Hakubun Shimomura

A native of Takasaki, Gunma, Shimomura was born on 23 May 1954.[5] He lost his father at the age of nine and endured severe financial hardship in order to complete his education, but obtained scholarships to complete high school and university. He operated a cram school while enrolled as a student at Waseda University.[6]

Shimomura had served in the assembly of Tokyo for two terms since 1989. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996. He is a representative of the district of Tokyo No. 11 in the lower house.[5] He was deputy chief cabinet secretary in the first government of Shinzo Abe in 2006.[5]

Shimomura is affiliated with the openly revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi,[1] and his political views are fully consistent with the organization's agenda.

Prior to the 2012 general election, Shimomura told the magazine Apple Town that "we intend to construct a genuinely conservative administration... [such that] has only existed for about three years since the war", describing tensions with China and South Korea as a "national crisis" and stating that "the 67 years since the end of World War II have been a history of Japan’s destruction."[16]

In 2012, he argued that Abe "should declare that the Nanjing Massacre did not take place and the issue of comfort women does not exist. He should fully negate the Tokyo Trials historical viewpoint and should also visit Yasukuni Shrine".[4] He made these comments in spite of remarks he had made in 2007 that "it is true that there were comfort women. I believe some parents may have sold their daughters. But it does not mean the Japanese army was involved."[17] Following his appointment as education minister in 2012, he refused to comment on the issue but stated that "the government has decided to study Japan's interpretation of history, including the Kono Statement [acknowledging the army's involvement], and I would like to express my views during that process, if necessary."[6]

In 2007, Shimomura said in response to four upcoming films on the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre in China, "There will be various movies and exhibitions on the Nanking incident, and it is natural that we should make efforts to suggest more details of facts and prevent wrong views from spreading in China".[18]

Shimomura refused to intercede in a debate over the censorship of the manga Barefoot Gen, which depicts the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Japan's culpability in World War II, by a school board in Matsue, stating that young students may not be able to understand its depictions properly.[19]

Shimomura supported the restarting of nuclear power reactors in Japan following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, stating that "if Japan finds itself losing its power supply, companies would quickly relocate their operations abroad and deindustrialization would rapidly spread – and Japan wouldn't be able to revitalize its economy."[6]

Shimomura has a son with a learning disability who graduated from the University of the Arts London in 2013. Shimomura commented to the New York Times that his son would not have been able to enroll in a Japanese university, and said "the British system is more open to a broader range of people and talents... I would like to see the system here be revamped so that avenues of opportunities will be open to all children. After all, considering where we want to go, it is less important for us to create 10,000 people with run-of-the mill capabilities than a few with superb talents."[9]

In April 2018, Shimomura called it "almost a crime" for the TV reporter who complained of sexually harassment (explicit language) to have secretly taped the former Ministry of Finance top official Junichi Fukuda who was her alleged victimizer and "selling" the story to a tabloid weekly. The originally anonymous reporter was revealed to be affiliated with TV Asahi by the time Shimomura made the statement. Although he retracted his choice of words the next day, he still insisted he had a point to make in that the reporter violated the journalistic principle of speaking off-the-record, and he spoke out because he suspected her of staging this with the intention of selling the story to the tabloids from the beginning.[20]