Takami Eto

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Takami Eto (江藤隆美, Takami Eto^? 10 April 1925 – 22 November 2007) 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.^[1]

Takami Eto, a conservative politician, was once considered a major power broker in Japan's Liberal Democratic Party.^[1] Eto 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.^[1] Eto's comments threatened to cancel an important summit between South Korea's President Kim Young-sam, whose government objected to Eto comments, and then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, a socialist who led Japan's coalition government, before Eto's resignation.^[1]

Additionally, Eto also defended the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty which gave Japan control over Korea.^[1] 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?"^[1] Eto 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.^[1]

Eto retired from politics in 2003.^[1] His son, Taku Eto, took his father's seat in the House of Representatives of Japan.^[1]

Takami Eto was found dead in his hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on November 22, 2007.^[1] He was 82 years old when he died and had been in Vietnam on a private agricultural related visit.^[1] Japan's Kyodo News reported that Eto had died of an apparent heart attack.^[1]