Toshio Motoya

Toshio Motoya (元谷 外志雄, Motoya Toshio, born 3 June 1943) is a Japanese essayist, publisher and real estate entrepreneur who is the president of APA Group,[1] which includes APA Hotels & Resorts, one of Japan's largest hotel chains.

Business interests

Motoya founded the APA Group real estate business in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1971.[2] Its hotel division operates more than 70 properties across Japan.[3] Motoya's wife Fumiko is president of the hotel chain and is widely recognized in Japan, with her image appearing on billboards displayed prominently near major train stations around the country.[2] At least four of the company's hotels in 2007 were temporarily shut down after it was discovered they failed to meet Japan's stringent earthquake safety standards, and that an architectural firm had used flawed data in its safety assessment of the buildings' designs.[1][4]

Political involvement

A vigorous supporter of Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and fierce critic of former Democratic Party of Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Motoya is linked with right-wing political causes in Japan, and views the country's involvement in World War II in a generally positive light.[5]

Motoya publishes a magazine called Apple Town, portions of which are translated into English, which is distributed through the APA Group's network of properties and which focuses on economic and foreign policy issues. In the magazine, Motoya, under the pen-name Seiji Fuji, has written essays urging increases in Japan's defense budget[6] and suggesting that Japan's movement against nuclear power generation, which gathered momentum following the Fukushima nuclear accident, is part of a plot by the United States.[7]

Motoya also expressed his political views through the website distribution of Apple Town magazine.[8]

Motoya has close ties to former Japanese Air Self-Defense Force chief Toshio Tamogami,[5] who was forced to resign amid controversy after an essay he wrote defending Japan's involvement in World War II came to public attention in 2008. Tamogami's essay, which argued Japan was forcibly drawn into World War II by Chiang Kai-shek and Franklin D. Roosevelt,[9] had been written as part of an essay competition Motoya organized and sponsored under the theme "True Interpretation of Modern History".[10] Motoya was also the head of the judging panel which awarded Tamogami the competition's ¥3 million first prize.[5] After the revelation of Tamogami's involvement in the essay competition caused a political and media storm in Japan, Motoya defended the competition, saying it was motivated to have "proper historical views pave the way for Japan" to reinvent itself as a "true independent state".[10] Further cause of political controversy was the revelation that 98 of the competition's 235 entrants were members of Japan's armed forces, including Tamogami and 77 other officers in Japan's air force.[10] A book published by Motoya, The Shocking Truth About Modern History, containing 13 essays selected from the competition field, including Tamogami's winning entry, went on sale in late 2008 at bookstores and APA hotels.[10]

Controversies

Denialist statements of Japanese wartime atrocities

In an interview series named "Big Talk", Motoya expressed his view that "Japanese aggression, the Nanking Massacre, and comfort women" were "fabricated stories" or "fictitious".[11][12] Under the pen-name Seiji Fuji, Motoya also published a book named Theoretical Modern History: The Real History of Japan. In the book, Motoya reiterated his belief that the Nanking Massacre and comfort women were falsehoods created by China and Korea. In addition, he discussed attracting millions of tourists from countries like China and Korea, and said he "will provide support to the maximum degree" to the Abe administration which can be used against China and Korea on these historical issues. Some Chinese tourist organizations are boycotting the chain.[13]

Antisemitism

Motoya believes that "Jewish capital" is always in the background of "American wars, from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War". According to him, "Jewish people control American information, finance, and laws, and they benefit greatly from globalization because they move their massive profits to tax havens so they don’t have to pay any taxes."[14] In reaction to criticism, Motoya apologized and wrote in a following issue of APA magazine: "I always mean to praise the Jewish people as wise, with excellent skills in the fields of information, finance, and the law. But considering their history of struggle, I decided my statements had gone too far and removed them from the website."[15]

Motoya is the author of an essay titled: "Japan Should Use Jewish Marketing Companies to Correct Historical Falsehoods".[16]

References

1. "Faked quake data shut two inns". The Japan Times. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
2. "Innkeeper puts on her promotional face". The Japan Times. 17 August 2005. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
3. "Expedia Signs Global Partnership Agreement With One of Japan's…". Asia Press Release News. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
4. "Osaka shuts down Apa hotel due to quake-safety flaws". The Japan Times. 15 February 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
5. "The ghost of wartimes past". The Economist. 6 November 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
6. "Now is the Perfect Chance to Make Japan a Country Capable of its Own Defense". Apple Town. Apple Town. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
7. Motoya, Toshio (September 2011). "The Idea of Abandoning Nuclear Power is a Plot by the United States to Make Japan Withdraw from the Nuclear Energy Market". Apple Town. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
8. "Apple Town". Apple Town. Apple Town. Retrieved 15 Jan 2017.
9. "Japan air force chief faces sack". BBC News. 2008-10-31.
10. Hongo, Jun (9 December 2008). "Essay judges defend Tamogami". The Japan Times. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
11. "The Constitution of Japan Should be Reformed Starting From the Preamble". Apple Town. Apple Town. Retrieved 15 Jan 2017.
12. "The United States is Bound by the Curse of the Atomic Bombs". Apple Town. Apple Town. Retrieved 15 Jan 2017.
13. Japanese hotel chain's books denying Nanjing Massacre spark criticism in China, The Mainichi (January 18, 2017).
14. Trump’s Presidency is an Opportunity for Constitutional Reform, Apple Town (January 2017); see E. Johnston, Apa under fire again, this time for anti-Semitic remarks, The Japan Times (February 14, 2017)
15. Japan’s Second Founding, Aimed at Independent Self-defense, is Beginning, Apple Town (2017 April), p. 42. In another issue of his magazine, Motoya wrote: "Considering this, it was clear that the newspapers and citizens would protest strongly against sharing the South Manchuria Railway rights with the U.S., and I think Komura was afraid of such protests. Japan ended up making enemies of the U.S. and the Jewish capitalists, which led to War Plan Orange against Japan and then the Pacific War." in Japan has Finally Begun Breaking Free of the Postwar Regime, Apple Town 324 (2017 August), p. 49-46, at p. 47
16. Japan Should Use Jewish Marketing Companies to Correct Historical Falsehoods. Essay on Today's Japan 278, (archive). Apple Town September 24, 2015. See M. Schreiber, Defiant Apa paints a target on its back, The Japan Times (February 11, 2017)