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© 2014 AFPDocuments show Japan complicit in WWII sex slavery: activists
By Harumi Ozawa TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2014 AFP
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sfjp330
South Korea's President Park needs to clarify the 1965 Korea-Japan treaty for these activist to understand. There seems to be complete lack of trust between Japan PM Abe and Korean President Park. Park faces a fundamental problem because she is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who led Korea's industrialization by utilizing his contacts with Japan and "compromising" with them. Since Park Chung-hee's "compromised" approach to Japan and the 1965 normalization treaty agreements with Japan are severely criticized in Korea, it isn't easy for Park Geun-hye to exert leadership and bring the two countries closer to reconciliation.
OssanAmerica
AFP at it's biased J-bashing best.
"Activists said Monday they had a trove of documents proving the Japanese military was complicit in the wartime system of sex slavery"
There is no dispute as to whether the Imperial Japanese military were complicit in the Comfort Women System, the stations were set up by the Japanese military and the women wee on the military payroll. The dispute arises over how they ended up there. And they were not "Sex Slaves" because they were recruited, ie; paid. We know this because.
"Another document showed a chief military police officer used his official budget to cover up the fact that he had recruited “comfort women”.
This supports the US Army Report No.49 from 1944 where the US Army interrogated captured Comfort Women and found them to be Military Prostitutes who were recruited and paid.
http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html
And if they were "recruited" then they weren't kidnapped.
"The conference said Tokyo needed to be open and honest about its guilt and there should be no backtracking on the 1993 apology, called the Kono Statement."
So the determination of the truth means nothing to these people. They have decided what the "facts" are and refuse to even entertain an examination into the accuracy. That is called bias. The lack of desire to examine and establish the facts is in an indicator of no desire to resolve an issue, simply perpetuate the conflict. Or perhaps there are those who not want it uncovered that many Comfort Women were recruited through deceit and fraudulent promises by local middlemen, sold off by their families to settle family debt, sold by brothels and entertainment houses. Nor do they want it known that many of these Comfort Women Stations served the 240,000 Korean troops serving in the Japanese military and they were run and managed by Koreans. This kind of thing would ruin the big fallacy that every single Comfort Woman was kidnapped out of her house by Japanese soldiers.,
"It is unclear what will happen if the probe’s findings are at odds with the 1993 statement, which was largely based on testimony from 16 Korean former comfort women, many of whom have since died."
These same women were part of a group of 40 former Comfort Women who were questioned and interrogated in South Korea by Prof Ahn Byong Jick then of Seoul University in 1992 and his conclusion was that the testimony of all the women was "Not Credible".
No wonder these people don't want an re-examination of the 1993 Kono Statement.
Nenad Jovanović
@OssanAmerica
I agree with you, majority of time I see like that, and not only that, they often use the name of "Japan Sea" as "East Sea", another proof on what side they are .
And I believe Koreans will continue to trash Japan for centuries to come, if Japan manages to stay on surface , because thats what is really the goal of Koreans,they want to see Japan below them .
BertieWooster
In a report by the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22684826
Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka seems confused about the comfort women issue.
He tried various "tactics" to deal with it.
First of all, he stated that the "comfort women" were "necessary" to relieve the stress experienced by Japan's wartime troops. That made it OK.
Later, possibly in order to gain women's votes, he described the practice as a violation of women's human rights.
Then he turned to flat denial, saying that it didn't happen; "There is no evidence that the Japanese government forced tens of thousands of women into sexual enslavement during World War II."
And finally, admitting that it did happen, he said that it is OK because "everybody does it." "The armies of the United States, Britain, France and Germany did similar things in war time."
Hashimoto's various stances seem to represent the Japanese government's vacillations on the issue.
It happened. There is plenty of evidence. Admit it, Japan, apologise and make up the damage. Then we can move on.
BNlightened
It's amazing that many of the same people who readily recognize that "comfort women" is nothing more than a nice-sounding euphemism for the sexual exploitation of non-Japanese women for Japanese benefit during Japan's atrocious colonial rampage in the 1930s and 40s, these very same people take the euphemism "recruited" as "proving" that ALL the women must have surely wanted to the do the job, and what more, had been fairly compensated for their "work."
This in spite of the FACT that there are hundreds of women still alive in more than 10 countries including Australia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, to say nothing of the thousands of now deceased women all throughout Asia, who have sworn they were NOT paid and were NOT "recruited," but were FORCED INTO SEX SLAVERY against their will by the Japanese.
When such documents are unveiled, even the cheerleading Japanese media admits that "The Imperial Japanese military used money to cover up its use of SEX SLAVES on Bali during the war."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/23/national/imperial-army-paid-to-hush-up-sex-slaves/#.U4z_a2dmpWd
But NO, this is all a fantasy, and every one of these women is lying~it simply never happened, right? UNREAL!
cruzian1
No nation should want to be associated with sex slavery. The surviving comfort women have the right to ask the Japanese government to apologize and make repair, and the Japanese government has the right to ask that this matter be brought to a conclusion if a settlement is provided. A resolution may be close at hand because I doubt the Japanese government and the surviving women want to continue to have this issue drag out in front of the global media. Documents alleging the Japanese government sanctioned military brothels does not look good even in a time of war.
