Those who don't know history can rewrite it if they like and hope no one else has a long memory.

Tokyo has ordered changes in seven history textbooks that say the country's army forced civilians to commit mass suicide at the end of WWII.

Seoul has already sternly objected to another revision - a claim that a set of islets controlled by South Korea as Japanese territory.

The big stink, however, is that seven high school textbooks were ordered to revise sections that said "the Japanese army — faced with an impending U.S. invasion in 1945 — handed out grenades to residents on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa and ordered them to kill themselves rather than surrender to the Americans."

The Education Ministry is saying that the Okinawa forced suicides that did or did not happen were long enough ago that they (the textbook writers) can't be sure anymore.

Okinawans remember otherwise.

So, how do we know what happened years ago?

Credible testimony of eyewitnesses.

Written, independent and consistent testimonies of witnesses.

Evidence that could only result because of the event considered - memorials….

These proofs, if present, will tell us what most likely was or was not.

Do you trust history?