Ikuhiko Hata
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese revisionist historian
. He published many books and interpretive studies in both Japanese military
and modern history
.
. He graduated from University of Tokyo
in 1956, and later studied at Columbia University
. During the four-year bachelor program in Tokyo, he interviewed many former Japanese army
officers, including A-class criminals in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
. After graduation, he joined Ministry of Finance
and later transferred to the Defense Agency, where he engaged in historiographic
works of the Japanese financial and military history. His collaborative study at the Japan Association of International Relations is later published as Road to the Pacific War. Also he published some dictionaries from the University of Tokyo Press
. He taught as a guest professor at Princeton University
, and served as a professor at Takushoku University
, Chiba University
and Nihon University
.
(at max 40,000 civilians, based on his argument that the execution of plain clothes guerrilla soldiers is legal under international law and that both Chinese and Japanese violated Geneva convention making the applicability of the convention moot), and the claim that there was no organized effort by the Japanese military to forcibly recruit comfort women
and that any abduction which took place was done either by renegade front line commanders (especially in South East Asia) who violated military directive or by civilian recruiters that were not part of Japanese military or government. He first came to public prominence when he outed Seiji Yoshida
, who claimed to have abducted Korean women as Japanese officer, as having forged his claims. He was one of the leading participants in the historical debate over Japanese war time atrocities, which took place mainly during 1980s and 1990s in Japan.
While admitting that some individual incidents of atrocities did indeed occurred, Hata claims that there was no organized forced recruitment of comfort women
by Japanese government or military, and one of his long term goals is to revise or completely retract the Kono statement.
has made many remarks criticizing Hata. Regarding Hata's book “Comfort Women
and Sex in War” (“慰安婦と戦場の性”, Hata, 1999) professor Hayashi said,
/WorldCat
encompasses roughly 120+ works in 220 publications in 5 languages and 1,700+ library holdings.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese revisionist historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. He published many books and interpretive studies in both Japanese military
Military history of Japan
The military history of Japan is characterised by a long period of feudal wars, followed by domestic stability, and then rampant imperialism. It culminates with Japan's defeat by the Allies in World War II...
and modern history
History of Japan
The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...
.
Education and career
Hata was born in Yamaguchi PrefectureYamaguchi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Yamaguchi, in the center of the prefecture. The largest city, however, is Shimonoseki.- History :...
. He graduated from University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
in 1956, and later studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. During the four-year bachelor program in Tokyo, he interviewed many former Japanese army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
officers, including A-class criminals in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who...
. After graduation, he joined Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Finance (Japan)
The ' is one of cabinet-level ministries of the Japanese government. The ministry was once named Ōkura-shō . The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Finance , who is a member of the Cabinet and is typically chosen from members of the Diet by the Prime Minister.The Ministry's origin was back in...
and later transferred to the Defense Agency, where he engaged in historiographic
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
works of the Japanese financial and military history. His collaborative study at the Japan Association of International Relations is later published as Road to the Pacific War. Also he published some dictionaries from the University of Tokyo Press
University of Tokyo Press
The is a university press affiliated with the University of Tokyo in Japan. It was founded in 1951, following the post-World War II reorganization of the university.-Location:...
. He taught as a guest professor at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and served as a professor at Takushoku University
Takushoku University
Takushoku University is a private university in Japan. It was founded in 1900 by Prince Taro Katsura . The university is located in Tokyo and has two campuses: the main campus in the Bunkyō district, and a satellite campus in the Hachiōji district...
, Chiba University
Chiba University
is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University.-Faculties:*Letters*Education*Law and Economics*Science...
and Nihon University
Nihon University
Nihon University is the largest university in Japan. Akiyoshi Yamada, the minister of justice, founded Nihon Law School in October 1889....
.
Political and academic activities
He often writes for conservative-leaning publications but distinguishes himself from other political pundits by having substantial academic publications under his name. Some of his controversial claims include a lower death toll for the Nanking massacreNanking Massacre
The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing , the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second...
(at max 40,000 civilians, based on his argument that the execution of plain clothes guerrilla soldiers is legal under international law and that both Chinese and Japanese violated Geneva convention making the applicability of the convention moot), and the claim that there was no organized effort by the Japanese military to forcibly recruit comfort women
Comfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
and that any abduction which took place was done either by renegade front line commanders (especially in South East Asia) who violated military directive or by civilian recruiters that were not part of Japanese military or government. He first came to public prominence when he outed Seiji Yoshida
Seiji Yoshida
is a Japanese writer and former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army. He has published under a variety of pen names, including , , and .-Early life:...
, who claimed to have abducted Korean women as Japanese officer, as having forged his claims. He was one of the leading participants in the historical debate over Japanese war time atrocities, which took place mainly during 1980s and 1990s in Japan.
While admitting that some individual incidents of atrocities did indeed occurred, Hata claims that there was no organized forced recruitment of comfort women
Comfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
by Japanese government or military, and one of his long term goals is to revise or completely retract the Kono statement.
“There were at most 20,000 comfort women. None of them were forcibly recruited (by Japanese military). Forty percent of them were from Japan, the most heavily represented nation. Many were sold to brokers by their parents. Some responded willingly to brokers’ offers; others were deceived.” I would add that, on the average, living conditions in the comfort stations were practically identical to those in brothels set up for American troops during the Vietnam War".
Criticisms
Hirofumi HayashiHirofumi Hayashi
is a historian, an authority on modern Japanese history, and is currently a professor of politics at the Kanto Gakuin University. He has been conducting research on the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia, Japanese war crimes, and war crimes trials including the subject of comfort women.-...
has made many remarks criticizing Hata. Regarding Hata's book “Comfort Women
Comfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
and Sex in War” (“慰安婦と戦場の性”, Hata, 1999) professor Hayashi said,
- “(Hata’s) handling of documents is faulty. For example, there was a document about a 1938 request from the army to (Japan’s) Home Ministry which led to the recruiting of comfort women. In (Hata’s) book, this inquiry sent from a section chief to a bureau director in the Home Ministry is disguised as instructions to various government offices. Furthermore, it allocates the number of comfort women in five prefectures, but the number of people (in Hata’s book) is nonsense. (Hata’s) numbers show 650 (comfort women) even though the document lists the total as 400. He even arbitrarily changed the wording of quotes he used.”
Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Ikuhiko Hata, OCLCOCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
/WorldCat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
encompasses roughly 120+ works in 220 publications in 5 languages and 1,700+ library holdings.
- 日中戰爭史 (1961)
- Reality and Illusion; the Hidden Crisis between Japan and the U.S.S.R., 1932-1934 (1967)
- 史錄日本再軍備彥(1976)
- 戦前期日本官僚制の制度. 組織. 人事彥(1981)
- 昭和史の軍人たち彥(1982)
- 官僚の研究不滅のパフー1868-1983彥(1983)
- 裕仁天皇五つの決断 (1984)
- 中華人民共和国・朝鮮民主主義人民共和国職官歴任表 (1987)
- Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II (1989)
- 昭和史の謎を追う (1993)
- 盧溝橋事件の研究 (1996)
- 現代史の争点 (1998)
- 慰安婦と戦場の性 (1999)
- Hirohito: the Showa Emperor in War and Peace (2007)
External links
- University Tokyo Press (Japanese)