Asianhometown
The Japanese government needs to directly apologize and provide compensation directly to the women who were raped and forced into sexual salvery. Stop making excuses about the agreement between Korea and Japan that fully compensated for the crimes committed by the imperial Japanese government. These women deserve better.
OssanAmerica
What is his official capacity in the Japanese government? Is he on the Cabinet? Is he a Minister?
yabits
I can scarcely believe at times the ludicrous, moronic silliness that some people want to make themselves believe.
When these women were "recruited" were they told in clear detail what they would be doing -- what they were being recruited for? If the answer is no, then they were trapped and coerced into providing their bodies not of their own free will -- the moral equivalent of kidnapping.
WilliB
OssanAmerica:
I keep seeing this link being referenced by revisionists, but if you actually read it, you find that it says the girls were recruited for work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, etc. And once they got there, they found themselves in a brothel, with no means to escape. Which pretty much is the definition of sex slavery --- the Russian mafia today operates in the same way.
So the document purporting to show that there was no sex slavery shows that there was sex slavery.... is this some loogical disconnect?
Chenchan
Another pointless rant with documents which we can't obtain as they're some kind of mystery probably coming from China. Let the historians do the work, not PM!
nath
I love how people try to justify the daily rape by multiple soldiers as being ok if it wasn't the army that recruited them, but rather someone else.
Will someone just explain that to these women please? It's pretty easy:
"You don't have to be angry about being raped by the Japanese army day in day out, because actually they didn't kidnap you. Someone else sold you to them. So actually, the Japanese army didn't do anything wrong! Don't you feel better now?"
CrazyJoe
The comfort women problem is one of the rare issues on which both Koreas see eye to eye.
Tommy Yoppy
Whoa!!!
jerseyboy
What are the chances this "expert team" will see any of this evidence? My guess is slim and none, and slim just left town.
Vincehwr
Stop with your inane diatribe if you got nothing worthwhile to say.
This is the reason this issue kept brought up and wasn't surprised that Imperial army played the role in hushing it up. If it was publicised as much as other atrocities, the compensation isn't really worth a damn thing since it doesn't go straight to the victims. When there's too much corruption in both sides of the countries, it's impossible to move on.
ColinWilson
When someone apologizes over and over for what their ancestors have done, and even gives money with many of those apologies, and then is spat on endlessly (with more money demanded), one comes to realize that they aren't after an apology at all.
Historically Great Britain conquered much of the world, yet there were no apologies. Should the descendants of those conquerors be held responsible?
The U.S. has endless quantities of blood on its hands (there are many examples, and it's ongoing, but in this paragraph I'll just mention the Indians). As an American, am I responsible for General Custer's insanity?
How about China's apology for the genocide against Tibet? (Not to mention their endless slaughter of their own people). Oh wait! There was never an apology. Not one.
YET, Japan HAS apologized. And not just once - MANY times! What is clear is that Korea will always reject ALL apologies. Here's a link that shows just how often Japan has apologized (to Korea and China): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan
And here's another apology link: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/02/12/yet-another-japanese-apology-to-korea/
Yes, Japan could apologize again, but Korea has proved that they wouldn't accept it. A pity, since the real threat (in the here and now) to peace in Asia is China, as everyone knows. It's time for South Korea to move past the "long, long, ago" mentality and join with Japan for the good of both nations.
As for my fellow Americans who somehow think they are on the moral high ground, first get the facts before you criticize. Then ponder this: Modern Japan is one of the most peaceful nations on Earth. I wish other nations would emulate them. Yet the U.S. not only has oceans of blood in its past, but it continues to shoot, bomb, and drone anyone (male or female, adult or child) that gets in its way.
yyj72
Pasting my comment from another article on the same subject:
I hope this elevates the discussion, so we can begin talking about the fundamental human rights issue that is at the heart of the matter, instead of quibbling about the particulars.
timtak
Dear BNlighted,
Can you point to any documentary evidence of this, or web sites?
The website that you gave the URL of, mentions a very large sum of money being paid.
I only know of the Dutch lady, and one lady that I saw on video from Indonesia.
smithinjapan
This is going to have the deniers spinning and Japanese 'historians' trying to figure out how they can deflect and then revise it. Ossan is already spinning, and giving links that actually PROVE they were coerced into sexual slavery as what he calls proof they were not. Classic!
Bertie gives a pretty good summary of what your typical J-government denier is with the example of Hashimoto, who makes even Hatoyama look good in terms of flip-flopping.
Time for the government to own up, once and for all, and for the ENTIRE government to apologize in speech and in writing, and then erect a statue to commemorate the women the Imperial government inflicted such suffering upon by forced sexual slavery. The cowards who cry and deny it can no longer hide or claim there is no proof.
yyj72
Colin Wilson: A statement of apology by a Prime Minister is only a personal statement or one on behalf of his party. Although there have been many of these issued related to WWII and/or the comfort women, as listed on the Wikipedia page you have referred to above, there has NEVER been an apology from the ENTIRE Diet of Japan on the comfort women issue specifically, and therefore NO apology from the Government (with a capital "G") of Japan. I'm sorry for being pedantic, but when it comes to parliamentary procedure, these distinctions are important. An apology from just a PM, however sincere, is only his own, not the country's.
timtak
SmithinJapan Do you know a good book. Last time I asked I was recommended C. Sarah Soh's book, which I also recommend. http://www.amazon.com/The-Comfort-Women-Postcolonial-Sexuality/dp/0226767779/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401762295&sr=8-1&keywords=the+comfort+women It seems to suggest that the women were indentured, and in that sense slaves, but not in the usual, physical meaning of coercion.
