A Japanese kindergarten that has ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, has apologised over online comments that domestic media described as possible hate speech against Koreans and Chinese people.
TOKYO: A Japanese kindergarten that has ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, has apologised over online comments that domestic media described as possible hate speech against Koreans and Chinese people.
The private Tsukamoto kindergarten in Osaka, western Japan, has been visited by Akie Abe and is operated by Moritomo Gakuen, an educational institution that plans to open an elementary school in April with the prime minister’s wife as honorary principal.
Kyodo news agency reported on Friday that the kindergarten had apologised after referring to “irresponsible” South Korean and Chinese parents on its home page.
“We apologise for expressions about foreigners that caused misunderstanding,” the kindergarten said on its web site.
The school, however, denounced “unjust, slanderous and defamatory Internet-based articles about this kindergarten” and it said it would keep fighting against “malicious criticism”.
Criticism of Korean residents and Chinese people is a common feature of right-wing rhetoric in Japan, where ethnic homogeneity has been a source of pride for many conservatives.
