Nineteen American historians have signed a letter condemning the government of Japan for demanding that textbook publisher McGraw Hill remove references to “comfort women” from a book that references Japanese atrocities during World War II.
The recent, brutal beheadings of Japanese citizens Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto by members of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) have shocked and awakened the people of Japan to the growing threat of radical Islam, which may prove to be a turning point in the country’s global role.
Analysts are puzzled by ISIS’s burning alive of Jordan’s pilot; Jordan promises revenge against ISIS for killing pilot; Japan’s nationalism surges over ISIS killings of two Japanese hostages
Members of Japan’s opposition party are beginning to publicly criticize Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his choice to send humanitarian aid to nations fighting the Islamic State, a decision blamed for triggering a hostage crisis that took the lives of two Japanese citizens.
The Islamic State’s brutal murder of its second Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, has Japan’s government talking about vengeance — a major shift in tone for post-war Japan, observers have noted.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged $100 million of his country’s money to help reconstruct the Gaza Strip. Abe’s pledge follows this past summer’s 50-day war, initiated by the Hamas terror group, which left much the territory in ruins. As a result of Hamas’s aggression, dozens of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians died in the conflict.
In their latest Internet hostage video, the Islamic State demanded $200 million from Japan in exchange for the lives of security contractor Haruna Yukawa and freelance journalist Kenji Goto Jogo, promising they would be killed within 72 hours if the ransom was not paid. After vowing that his nation would not submit to terrorist demands, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked several prominent Middle Eastern leaders for help, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