Benji7
Keep seeing insensitive comments here, to even suggest that people recruited willingly is madness. Its like telling Japan to forget and move on with the North Korean abduction issue. The NK admitted to abducting young Japanese and they have now passed on or married with kids, why cant Japanese forget and move on? Are there any gov't documents to support, how do we know if these people didnt go voluntarily to NK.. Sounds disrespectful and ridicoulus doesnt it?...
justbcuzisay
ColinWilson
I do not support nor deny the wrong doings of the U.S. But there is no logic in comparing one country's wrong doings or level of remorse to another's. If what was done is wrong, it is wrong. Yes, Japan has apologised, but the constant retractions and loud public denials are the issue here.
And please ponder this, the same Japanese Right wingers who think the Kona statement is inaccurate also want to revise the constitution. The constitution that makes' Japan one of most peaceful nations on earth" because it was forced on them by the U.S.
igloobuyer
Absolutely, there really should be no doubting that this was a human-rights atrocity on a major scale - do people really believe Japanese 'recruiters' went to women and said;
"hey, would you like to be a prostitute for the (already known to be brutal in Korea and China) Japanese military - you can make a lot of money and live in comfort, Whaddya say? jump in truck and let's go"
No, they did not, if you were lucky, they said things like "you can be a nurse/officer worker etc. and earn good money and be live in comfort". Many were tied up and thrown in trucks, no questions asked.
Coercion - the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.
OssanAmerica
Denials by who in the Japanese government? When has any Japanese administration stated that the Comfort Women System did not exist? Retraction? When has any Japanese administration retracted ANY apology made to any country that suffered from WWII?
No, the United States wants Japan to revise their constitution, and we have done so since 1950 when we FORCED Japan to create the predecessor of todays JSDF. Since then we have tried to get Japan to carry more of the security load and they have always used their "Peace Constitution" as an argument to avoid it Only China's blatant aggressive behavior today has changed that and the United States WELCOMES changes that Japan is making in terms of it's military. As for the right-wingers in Japan they are a sorry insignificant lot that does not control the government or country, unlike China which is entirely right-wing and fascist to boot. .
JoeBigs
The truth as to who were prostitutes, sold, tricked, kidnapped and who weren't is something that no one will ever truly know. The only people who know the truth are the ones not willing to admit it because of shame.
What grandmother wants to tell her grandkids that she was a prostitute during a war?
What grandchild wants to hear that their grandmother was a willing prostitute who made money on here back?
The truth will never be known, but this isn't about the truth, this is about money.
Ready gang, let's see who will speak up and who shall stay silent.
Ladies and gentlemen, there aren't any white hats or black hats here. No ones hands are clean.
If you want to tackle this issue you must tackle it full on and not just against one side.
Were there brothels before, during and after World War II? Yes!
Were some of the women sold by their families to pay off debts before, during and after World War II? Yes!
Were some of the women coerced (tricked) into becoming prostitutes before, during and after World War II? Yes!
Did the Government of South Korea sign the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea? Yes!
Were those women ever mentioned by the South Korean government? No!
Was the South Korean Government suppose to pay Compensation under that treaty? Yes!
Has the Korean government paid Compensation? Very little to none, so no!
Is the Korean Government trying to get Japan to pay what it is suppose to pay? Yes!
What makes one wars women a prostitute and another a victim?
Simple question, what about the "Comfort Women" of the Korean War, Vietnam War and South Korea after the end of the Korean War?
Even Kim Bok-dong has come to the defense of them....
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201403080051
Now, I know, some here will claim that those women were prostitutes because the only victims were the women that serviced Imperial Japan military. But, were they?
Let's have some fun and look up some facts.
Read carefully and you might get an idea of how hypocrisy is so easily used by folks today.
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2600608
Let's us see, how many of those so-called willing prostitutes were coerced and how many were willing.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/390782.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whbASlF4XfU
http://web.wm.edu/so/monitor/issues/06-2/6-latstetter.htm
Should we talk about the so-called comfort women of the Vietnam war?
Now, since folks are pointing their little fingers at Japan, let's remember that three fingers are pointing right back at you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UslLqy1tu44
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/21st-century-pacifist/2012/apr/27/soldiers-and-prostitution-what-shock/
Let's see how many here will claim that the "comfort women" after WWII were all willing prostitutes.
Hypocrisy shines through from the folks that are pointing those fingers.
Cricky
This is the tip of the iceberg, my wife's father was sold (recruited) age 8 as a farm slave for 10 years. No education and brutally treated unable to walk normally due to beatings and starvation ever since...and that's an internal Japanese incident. God know how brutally foreigners were treated after they were "recruited"? No paper work just victims talking, can not hanko talk so must never have happened.
