Scholars voice concerns over Japan's historical revisionism, remilitarization

Scholars from China and Japan have voiced concerns over Japan's right-wing efforts to rewrite its wartime history, including glossing over accounts of its war crimes in museum exhibits and engaging in AI-fueled disinformation campaigns. Such attempts are sparking mounting alarm over the country's rapid backsliding toward remilitarization.

The Nagasaki atomic bomb museum is currently undergoing its first major exhibition renewal in 30 years. But a plan unveiled by the Nagasaki city government has stirred criticism, as it would drastically water down and revise descriptions of Japan's wars of aggression and colonial rule. Most alarmingly, the museum's reference to the Nanjing Massacre will be changed to the "Nanjing Incident".

The planned changes have drawn sharp criticism from overseas media, many of which have questioned the legitimacy of the revision.

"Many media outlets from abroad have come to Nagasaki to cover this issue, and they have all run critical stories. They keep asking: Is this really going to happen? Is this really acceptable?" said Tatsuo Sekiguchi, head of Nagasaki citizens' group.

Altering museum displays is only one front of Japan's right-wing historical revisionism. The forces have adopted new digital tactics to spread distorted narratives, leveraging artificial intelligence to flood public discourse with false claims.

According to Japan's Asahi Shimbun, right-wing groups have recruited contributors via crowdsourcing platforms and used AI tools to mass-produce disinformation denying the Nanjing Massacre, in a blatant violation of historical truth and human conscience.

Beyond these technological maneuvers, Japan's right-wing politicians have long weaponized the country's "victim narrative" to justify military buildup and security policy shifts.

At a ceremony on August 9 marking the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi again emphasized Japan's status as a "war victim", while downplaying the tens of millions of casualties Japan's aggression caused across neighboring countries.

Of even greater concern is Takaichi's deliberately ambiguous stance on the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles".

Japan's Mainichi Shimbun cut straight to the heart of the matter, pointing out that although Takaichi mentioned in her address that "Japan currently upholds the Three Non-Nuclear Principles", her wording differed subtly from that of her predecessors, and she stopped short of explicitly affirming that Japan will continue to adhere to the principle.

Observers warn that Japan's historical distortion and military expansion are deeply intertwined, posing a growing threat to regional security.

"Japan's right-wing forces' falsification of history and its real-world military preparations are two sides of the same coin. In recent years, Japan has significantly ramped up its defense budget, relaxed arms export restrictions, and pushed forward the development of so-called counter-strike capabilities," said Meng Mingming, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"If Japan refuses to show remorse over its wartime past, neighboring countries will only grow more convinced that Japan is retracing its old path and risks becoming a source of war once again," Meng added.

Scholars voice concerns over Japan's historical revisionism, remilitarization

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iturup, a Far Eastern Kuril island known in Japan as Etorofu, was a signal to the United States and NATO that the status quo in the Far East is not open to negotiation, a Russian scholar said.

Russia and Japan have a longstanding territorial dispute over Iturup and three other Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Japan's northern Hokkaido prefecture. The four islands are known as the Southern Kuril Islands in Russia and as the Northern Territories in Japan.

Iturup is one of the Southern Kuril Islands, which have long been a source of friction in Russia-Japan relations.

Putin made his first personal visit to Iturup on Thursday. The trip drew criticism from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who said it "offends the feelings of the Japanese people".

Andrei Fesyun, deputy director for research at the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University, said the timing of the visit was linked to Putin's inspection of naval exercises.

"The timing was indeed good, I mean. This came during an inspection of naval exercises in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. Everything there is quite close together. At times like this, the commander-in-chief is usually based in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Iturup is not far away. Of course, this was not a signal to Japan. It was a signal first and foremost to the United States and NATO. The existing arrangements in the Far East are not subject to change. They will not be up for negotiation and will be defended by every possible means. That is essentially what the Russian president wanted to convey," Fesyun said.

Fesyun described Russian-Japanese relations as complicated, saying Japan appeared unwilling to improve political ties even as it continued to purchase Russian energy resources.

"Russian-Japanese relations are a very complicated matter because, by and large, everything depends on Japan. Japan does not appear interested in improving political relations, although it continues to buy Russian resources -- mainly gas, oil and coal. It does not appear ready to give them up," Fesyun said.

Putin's Far East visit sends message to US, NATO: Russian expert