the information war of the international community, the Japanese aesthetic sense of not making loud assertions is losing to Chinese and Korean propaganda.
Seventy years after the war, Japan must win the “history war” in order to defend its honor.
I hope that this book will become the forerunner of that victory.