Helvetica
It was easier for Japan to apologize for these horrific war crimes (but war is crime) than apologize for hiding the fact. Why should they hide past war crimes when they didn't do it at all in present, it's not that they'll lose their pride if they'll admit it. Don't deny, accept your past, apologize sincerely together, write it in history books, then move on to future...
Joseph G Baxter
Again everyone is missing the point. If the Japanese Government apologizes then what will happen is that Korea will ask for more money again and again. Many times in the past the money has been given and has then disappeared. This is all just part of a money game and anyone who takes this too seriously is just getting pulled around by the news headlines. Koreans are brain washed into hating Japanese so this will never stop until the brain washing stops and that is not likely to happen any time soon. Move on or else be crushed. It is sad that the Japanese Government did this but it is all past and as I always say about the past: past is past. Some people just like to live in the past and they will never get a real life.
nath
OssanAmerica
In your reference to mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, people should care about what political leaders think as they are representative of their citizenry and furthermore have the potential to become policy makers or affect diplomatic ties with foreign governments and a more frightening prospect, someone like themselves becoming a cabinet minister or worse yet, Prime Minister.
Take the issue of the Senkaku Islands. It's pretty hard to deny that nationalist Shintaro Ishihara's reckless and naive pursuit to purchase the privately owned islands in the Senkakus resulted in the former Japanese governments decision to purchase them instead which was supported by the LDP. It is undeniable that since that confrontation initiated by Ishihara we have seen a massive increase in confrontations with the potential of armed conflict between Japan and China over the territorial dispute. Had Ishihara not taken up the issue as Governor of Tokyo, and the Senkaku Islands are clearly not anywhere in the vicinity of any Tokyo territory, the former Japanese government wouldn't have had to get involved and thus get embroiled in the whole mess and lead us to where we are now.
smithinjapan
JoeBiggs: "What grandmother wants to tell her grandkids that she was a prostitute during a war? What grandchild wants to hear that their grandmother was a willing prostitute who made money on here back?"
So you're admitting that the women who have come forward and even visited Japan recently were coerced into sexual slavery, as was everyone else who claimed to be. Good on you, Joe.
Benji7
JoeBiggs: many women refused compensation as the funds did not come from the gov't. If they were driven by greed why would it matter where the money come from?
lucabrasi
That has actually been the message from a lot of folk on JT over the last year or so.
Not that I agree....
Helvetica
Baxter
Do you have to pay to apologize? Apologizing and compensation is definitely different AFAIK. Past is past, but denying facts ain't nice and it's true that some Korean (as well as some Japanese) needs time machine to move on. It's hard to live in the Philippines with issues floating like just because I'm a Japanese (They say Japan don't teach students everything done in war, J Govt deny history like this, bashing, blah blah).
tmarie
Can we stop calling them "comfort women" please? They were sex slaves. Giving it a nice name and making it sound like it was "fun" does a disservice to those that suffered. Sex slaves that were traffic and used and abused by the Japanese military.
Denis Moore
i would recommend a memorial be erected in memory of these brave women who were treated as human dogs. Would suggest a prominent place in Tokyo
justbcuzisay
Ok, maybe I misused 'retraction' as there were no official retractions, I apologise. But I also did not claim the government did these things. My point was meant to be that people should be more careful about what they say about such sensitive issues publicly
I said the right wingers want revision, I never said they were pulling the strings or in control. BUT, do you not consider Abe right wing?
JoeBigs
Ladies and gentlemen the goal for the South Korean government is a single one, get Japan to pay compensation. But, Japan doesn't have to as long as the 1965 treaty is valid.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/abes-diplomatic-backtrack/
Comfort Women wasn't and issue for the first Park President because he wanted money. Now, it's an issue for the second Park President because she needs money to pay for the giant carrot trap known as reunification.
As for Communist China, well that one is as simple as a smiling Mao poster, that one is about having Japan kowtow like the Korea's have. But, that won't happen unless they can get the US of A out of the picture.
Well said, this is all about money, this had nothing to do with pains of the past. This has to do with who will pay compensation to the people, Japan or Korea.
In 1965 Korea accepted a very large sum of money from Japan. It agreed to use some of that money to pay compensation to it's people then and in the future. But, instead the Korean Government used that money for other purposes. This wasn't a known fact to the Korean people until 2005 when secret government documents were released.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/S.+Korea+releases+1965+Japan-S.+Korea+pact+archives.-a0135575199
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2005/01/17/2005011761025.html
This is all about the money.
Smith, you try to spin things your way at every turn while side-stepping all the questions... Too funny.
Now, as always Smith, I will have to repost what I wrote since as usual you purposely side-stepped the entire post.
The truth as to who were prostitutes, sold, tricked, kidnapped and who weren't is something that no one will ever truly known. The only people who know the truth are the ones not willing to admit it because of shame.
Now, I hope that helps you to get my point. No women wants to admit they were paid prostitutes during or after the war.
While we are at it, let's see if you are willing to answer one of my questions above? BTW, I know you won't since you have never answered a single question with a straight answer.
Time to man-up
What do you consider the Comfort women of the Korean War, after the Korean War and the Vietnam war?
Many women refused that compensation because the Korean government told them not to accept it. But, many did accept it.
