Tokyo to sack defence chief for denying Japan's wartime actsJustin McCurry in Tokyo
The Guardian, Saturday November 1 2008
The chief of staff of Japan's air force is to be sacked
after he claimed the country had been drawn into
the second world war by the US and denied it had
been an aggressor during its occupations of the
Asian mainland.
In an online essay entitled Was Japan an Aggressor
Nation? General Toshio Tamogami yesterday claimed
that Japan had been provoked by the then US
president, Franklin D Roosevelt, and that many of
Japan's wartime victims took "a positive view" of
its actions.
The claims drew a swift rebuke from politicians.
The defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said he
would dismiss the general immediately. "I think it is
improper of the air force chief of staff to publicly
state a view that clearly differs from the that of
the government," he told reporters. "It is
inappropriate for him to remain in this position."
The prime minister, Taro Aso, a nationalist who has
upset Japan's neighbours with ill-judged comments
about the war, described Tamogami's views as
"inappropriate, even if they were made in a personal
capacity".
-snip- 
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