Takami Eto

Who was Takami Eto?

Takami Eto was a Japanese politician and former member of Japan's House of Representatives. He served as the Japanese construction minister during the early 1990s, but resigned in 1995 following controversial comments regarding Japan's treatment of occupied areas during World War II.

Takami Etō, a conservative politician, was once considered a major power broker in Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. Etō resigned from his post as minister of the Management and Coordination Agency in 1995 following comments in which he stated that Japan "did some good things" when it governed Korea, including building railroads, roads and schools. Etō's comments threatened to cancel an important summit between South Korea's then President Kim Young-sam, whose government objected to Etō comments, and then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, a socialist who led Japan's coalition government, before Etō's resignation.

Additionally, Etō also defended the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty which gave Japan control over Korea. He stated in a speech, "Why was the country-to-country treaty called an invasion?...What's the difference between that and a merger of a town and a village?" Etō also actively lobbied against school textbooks which mentioned so-called "comfort women" Comfort women were women from across Asia, including Koreans, whom Japanese troops forced into sexual slavery during World War II.