The paragraph called, "So it’s all Japan’s fault?" explains it best.
http://nation.time.com/2012/12/11/why-japan-is-still-not-sorry-enough/
BTW, let me toss some more facts your way. The Japanese Government started the fund, but since it was bound by the 1965 treaty the Japanese government had to turn over the management of the fund to private organizations.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9507.html
770m yen ($6.5m) in taxpayers' money was provided to pay for medical fees for these women, and for 79 other women from the Netherlands
Yubaru
Want to make your point...publish the documents, plain and simple. Let the world decide.
yyj72
JoeBigs, do you have any evidence to prove this absurd claim?
That is patently ridiculous.
Benji7
Joebiggs: thats not convincing. If these women are doing this for financial gain why would they not accept if Korean gov't told them not to accept? Why would they care about korean govt if money is offered to them? Your logic does not add up..
JoeBigs
Can you refute my claim with proof or with just opinions?
Try and find where the Korean government doesn't want compensation, but only an apology. please if you can find this bit of proof you will prove to the world that this issue isn't about the money.
But, you won't be able to prove that I am wrong because this issue is all about the money.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201311050056
However, successive Japanese administrations have argued that all war-related compensation issues concerning South Koreans, including comfort women, were settled under a 1965 agreement that was signed when Tokyo and Seoul normalized diplomatic relations.
South Korea insists that the comfort woman issue was not part of the agreement. Some former comfort women and their supporters have demanded Japan “formally apologize and offer official compensation.
One more time, say it with me, "it's all about the money"....
Try to deny it, but you can't.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
Well, even though I do not like this group's attitude about insisting on guilt rather than providing the evidence and seeing how it stacks up, at least they are doing something productive rather than just bleating about.
In fact, why not scan or take photos of the documents (not convenient excerpts - but as much of the whole thing as possible) and put them on the Internet. Make it a free for all?
CH3CHO
Benji7Jun. 03, 2014 - 02:20PM JST
This is why. http://www.awf.or.jp/e3/korea.html
Any former ianfu who receive money from Japan though Asian Womens Fund will lose the subsidies from Korean Government. That is why they could not receive money from Japan.
WilliB
Joe Bigs:
What about "all of the above"? There are many different situations and people, and whatever you try to generalize about collectively about all of "the women" will be wrong. I am sure there were some professional girls who quite knew what they were getting into, just like you can safely assume that some of the women today recruited in the Ukraina or Moldovia to got an "work" in the Middle East know what they are getting into. But there are others who don´t.
The link posted by Ossan America states clearly that the contract they signed did NOT mention sex services in any way.
Of course we can not see through the fog and know every individual fate. But we can safely say that a) there were cases of sex slavery, b) the Japanese government has paid compensation, c) the Korean government did not pass the compensation on to any of the victims, and d) the Korean governments (and some others) do all in their power to keep the issue alive and milk it for all the anti-japanese propaganda they can.
And yes, e) Japanese revisionist morons like Hashimoto do their best to help the Korean propaganda with their idiotic statements.
And dispute about a) to e)?
CH3CHO
Kazuaki ShimazakiJun. 03, 2014 - 02:26PM JST
Japanese government did an exhaustive study of the documents on ianfu, and published the compilation of the documents in 5 volumes. They are free for anyone to see here. http://www.awf.or.jp/e6/document.html
yyj72
JoeBigs: if you make the claim, the onus is on you to provide the evidence to support it, not on the audience to disprove it. That is a basic tenet of argumentation. You can even take a university course on this if you need to brush up.
Benji7
Ch3cho: your conclusion that that these women are motivated by greed in this matter is from this? Mmmhh... What about non Koreans? I haved lived in peaceful friendly Japan for so many years, so its surprising to continously read comments by the same suggesting these women are driven by greed and voluntarily agreed to become prostitutes is downright showing lack of respect. sadly it is the very same reason why this continous to drag on unfortunately..
Moderator
Readers, please stop bickering.
Nessie
Sounds like that would make an excellent monument, Ossan.
Anyway, as to your point about payment, receiving pay does not in itself mean you're not a slave. The criteria are whether you're free to choose your work and to leave it.
CH3CHO
zichiJun. 03, 2014 - 03:22PM JST
The compilation includes all the government document on ianfu during ww2. The intervies with former ianfu took place in 1990s. In addition, the interview was conducted with the understanding that the content was not to be disclosed to the public to protect the privacy of former ianfu.
Benji7Jun. 03, 2014 - 03:22PM JST
I did not go so far as to say so.
yyj72
Can you imagine being one of the victims caught up in this horrible thing? A peasant girl from a poor family, no education or ties to people powerful enough to save you. Stuck between starvation or offering up your body to dozens of sweaty, dirty, violent men, day after day. Praying to yourself each time one of them grunts and rolls off of you that this one doesn't have syphillis. After, you clean your sore, tired genitals, wondering if they still work or are permanently damaged. Once or twice a year, maybe more, you get an abortion from the local doctor, a man who cares little if his operation is sanitary or damages you. Knowing that you will never escape this. No one will marry you now. No one cares. You are just meat.
