Talk:Ikuhiko Hata

Denial of existence

I wrote that he denies the existence of "the use of sex slaves." Hata doesn't believe that comfort women were sex slaves

• None of them was forcibly recruited.

The use of prostitutes is not a crime. The use of sex slaves is a crime. Hata denies the use of sex slaves, and he has caused plenty of controversy in and outside of Japan with his comments to warrant him to be "well known" for these ideas. Yaki-gaijin (talk) 03:34, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Why do you edit so eagerly to defame Hata? You assume that Hata is a nationalist, but that is far from the truth. In reality he is the most acclaimed historian studying Japanese war crimes in WW2. He published books of Nanking massacre and Marco Polo Bridge Incident, both of which are regarded as one the most prominent studies. He didn't deny Nanking Massacre, Sook Ching massacre in Singapore, brutality in the Philippines, Bonin Islands and other places. John W. Dower and Herbert P. Bix appreciated his work and thanked him for his collaboration in their book. Do you know they are the most famous American historian in the study of the modern Japanese history? They takes liberal attitudes and you can't blame them as revisionists.

You write about Hata's political activities, but he have never involved in such a non-academic movements. There's a room for argument in the study of comfort women and he just made academic publications. So how's about your political activities in Wikipedia? Please tell me why can you blame this academic historian. 59.190.130.200 (talk) 03:07, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

I have recently been informed of Hata's reputation as a scholar on Japanese history, but I have never called him a nationalist. I also don't want to defame Hata. I just want to reveal his own motives/intentions/opinions through his own writings and actions. I realize that sometimes I am too bold, and can sometimes be biased, but no one is perfect, and hopefully I will get better the more edits I make. Yaki-gaijin (talk) 07:42, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Political activities and "Friday Weekly"

The Political activities section is sourced.

Friday Weekly is a usable source.

Discuss amongst yourselves :) Yaki-gaijin (talk) 22:46, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I feel it's impossible to make a consensus with Yaki-gaijin, who adhere to his beliefs, and I don't want to kill my time over absurd and futile disputes with him. If readers are interested in reliability of the "Friday Weekly", you can check its back volumes here. It's so far from academic journals.

Whatever Yaki-gaijin may defame Hata eagerly in here Wikipedia articles, his reputation does not change. Serious students and scholars in modern Japanese history already know Hata's reputation. They will easily notice low reliability of this article and your edits.

I hope Yaki-gaijin will continue his tireless duty in wikipedia to his meaningless goals. --220.219.92.222 (talk) 01:25, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what to make of Friday as a reliable source. On the one hand, it's an obvious publication. I don't think anyone denies that. On the other hand, is it a reliable source for the claims made? One work I came across by Adam Gamble and Prof. Takesato Watanabe had this to say about the weekly:

"Circulation: 520,000. Friday is a weekly pictorial newsmagazine focusing on social events, crime, accidents, entertainment and sports of national and international interest. Over 60% of the readers are in their 20's and 30's and 70% are male. Features pornography: yes." (A Public Betrayed: an Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West, Regenery Publishing, Inc.: Washington D.C., p. 76)

Is a publication that features pornography as respectable as an academic journal? I hesitate to think so. But that doesn't mean we can't include it in the article. I guess the real questions are (1) whether Friday has a transparent editorial structure and reputation for fact-checking and accuracy and (2) whether the claims made in the citations are potentially libelous and/or controversial. Personally, I don't know enough about the newsmagazine to formulate an informed opinion (yet) but -- then again -- I'm not sure how controversial the cited comments are either. The quotes seem pretty tame to me. Does anyone have any further thoughts on this issue? J Readings (talk) 04:33, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Now I noticed that J Readings does not know nothing about Japanese magazines. "Friday Weekly" is not related with a famous Japanese pornographic magazine "Friday".

What annoys me is that Yaki-gaijin edits only negative descriptions about this respected researcher, and it's because Yaki-gaijin wants to underestimate Hata's scientific researches which contradict his opinions. How's about his huge amount of works in other war crime studies? Where is descriptions about his collaborative researches with Bix and Dower, which are regarded as the most acclaimed achievements for this area of study? Many students and scholars already know that lousy articles are made by users who possesses politically oriented opinions in the English Wikipedia. They says here is just a bunch of rubbish despite its excellent ideas.220.219.92.222 (talk) 12:31, 4 January 2008 (UTC)