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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 3, 1982
PAGE 8
Living in a semirural area I had never seen or heard of The PLAIN
TRUTH. Then last year I went to stay with my niece. On a stall
at the railway station were copies of The PLAIN TRUTH. Being an
avid reader, and for years having looked for truth, I took a
copy. On reading it, I was really impressed and so I sent my name
and address to you. This is one of the most sensible things that
I have done in my life.
J.M. (Hoxton Park, N.S.W., Australia)
I cannot express in mere words my gratitude to you and your staff
for the great comfort and service your magazines and literature
have rendered me. In times of trouble and confusion, they have
served as great clarifiers to many problems. Once again, I thank
you for what you have done for me and many others who read your
literature.
A.V. (Rokeby, Tasmania, Australia)
Would you please remove my father's name from the computer mail
ing list. He has died. It was a great source of comfort to him
to know the truth and God's plan in the months he was dying with
cancer. He was not afraid of death and the future.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
D.M. (Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
JAPANESE ATTEMPT TO REWRITE HISTORY: ASIANS UNITE IN PROTEST
An attempt on the part of Japan's Education Ministry to force changes in
textbooks dealing with Japanese actions in the Second World War has un
leashed a tidal wave of protest throughout Asia. The governments of China
and South Korea have officially protested the planned textbook revisions.
Officials and news media in Taiwan, North Korea, Malaysia and Singapore
have also voiced their concern.
The biggest storm of protest surrounds the new description of the old
Imperial Army's activities in China in 1937 and afterward.
Instead of
labeling the army's actions as "shinryaku" (aggression) the Education
Ministry ordered new textbooks to use the word "sinnya" (advance). One
textbook author quoted a government official as explaining that "'shin
ryaku' gave the false impression of an evil act."
Older textbooks tell of some 200,000 Chinese being rounded up and shot dur
ing the infamous "rape of Nanking" in 1937. The latest account blames the
Nanking slaughter on the resistance of Chinese troops. The Korean national
uprising of 1919 against the harsh Japanese overlords (Japan took over the
peninsula in 1905) is now glossed over as a "riot." The 700,000 Koreans put
into forced labor camps during World War II are now said to have been
"drafted."
The South Korean government has demanded that the textbook revisions be
rescinded, and that it will "never·drop" this demand. Chinese authorities
in Peking are so furious that they are threatening to cancel the trip of
Japanese Prime Minister Zeuko Suzuki to Peking later this month unless the
revisions are amended. To underline their opposition, Chinese newspapers