Current Project
Education Against Historical Denialism
In early 2021, I got involved in a case surrounding an academic article that viewed (Japanese and Korean) "comfort women" as voluntarily contracted prostitutes. Four other concerned historians and I conducted fact-checking. We found that the article distorted and nearly fabricated a large number of pieces of evidence it cited. We co-wrote this letter, requesting that the journal editors conduct a proper investigation.
With this experience, we expanded our knowledge of the common tactics, ideological goals, and major outlets of historical denialism on the atrocities the Japanese military committed during World War II. We also learned that the history of "comfort women" has been the most popular topic for these deniers. As we turned vocal against their baseless claims, we started getting harassed by anonymous accounts and a small number of right-wing scholars on Twitter.
Moving on from fact checking and protecting the professional standard of academic integrity, we think it is important to arm students and scholars with the contents and contexts of relevant sources to confront historical denialism. A number of scholars and institutions are fighting on this front. We would like to add our contribution to this collective endeavor.
Thus my Grassroots Operations of the Japanese Empire now hosts a translation of the deniers' favorite Home Ministry document, "Concerning the Management of Women Traveling to China" (Feb 23, 1937). Prof. Amy Stanley kindly offered the translation and put together an introduction of the context. We designed it for classroom use, but it is a concise read for anyone interested in why many deniers want to refer to this particular document.
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