Japan's ruling LDP to review postwar history amid concerns of historical revisionism

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided on Friday to set up a team to examine the history since the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895), including the Tokyo Trials after WWII, local media reported.

The so-called "headquarters for history learning and future thinking" will be officially launched on Nov. 29 at the ceremony of the party's 60th anniversary, and the first meeting will possibly be held next month.

LDP Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki, who will be chief of the new organization, it will be directly under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

He also said subjects to be examined would include the Sino-Japanese war, Russo-Japanese War, the reason for Japan to start the Pacific War, as well as the Nanjing Massacre and comfort women issue.

Though Tanigaki said he hoped the organization could become a platform for "learning about the objective history," analysts worried the move might be part of historical revisionism attempting to whitewash Japan's wartime past.

One of the organization's advocate is Tomomi Inada, a close political ally of Abe and a representative for right-wing politicians in Japan, who claimed that the rulings of Tokyo Trials included faulty views on history and should be scrutinized. Endit