Takaichi War Denial Clip Explodes Online

A 24-year-old "dark history" clip of Prime Minister Takaichi has resurfaced on Japanese social media. In it, she comments on Japan's war against China, and the footage has quickly drawn renewed attention.

Renowned political commentator and TV host Soichiro Tahara interviewed Takaichi on a 2002 news program. He pressed her on her support for right-wing politicians visiting Yasukuni Shrine.

When asked whether Japan's invasion of China was a war of self-preservation and self-defense, Takaichi said she believed it was. Tahara immediately denounced her on air as ignorant and naive.

Resurfaced 2002 clip shows host branding Takaichi ignorant over China war denial.

The On-Air Clash

According to Japanese media, the clip originated from "Sunday Project," an Asahi TV program broadcast on August 18, 2002. Tahara hosted the segment. He questioned guests about right-wing politicians visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals from World War II.

Takaichi supported such visits at the time. So Tahara asked how she viewed Japan's invasion of China. He asked whether she considered Japan's war to have been a war of self-preservation and self-defense. Takaichi said she believed it was. Her response immediately drew Tahara's resentment.

On air, Takaichi said Japan's invasion of China was self-preservation and self-defense.

Tahara raised his voice in response. This was no joke. The Manchurian Incident, he said, was instigated by the Japanese military, specifically the Kwantung Army. They fabricated the whole thing. That was clearly a war of aggression.

As Takaichi tried to respond, Tahara pressed on. He noted that even former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone had called the Manchurian Incident strange. Then he asked why Japan would invade Manchuria in the name of self-defense and establish a puppet state there.

Takaichi insisted that colonizing other countries was a widely accepted international norm at the time. Other nations were doing the same, she argued, so Japan's actions should not be considered aggression.

Takaichi claimed colonizing others was then normal, so Japan did not commit act of aggression.

Tahara rebutted her directly with historical evidence. He said the fact that she called this act of aggression self-preservation and self-defense only showed her ignorance. It was truly alarming, he added, that a member of parliament held such an ignorant view of history.

Tahara told Takaichi a lawmaker with such ignorant history views was deeply troubling.

Still, Takaichi pushed back. At the very least, she said, she believed it was a war fought for security. Tahara shot back sharply. That naïve view, he said, was simply laughable.

Neither the host nor the media could have imagined it at the time. A politician who distorted history and denied Japan's wartime crimes would, more than two decades later, become the country's prime minister.

The clip has reignited public debate, and Tahara responded to it directly. On July 26, he updated his account on X and expressed his wish to have a dialogue with Takaichi.

Right-Wing Echoes, Real-World Risk

According to Global Times' new media outlet, this 2002 video resurfaces every few years, sparking fresh rounds of controversy. What stands out this time, the report says, is how voices defending Takaichi's historical distortions are spreading.

Right-wing forces on the fringes of Japanese society are amplifying these voices through the internet and social media, wrongly influencing a growing number of Japanese people.

Online right-wing rhetoric is one problem, but the report argues something else matters more. Far more consequential is the new-style militarism Takaichi has pursued since taking office, marked by accelerated military expansion.

This is precisely why neighboring countries, including China, remain especially wary of Japan under her leadership.

Why Japan Never Faced Its Past

Citing historical analysis from authoritative mainland media, the report states that Japanese society has long been plagued by distortions of its history of aggression. Wartime crimes have been whitewashed for decades, and many far-right figures have now risen to political power. Japan, unlike Germany, never fully confronted the ideological roots of its militarism after World War II.

As the Cold War took shape, the United States substantially revised its Japan policy out of bloc-confrontation considerations. It halted mid-way efforts to purge militarist forces, and many war criminals were treated leniently and allowed to return to politics.

This, the report suggests, is the key reason for the stark contrast between the two defeated powers. Germany thoroughly reckoned with Nazi crimes and reflected deeply on the war, while Japan has long evaded its history of aggression and refused to sincerely atone for it.

Deep Throat

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

India wants to build its own solar industry from the ground up. But it still can't cut the cord from Chinese suppliers. That contradiction is now shutting down factories across the country.

Reuters reports that a shortage of domestically made solar cells has forced several panel manufacturers to halt operations entirely. Companies now face waits of up to eight months for local cells that were meant to replace Chinese imports.

Industry insiders warn this bottleneck threatens to derail India's 2030 solar power targets.

India wants solar independence. Chinese parts still call the shots.

 A Third Of Factories Down

The numbers tell a stark story. Nearly a third of India's 140 small and medium-sized solar panel manufacturers have already stopped production, according to India's Solar Manufacturers Association.

Those idled plants account for 60% of the country's national manufacturing capacity. The remaining factories aren't faring much better. They've scaled back to running just once every three to four days.

Going local comes with a steep price tag right now. Manufacturers without their own cell production lines face six to eight month waits for domestic cells. That delay has pushed the cost of India-made panels to nearly double the price of panels built with Chinese cells.

Shailendra Shukla, chairman of manufacturer Icon Solar, put it bluntly. "We have suffered a lot due to the domestic cell unavailability for the past three months," he said. He expects his company's output to plunge from 3.2 gigawatts to roughly 1 gigawatt.

Mandate Meets Reality

Earlier this year, the Indian government started to force the issue. From June 1 onward, solar projects must use compliant domestically produced cells to cut reliance on imports. The policy backfired in practice. India's local cell production capacity simply couldn't keep up, leaving companies with plenty of module capacity but no cells to put in them.

The scale of the mismatch is striking. Indian firms have built roughly 200 gigawatts of solar panel manufacturing capacity. Solar cell capacity, by contrast, stands at just about 27 gigawatts, with actual operational output running even lower at 16 to 18 gigawatts.

Closing that gap won't happen overnight. Rajan Kalsotra, senior consultant at German research firm EUPD Research, estimates it could take India three to five years to build enough domestic cell capacity to match its module output.

Solar power reaches even India's temporary settlements.

A Supply Chain Still Made In China

India's photovoltaic industry has leaned on China's supply chain for years, and that dependence hasn't loosened. About 95% of India's solar cell imports come from China. Imports in the last fiscal year rose 37% year-on-year to roughly 1.86 billion US dollars.

Building an independent supply chain takes more than ambition. Solar cell factories require substantial capital, technological partnerships, and lengthy commissioning periods. China dominates the global market for solar manufacturing equipment and technology, and Indian firms say Beijing's export restrictions on related technology have made it even harder for India to expand its own capacity.

The clock is ticking on India's climate commitments. Indian solar companies warn that the cell shortage is driving up costs, delaying project construction, and could jeopardize the country's 2030 target of installing 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel energy capacity. Currently, India's non-fossil energy capacity stands at about 288 gigawatts, with solar accounting for roughly 29% of that total.

The human cost is mounting too. Industry insiders say Indian solar project costs could rise by about 35% until domestic cell capacity expands. Companies reliant on photovoltaic manufacturing are also facing employment pressures. In Gujarat state alone, module manufacturers lacking cell production capacity account for roughly 45,000 jobs.