SDHF Newsletter No.358 International Research Institute for Controversial Histories (iRICH)

Statement by Sugihara Seishiro,

President, International Research Institute for Controversial Histories (iRICH)

The International Research Institute for Controversial Histories (iRICH) became a general incorporated association with the official appellation of “General Incorporated Association International Research Institute for Controversial Histories,” as of April 1, 2022. Taking this opportunity, Mr. Sugihara issued the following statement:

Statement: URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/opinion-article/1935/
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/iRICHE.pdf

He emphasizes that presently, historical studies in the world tend to deviate from the scientific methodology and have become something very different. A typical example is the “comfort women issue.”

The “comfort women problem,” first started by Yoshida Sejji’s book published in 1983, which depicted comfort women “hunting” in Cheju Island. The Asahi Newspaper sensationally and repeatedly published the content of the book, in more than 18 instalments Then, story of “the comfort women” crime, the alleged abduction of Korean women and their sex slave-like treatment, spread all over the world. However, the story was proven to be a total fiction. Yoshida admitted it and in 2014, the Asahi Newspaper deleted all of the 18 articles based on Yoshida’s book.

In 2020, Professor Ramseyer of Harvard University posted a scholarly essay, “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War,” on the International Review of Law and Economics’ website, in which he clearly stated that comfort women were engaged in sexual services under contract, definitively proving that there was no “forced abduction.” Then, many critics from South Korea, the United States, Europe and Japan, calling themselves scholars, issued a statement asking Professor Ramseyer to withdraw his essay. The number of scholars who joined in the statement demanding the removal of Professor Ramseyer’s essay amounted to 3,665 as of May 11, 2021.

This is an act digressing far from the standards of the scientific study and can no longer be called a study. Those self-proclaimed scholars simply asked for withdrawal of the essay, and did not refer to any facts, neither did they try to refute his arguments. This was not a study concerned with facts. It was not a study by any standards.

Mr. Sugihara closed his statement with the following words:

“We, the researchers of the International Research Institute for Controversial Histories, will look far and wide across the world, make further efforts to continue our study as science, based on facts, and contribute to the promotion of world peace and development of the world for the international citizens.”

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact