Overview

• The protest came at a Tokyo press conference on August 26 by Toyo Iimura, a former ambassador to France and grandson of institute director Jō Iimura.
• NHK aired the two-part Special “Simulation: Summer 1941 Defeat” on August 16–17, depicting the Total War Research Institute ahead of the Pacific War.
• The drama shows a director urging staff not to submit inconvenient findings, a portrayal the family disputes as contrary to records of open debate at the institute.
• Iimura said he intends to petition the Broadcast Ethics & Program Improvement Organization, while there is no indication a complaint has yet been processed.
• NHK told reporters it held good-faith discussions with Iimura and noted on air that the director and related characters were depicted as fiction inspired by historical events.