Or what of the men? Boys, really. Far from home, stripped of your identity, bullied and threatened into performing unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty on foreigners in the name of powerful people you don't know and an Emperor you've never seen. Terrified at every turn, of the enemy, of disease, of hunger, of your superiors. Suffering from what we know today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Climbing onto a young girl, poor like you, probably from a similar village. You go to the brothel hoping for kind of relief from the daily horror of soldiering, only to find that her eyes are just as dead as those of the corpses on the battlefield. You recoil at the smell your mates' body odour in her clothes and hair - it makes you think of the friends you've seen killed before your eyes. Too drunk to think, a few thrusts, and it's gone. Nothing more than a primal teenage urge. You recoil in disgust and shame. What would okaasan think if she saw me now? Both you and this girl, trapped in this world of suffering and filth. You wander off to drink more and try to forget. But you cannot. Not ever.
The Diet needs to make a statement of apology. For truth and reconciliation. To ease the suffering of ALL of those caught up in that misguided and cruel system of government-sponsored human degradation.
smithinjapan
As easily predicted, the deniers dig their heads deeper in the sand while demanding they be heard through th muffles.
joeBiggs: "Smith, you try to spin things your way at every turn while side-stepping all the questions... Too funny."
Did you, or did you not say, "The only ones who know the truth are not willing to admit it because of shame"? You did say it, and therefore admit the women who have come forward were coerced and raped. What's funnier is you touch on the J-government's reluctance to admit the truth because of shame, but I Doug you intended the obvious hypocrisy.
Ah_so
It is amazing how an historical event involving hundreds of thousands of people and still with many living eye witnesses, still causes so much controversy.
CH3CHO: I hope they all read the small print! I presume these teenage Korean girls could all read Japanese...
smithinjapan
Exactly, Zilchi! They forget that yesterday they said they was no proof despite heaps of it, and are given more, concrete evidence and will do ANYTHING to side-step, and deflect. There is now zero doubt about coercion, and look at them panic!
Joseph G Baxter
Korea is a country that is in collapse and will do everything now to get more money. Money is god in this world. All of us in the general population are lied to all the time by press and media. If the Japanese government tells the truth about Korea's interest in money then it will backlash as this is not politically appropriate. The truth hurts and for people to think that the Korean government actually cares about these comfort women is just another delusion that is being created. From childhood the Koreans are taught to hate Japanese just because of the conditioning that has gone on and on and so now we are in a vicious cycle. If you want to be elected in Korea then one must take a stand against Japan on these 'comfort women' issues. Imagine that this bitter feud no longer existed and then the politicians would not have a carrot to use to get elected nor would they have a way to control the society at large. Money may not be the only thing at stake here but it is probably the #1 most important issue or maybe just the ability to control the populace with these hate tactics from the past is of higher importance. The point is that nothing is at it appears as the Buddha also once said. One thing is for certain and that is if Korea was economically stronger than Japan then none of this past would have been brought up by Korea. So we also have an element of envy.
igloobuyer
Um, first, why would a country with a booming economy http://tinyurl.com/mgg5l4u <http://tinyurl.com/pd8uacg > want money from a country with withering economy? http://tinyurl.com/oek8ax6
and second 'Jo', this has nothing to do with the 'Korean government" - read the article again.
CH3CHO
WilliBJun. 03, 2014 - 06:11PM JST
You are wrong. Why would Japanese army set up brothels in middle of nowhere?
For example, http://www.awf.or.jp/e1/facts-07.html
They are all cities in China, not middle of nowhere.
For another example, there were 24 "comfort stations" in Manila. You can see the list in English on page 164 to 167 of this document. http://www.awf.or.jp/pdf/0051_5.pdf Manila is a big city and is not middle of no where.
zichiJun. 03, 2014 - 06:25PM JST
I do not think there is any disagreement between you and me in that Japanese Army licensed brothels for the use of their soldiers and officers. Prostitution was legal during those days in Japan. The question is if the Koreans were abducted or otherwise coerced by Japanese military.
igloobuyer
CHOCHO3
Who would question that? (except deniers) What young women/child would want to be a sex-slave to dozens of stressed, aggressive Japanese soldiers who had grown up believing all other Asians were inferior to Japanese and should be treated as such? You would have to be a masochist.
Athletes
Ladies and Gentlemen
Sex slavery and comfort women has different definition. Some 20 cents army of apologetic J imperial army want to flip the coins as both have same surface. In the real world, there are always two opposite as Ying and Yan as Flag of ROK flag. if there is no Sun, there will be night for 24 hours. On the contrast, there will be day for 24 hours if there is no moon. Therefore assuming all women as paid prostitutes means all imperial soldiers were pure and innocent as Angles. That biased fabrication are misleading and insensitive to the victims.
When we look at the photo of that article, two persons standing and clapping were neither Korean nor Chinese. They are Indonesians or Pinoys. Sex slaves issue is not only between Korea and Japan. Neitherland, Myanmar and many South Pacific nations too.As the poor nation, my Governenment of Myanmar has to shut up for not offending J government for raising that issue. As the private citizen, I am so annoyed about the paid propaganda of white washing the dirty business of Divine living God of Hirohito. Emperor was a recruiter of the WWII sex salves. Asians do not need to please the Japan for everything. History is not washing machine made in Japan.
