Japan organizer: No history book at hotel during Asian Games

Yasushi Suzuki, an official in charge of accommodations at the organizing committee, said it reminded the hotel on Monday to remove all printed materials unrelated to the games from its guestrooms, a condition the hotel agreed to last year ahead of the history book flap. APA said on its website Tuesday it will comply with the request.

Only printed materials needed for the games are allowed inside hotel rooms during the event to ensure religious and political neutrality, Suzuki said.

The organizers have also decided to put approximately 250 Chinese athletes in the Sapporo Prince Hotel, another designated accommodation for the games, instead of APA at the request of Chinese Olympic authorities, Suzuki said.

The issue is the latest dispute between the Asian neighbours over Japanese aggression before and during World War II. It follows recent tensions between Japan and South Korea over a Korean statue representing “comfort women” used for sex in Japanese military-linked wartime brothels from the 1930s to the war’s end.

In the book, “The Real History of Japan: Theoretical Modern History II,” APA president Toshio Motoya writes that the Nanjing Massacre is an “imaginary” event concocted by China to criticize Japan. The book also denies that Japan forced “comfort women” to provide sex to Japanese soldiers.

The wartime massacre of Chinese citizens by the Japanese military in Nanking, now called Nanjing, is one of the biggest flashpoints between the two countries. China says up to 300,000 people were killed, while Japanese nationalists put the number much lower or deny the massacre entirely.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

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Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Japan organizer: No history book at hotel during Asian Games

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