A Japanese ex-journalist on Friday filed a lawsuit against a local publisher, accusing it of triggering criminal acts of abuse targeting his family and his employer, for two articles he wrote about the "comfort women" issue when he was working for the Asahi Shimbun over 20 years ago.

The two byline stories released in 1991 depicted the painful experiences of "comfort women," a Japanese euphemism for women forced into sex slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. One of them, under the headline of "Remembering still brings tears," was one of the first articles to tell the story of "comfort women" victims.

However, the stories were criticized by the magazine Shukan Bunshun, which called the ex-reporter a "fabricator" in several articles with comments by Tsutomu Nishioka, a professor at Tokyo Christian University in Chiba Prefecture, claiming he fabricated facts.

Takashi Uemura, who is now a part-time lecturer at the Hokusei Gakuen University in Hokkaido, filed the lawsuit against magazine' s publisher Bungeishunju Ltd. and Nishioka with the Tokyo District Court, demanding a total of 16.5 million yen (138,434 U.S. dollars) in damages and apologies.

"I believe that Shukan Bunshun's articles and Mr. Nishioka's statements had the effect of triggering acts of 'terrorism' against the freedom of expression of the university and others... I have concluded that the two parties who called me a 'reporter of fabrications' should be held legally responsible," Uemura said at a press conference, adding the Asahi's third-party investigative panel has clearly refuted the charge of fabrication with regard to his stories in last December.

When armed terrorists assaulted the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday, his university received a threatening letter again, he said.

"The news made me realize that I must be stronger than ever before and I should not bend down or be crashed by violence," Uemura said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ).

"My daughter's photo was posted on the Internet with the words, 'We've got no choice but to go after her till she commits suicide. ' Even a 17-year-old girl who was not born when the articles were written has been swept in. I am bitterly frustrated," the father at his 50s said.

Nationalists here also accused the ex-journalist of bias because of the influence of his mother-in-law, who is South Korean, but Uemura said his study into the "comfort women" issue is very important for him as a reporter as the issue is much related to women's rights rather than personal connection.

Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at the Sophia University in Japan, said at the same press conference that the rightists' high-profile return could be attributed to their belief that they are backed by people at the top of the government.

"The fundamental issue here I think is that the political system in Japan today is gravely imbalanced, a situation we have never seen in the postwar period. You have one-party dominance without any real opposition party to speak out," said the professor, adding the trend will make people and news organizations more likely to feel intimidated.

Holding a postcard with message saying "get out of this school, get out of Japan, you traitor," Uemura said he is a real patriot as what he has done is to make Japan as a trusted partner of its Asian neighboring countries.

"What I hope for Japan is that it will become a country that is truly considered as a colleague by other Asian countries. I think I am a patriot, I love my country," said Uemura. Endi

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