UPDATED - In response to overwhelmingly positive support for the open letter and requests to sign on, we opened a new list endorsed by 464 Japan scholars. The global list of signers since May 5th is available here.

Joint Statement by 16 Associations of History Scholars and Educators in Japan on the “Comfort Women” Issue is available in English translation here and in the Japanese original here.

On May 5, 2015 the online humanities and social sciences portal, H-Asia/H-Net, published a statement issued by 187 Japanese studies scholars that calls on Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to “act boldly” on significant issues raised during his historic speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 29 — a first for a Japanese prime minister.

Please see the Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan signed by 187 Japan studies scholars who call on Prime Minister Abe to “act boldly” and support a more honest account of 20th century history.