Toshio Motoya
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is a Japanese far-right essayist, publisher and real estate
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
. He is the president of APA Group, which includes APA Hotels & Resorts, one of Japan's largest hotel chains. Toshio Motoya is known to be a strong supporter of revisionist historical views aligned with those of Japan's far-right.


Business interests

Motoya founded the APA Group real estate business in
Ishikawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,096,721 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,186 Square kilometre, km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Pr ...
in 1971. Its hotel division operates more than 70 properties across Japan. 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. 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.


Political involvement

A vigorous supporter of Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...
and fierce critic of former
Democratic Party of Japan The was a Centrism, centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to Centre-left politics, centre-left, Liberalism, liberal or Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Japan, ...
Prime Minister
Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to ...
, Motoya is linked with
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
political causes in Japan, and views the country's involvement in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in a generally positive light. 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 and suggesting that Japan's movement against nuclear power generation, which gathered momentum following the
Fukushima nuclear accident The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, whic ...
, is part of a plot by the United States. Motoya also expressed his political views through the website distribution of ''Apple Town'' magazine. Motoya has close ties to former Japanese Air Self-Defense Force chief Toshio Tamogami, 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 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, had been written as part of an essay competition Motoya organized and sponsored under the theme "True Interpretation of Modern History". Motoya was also the head of the judging panel which awarded Tamogami the competition's ¥3 million first prize. 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". 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. 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.


Controversies


Denialist statements of Japanese wartime atrocities

In an interview series named "Big Talk", Motoya expressed his view that " Japanese aggression, the
Nanjing Massacre The Nanjing Massacre, or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly Chinese postal romanization, romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians, noncombatants, and surrendered prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanji ...
, and
comfort women Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term ''comfort women'' is a translation of the Japanese , a euphemism ...
" were "fabricated stories" or "fictitious". 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
Nanjing Massacre The Nanjing Massacre, or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly Chinese postal romanization, romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians, noncombatants, and surrendered prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanji ...
and
comfort women Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term ''comfort women'' is a translation of the Japanese , a euphemism ...
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.


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, In reaction to criticism, Motoya apologized and wrote in a following issue of APA magazine: Motoya is the author of an essay titled: "Japan Should Use Jewish Marketing Companies to Correct Historical Falsehoods".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)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motoya, Toshio 1943 births Living people Nanjing Massacre deniers Japanese businesspeople in real estate Japanese hoteliers Japanese writers Keio University alumni Antisemitism in Japan Japanese historical negationists Comfort women denial