A Japanese hotelier who denies that a '37 massacre by Japanese troops in Nanjing, China, ever took place has "no intention" of removing books with his revisionist views from his hotels during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, according to Elaine Lies of REUTERS. Tokyo-based hotel and real estate developer APA Group "came under fire" this year over books by CEO Toshio Motoya that "contain essays in which he says the Nanjing Massacre never happened." The books are "placed in every room of the company's 400-plus APA Hotels." On Friday, Motoya said that "he would not remove his books from the hotels during the Tokyo Olympics." He said, "Would I remove the books during the Olympics just because they're the Tokyo Olympics? That's really stupid" (REUTERS, 6/2). The GLOBAL TIMES' Deng Xiaoci reported Chinese experts "slammed" the hotel chain for refusing to remove its historically inaccurate books, calling it "ignorant and unreasonable." They warned the APA Group that this would "further set back diplomatic relations between China and Japan." Chinese and South Koreans "expressed outrage" at the APA Group for placing the books, which deny the existence of the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women," in its guest rooms in Japan (GLOBAL TIMES, 6/4).
