Shinzō Abe 2007 commented for instance: What part of 'Japanese Army sex slaves' does Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have so much trouble understanding and apologizing for? ... These were not commercial brothels. Force, explicit and implicit, was used in recruiting these women. What went on in them was serial rape, not prostitution. The Japanese Army's involvement is documented in the government's own defense files. A senior Tokyo official more or less apologized for this horrific crime in 1993 ... Yesterday, [Abe] grudgingly acknowledged the 1993 quasi-apology, but only as part of a pre-emptive declaration that his government would reject the call,
Hakubun Shimomura deputy chief cabinet secretary in the first government of Shinzo Abe in 2006. Shimomura was again appointed to the Cabinet by Shinzo Abe as minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology on 26 December 2012. As minister, Shimomura expanded the ability of local schools to provide Saturday classes and pushed for the globalization of Japanese universities by increasing English skills and hiring more foreign faculty. He oversaw preparations by the Organising Committee for the 2020 Summer Olympics on behalf of the national government in Tokyo before being replaced by Olympics Minister Toshiaki Endo on June 25, 2015. Following the