Japan Games organisers switch hotels for China and South Korea over Nanjing ‘fabrication’ book
It was written by the chief executive of the APA hotel group and caused a backlash from the Chinese delegation
Japanese organisers of this month’s Asian Winter Games have changed the accommodation for Chinese and South Korean athletes after a row over a hotelier’s inflammatory war book, officials and local media said on Tuesday.
The Tokyo-based APA hotel group and other hotels will welcome some 2,300 athletes and supporters from more than 30 countries to Sapporo for the February 19-26 Games.
But APA, one of Japan’s largest hotel chains, has triggered an angry backlash from China for a book written by APA’s chief executive and placed in guest rooms, which claims that the infamous 1937 Nanjing massacre committed by Japanese troops was a “fabrication”.
“Considering an instruction from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and other factors, we have decided that the Chinese and South Korean delegations will not stay at APA hotels,” a Japanese official of the organising committee said.
Local media said the two delegations were originally scheduled to stay at APA hotels, but the committee official declined to confirm this.
