Finance Minister Aso expresses regret on ministry website over Hitler remark

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso posted a statement on the Finance Ministry's official website on Aug. 30, following the retraction of his earlier remark that could be interpreted as defending Adolf Hitler's motives behind the genocide of Jews.

In both Japanese and English, Aso expressed his regret about causing "misunderstanding" through his comment on Aug. 29 during a seminar for his faction members, in which he said, "Hitler, who killed millions of people, was no good even if his motive was right."

Aso came under fire in 2013 for saying that Japan should learn from Nazi Germany on its tactics to revise the Weimar Constitution. He was forced to later retract the comment. He appears to have judged that he needed to cool things down at an early stage ahead of his official visit to the United States next week.