A group of nearly 200 academics, including Pulitzer Prize winners, has published an open letter calling on Japan to face up to its World War II crimes, including its system of sex slavery.

The letter, penned by scholars from top institutions including Harvard, Yale, the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics, comes as disquiet grows over what critics say is the tendency of Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe to whitewash the past.

"This year presents an opportunity for the government of Japan to show leadership by addressing Japan's history of colonial rule and wartime aggression in both words and action," the letter reads.

The missive which was published on the internet, and is not addressed to anyone in particular, said Japan had achieved great things in the 70 years since its surrender but that an apparent refusal by some to fully accept Tokyo's guilt risked undermining that stance.

The scholars argued that even by the standards of wartime sexual violence and military prostitution in the last century, Japan's so-called comfort women system "was distinguished by its large scale and systematic management under the military".

It also noted the system's "exploitation of young, poor and vulnerable women in areas colonised or occupied by Japan".

Mainstream historians claim around 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and other Asian nations, were systematically raped by Japan's imperial forces in military brothels.

However, Japanese conservatives said there were no official documents that proved the government was involved in the system, saying the women were common prostitutes engaged in a commercial exchange.

All eyes will be on Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe to see how he handles a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. ( Reuters: Kyodo )

They have also argued that the memories of the survivors cannot be trusted and are highly politicised, in an issue that serves as one of the main geopolitical fault lines running through East Asia.

Signatories of the letter includes John W Dower, professor emeritus of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose book Embracing Defeat masterfully tells the story of Japan's rise from the ashes of WWII.

Herbert Bix, professor emeritus of history and sociology at Binghamton University and author of the acclaimed biography Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, which examines the life and influence of the wartime emperor, has also signed the letter.

Both books by Professor Dower and Professor Bix won Pulitzer Prizes and are required reading for any student of Japan.

From Australia, signatories include Tessa Morris-Suzuki, professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University, and Aurelia George Mulgan, professor of Japanese Politics at the University of New South Wales.

The letter comes as Mr Abe readies a formal statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of hostilities.

All eyes are on whether the prime minister will repeat previous explicit prime ministerial apologies for Japanese violence.

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AFP