The more J authority deny about the past, the more it will get the embarrassment at the present and there will be no future for becoming decent and respectable nation in Asia.
itsonlyrocknroll
How easy it is for a gaggle of right wing nationalists sets the political agenda? Simply the revisionists skill of to spin and skew past events. Rise above it, pretty please.
EthanWilber
It only happens in Japan in 21st century – A nationalistic government openly sponsors and encourages an army of feverish Japanese revisionists to deny and whitewash its wartime atrocious crime, sex slavery.
It boils down a simple question: Will such questionable practice work ? The answer to this question may be actually available in Japanese own history. Near the end of World War II, the desperate Japanese government brainwashed its ill-equipped kamikaze pilots to “protect” Japan’s "glory". Yet, both the government and kamikaze pilots failed completely in the end.
70 years later, poor kamikaze pilots were long gone, only a forever-shamed page is documented in Japanese history and world ones, too.
Can any country trust a government which is trying to defend its past sex slavery system or better can Japanese government win a lost cause ? I’ll let you be the judge.
For the US , a long-term ally, it sometimes has to press its nose to sustian the smelly odor of Abe's admin.
smithinjapan
I notice Ossan and CH3CHO have gone silent and slipped into denial mode. Hope to see you on here again tomorrow, zichi, when the next round of denial starts. It is a shame such people cannot come to grips with the past and instead suggest it's the fault of the victims and that the aggressors were the actual victims. Even more of a shame they get elected into power on such platforms.
avigator
Guilty as hell. Those who want to be more Japanese than Japanese probably believe Japanese have accepted them as their own. Too much affinity with Japan will get you nowhere fast.
OssanAmerica
No, you are wrong. "Comfort Women" is a translation of the official name for the program and system. You are also wrong in that many "Comfort Women" were Japanese. You are further wrong in that the Comfort Women were used by all members of the Japaneser military as well as civilians in their employ. Japanese, Korea and Chinese used the Comfort Stations and the rates were in that order, the Japanese soldiers paid the most. Evidence suggests Chinese and Indian have used these stations.
"The interrogations show the average Korean "comfort girl" to be about twenty-five years old, uneducated, childish, and selfish. She is not pretty either by Japanese of Caucasian standards. She is inclined to be egotistical and likes to talk about herself. Her attitude in front of strangers is quiet and demure, but she "knows the wiles of a woman." She claims to dislike her "profession" and would rather not talk either about it or her family. Because of the kind treatment she received as a prisoner from American soldiers at Myitkyina and Ledo, she feels that they are more emotional than Japanese soldiers. She is afraid of Chinese and Indian troops."
Wrong again. That some Comfort Women were forcibly kidnapped and treated as "sex slaves" is a known fact with respect to one proven incident in Indonesia which was charged, prosecuted and convicted at the Tokyo Trials. The problem is that the Comfort Women crowd have decided that all Comfort Women were kidnapped and unpaid slaves. Evidence supporting that does not exist and evidence countering it does, that there was a pay scale. And to jump to "all women must have wanted to do the job" is as ridiculous as all women were kidnapped. The fact remains that there exists no reason not to examine the facts and events which lead to the 1993 Kono Statement, especially since nobody but nobody seems to consider it to e any form of an apology anyway. If it's not an "apology" who cares if it is re-examined, amended or even simply retracted? You can't have it both ways.
Joseph G Baxter
Didn't the Japanese military bury or burn lots of evidence about these brothels? If that is the case it appears there is much to be ashamed of and hidden. If there was nothing to hide then why hide it?
Fadamor
I'm not saying they're all falsified, but I find it amazing that 529 documents suddenly appear so long after the issues were first raised. Let's just say that if I were the one asked to prove their authenticity, I would be giving them a VERY close look.
OssanAmerica
Your question makes no sense. These brothels were Japanese military facilities. It is SOP to destroy all documentation of any kind whatsoever when those facilities are about to be taken by the enemy. We did the same thing in WWII as well and we still do as do all militaries of the world, irrespective of whether there is anything to "hide" or not.
Which also indicates that NONE of the 20 Korean women were kidnapped from their homes ion the middle of the night and dragged away by Japanese soldiers.
WilliB
Ossan America
Fine, we agree. So tell that to Hashimoto and the rest of the Japanese revisionist moron politicians who insist in trying to re-write all this, an in doing so are helping the Korean activists, who want all the Japan-bashing they can get!
A strawman if I ever saw one. I, for one, have always said this is a mixed picture, and how could it be otherwise. Can you refverence one member of the "Comfort Women crowd" here who claims to speak for every single comfort women?
Kobuta Chan
All Parties need to be honest and should not play politic.
As I learned about comfort women, the women were recruited by local agent. However, we don't know how local agents recruit them and how local agent told them. Some women may know they will be working as sex workers but they may not be expected to shave sex with 30 men a day. Some women may be accepting as work in factory or farm and they were forced to work as sex worker after their family took money from local agents.
Military subcontractors may have run war time brothel behalf of Military if Military did not directly run the brothel. I read some comfort women experienced and they have to sex 20 to 30 times a day.
I believe those women worked as Comfort-women for war time Japanese military should receive compensation from Japanese Government even if Government believed Comfort-women were recruited by local agents and forcefully working as sex worker in brothel by brothel owners which were operated in Japanese military bases around the Japanese occupied territories.
