Tamogami calls Hiroshima peace ceremony meeting of 'leftists'

Wednesday 26th August, 05:59 AM JST

TOKYO —

Almost all people who attended a peace ceremony in Hiroshima on Aug 6 to remember the U.S. atomic bombing are ‘‘left-wingers,’’ former Air Self-Defense Force chief Toshio Tamogami said Tuesday.

‘‘There were few A-bomb victims and their children (at the ceremony). Almost all attendees were leftist people who came from all over Japan riding on buses,’’ Tamogami said in a street speech in Miyazaki Prefecture to back a candidate for the Aug. 30 general election.

Tamogami, who was removed as ASDF chief of staff in October 2008 after denying Japan’s militarist past in an essay, was referring to the annual commemorative ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima city.

‘‘The ceremony marked a leftist campaign aimed at weakening Japan,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘Mass media are trying to keep this fact secret. Ordinary people would see the ceremony differently if they know of the fact.’’

mindovermatter at 09:00 AM JST - 26th August

‘‘Mass media are trying to keep this fact secret. Ordinary people would see the ceremony differently if they know of the fact.’’

Yea... and exactly what facts are those...?

That Japan waged a war of aggression for 40 plus years leading up WW2?

That Japan was planning for the defense of mainland Japan, including arming women and children with bamboo spears, to fight until the very last person?

Or is it the part about... Japan was just an innocent country minding it's own business, when all of a sudden the U.S. just started dropping bombs...? This seems to be the gist of what is taught in the k-12 education system here in Japan... But funny thing, the rest asia and the world for that matter has a completely different version of history....