Liberal Japan

The Yomiuri opines:

It should be noted, however, that the ministry’s suggested revisions were not intended to deny the army’s “involvement” in the mass suicide.
 
For example, the draft of one textbook stated, “The Japanese Army drove local residents out of trenches, murdered some on suspicion of spying and forced others to commit mass suicide and kill each other, using hand grenades that the army distributed to them.” In the screening process, the first half of the description was kept intact, while the latter part was rewritten to read that “mass suicide and mutual killing took place, using hand grenades distributed to local people by the Japanese Army.”
 
The ministry’s decision to suggest revisions to the descriptions in question reflected its belief that it was not necessarily evident whether the mass suicide had occurred as a result of coercion by the army …
 
… history textbooks must be written entirely based on historical facts. Their contents should not be rewritten just to avoid hurting people’s feelings and smooth out Diet proceedings.
 
The foundation of textbook screening–a system that must be neutral and fair–could be shaken if descriptions in textbooks are subject to any changes in the political situation.

Indeed, if facts are so easily determined why even bother with something as cumbersome as democracy.

Surely the dear editors are joking. I stand by my pervious views on this.