The Japanese APA hotel chain is once again under fire for offensive comments made by its founder, less than a month after the company was embroiled in a nasty book row with China.

In the February edition of the hotel’s magazine Apple Town, provided to guests at Coast Hotels in Canada, the hotel founder Toshio Motoya said: “Jewish people control American information, finance, and laws, and they benefit greatly from globalization because they move their massive profits to tax havens so they don’t have to pay any taxes. Many Jewish people support the Democratic Party.”

The comments were part of an interview under the title “Trump’s Presidency is an Opportunity for Constitutional Reform”, focused on the election of US President Donald Trump and US-Japan ties.

The company soon removed the magazines and apologized. APA Group spokesperson Naho Udagawa said hotel guests will find in their rooms only the March edition of Apple Town. 

The magazine was reportedly available only in six Coast Hotels in Canada and not in the company’s American hotels. 

Motoya was also forced to issue a statement.

“It is very unfortunate that my writings gave you an erroneous impression that I hold anti-Semitic beliefs,” Motoya said.

This came less than a month after the hotel got in a row with China over the hoteliers’ book written by Motoya that denied the 1937 Nanjing Massacre by Japanese troops.

Motoya wrote the book under a pen name saying the massacre was a fabrication. 

‍It triggered an angry backlash from China.

Chinese national tourism authorities called for a boycott of the hotel when traveling in Japan. Chinese athletes also asked Japanese organizers to book them out of the hotel chain that was to welcome some 2,300 athletes from over 30 countries for the Asian Winter Games from February 19 to 26.