The problem was S. Korean politicians and Chinese Government is playing politic with Comfort-women issue. They are not honest and they are using war time memory to gain their political career.
S. Korean President, politicians and Chinese Government must show honest and accept what previous Japanese Government had apologized. Otherwise, it’s fair to say current Japanese Government has right about withdrawn apology by former Government if Abe Government did it because S. Korean Government and Chinese Government didn’t accept it.
yabits
With all due respect, I think Japanese should consider more than that. You are talking about an entire system involving non-Japanese women set up to satisfy the sexual desires of the Japanese military men who have invaded their countries.
The problem here, as you have written about, is leaving things to governments. Yes, governments must be involved, but it would be far better to establish non-governmental organizations dedicated to the purpose of satisfying what justice and atonement demand.
sfjp330
@yabits
People seem to forget that Korea was an ally of Japan, not a victim of Japan, at least not in the same sense that China and Southeast Asian countries could be described as victims. Even if it could be argued that the 1965 treaty had not settled Japan’s obligations in regard to Korea, how would Korea’s comfort women prove they are former “sex slaves” seeking redress rather than former prostitutes seeking unpaid wages?
yabits
Did ordinary Koreans consider themselves to be allies of Japan? While the Japanese were recruiting their sisters and daughters into prostitution?
If there were unpaid wages, this would prove that the Japanese who managed them were, at best, thieves. (Someone would have to inform me what the going rate is in Japan for redress for gang-rape.) Let's see: Japan recruited them to be prostitutes and then demeans them for being prostitutes. It would be very hard for most people to "ally" themselves with people who think in this way.
sfjp330
yabits Jun. 04, 2014 - 04:50AM JST Did ordinary Koreans consider themselves to be allies of Japan?
Then how do you explain that there were 240,000 Koreans that served for IJA between 1931-45.
OssanAmerica
Never said anything was "alright or not". My point is that not all of the women were "kidnapped" a fact that you appear to recognize. Many if nor most were recruited through deceit, sold off by their families, tricked by the Korean middlemen who worked to provide "recruits" to the Japanese military program.
That's not what I said,
Yes that is correct. That is a far cry from every single woman being kidnapped from their homes by Japanese soldiers,
Hashimoto is just the mayor of one city in Japan Who the F cares what that idiot says. Have you any idea what any country would look like if you t0ook the words of every wacko in political office regardless of level and used their stupid views to paint a picture of an entire nation? This is the drawback to a democratic system, people can say what they want no matter how crazy or stupid.
" The problem is that the Comfort Women crowd have decided that all Comfort Women were kidnapped and unpaid slaves. "
Strawman? No it's a FALLACY which is repeated and spread by the anti-J crowd.
Then I assume you would support an examination of the facts which lead up to the Kono Statement of 1993?
yabits
Is there documented evidence of these Koreans expressing personal loyalty to Japan? From my studies, the Japanese could not get many Koreans to voluntarily serve and so when the war was going especially bad, they instituted a system of mandatory (read: forced) conscription,.
Anyone can be forcibly impressed to serve, especially considering the ones calling the shots were the morally bankrupt Japanese militarists of the time.
So, there is a mindset that believes that forcibly taking someone to serve the military effort indicates an "alliance." I would have a hard time explaining that mindset. My sympathy for what decent Koreans have to deal with continues to increase.
sfjp330
yabits Jun. 04, 2014 - 08:20AM JST From my studies, the Japanese could not get many Koreans to voluntarily serve and so when the war was going especially bad, they instituted a system of mandatory (read: forced) conscription,.
Conscription in Korea was effective in late 1944, almost at the end of the war. Prior to that, it was voluntariy served.
CH3CHO
zichiJun. 03, 2014 - 07:54PM JST
They are rape victims and are NOT ianfu. Rape victims do not get money for the intercourse, do not have contract, do not receive medical checks and other benefits that ianfu have. AWF put the paragraph in there, because it thought the rape victims should receive compensation, if prostitutes get compensation.
Ianfu were "forced to provide sexual SERVICES" during the length of their contract. But, you have to look at the international standard at that time. http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/whiteslavetraffic1910.html
The Europeans who drafted the convention put that clause in there because "detention against her will" was wide spread practice of that industry.
CH3CHO
igloobuyerJun. 03, 2014 - 07:52PM JST
That is the question raised by PM Abe.
zichiJun. 04, 2014 - 10:34AM JST
In other words, AWF thinks rape victims are not ianfu, but they need redress as much as ianfu.
Prostitution was legal in Japan. But it changed its policy and illegalized prostitution. In 1993, Japanese government apologized use of prostitution during ww2. War time rape is crime from the beginning. No politician, even PM Abe, has plans to change the apology of use of prostitution during ww2. Your question is relevant to the question raised by PM Abe if tricking or abduction was used in recruiting ianfu.
WilliB
Ossan America:
Nobody said they were. Moldovian woman are not kidnapped from their homes ion the middle of the night and dragged away by Russian Mavia either; but they are still tricked into sex slavery.
Please stop making up strawmen.
OssanAmerica
If you "studied" this subject then you must be aware that the number of Korean men who applied for service in the Japanese Military (and let's not forget that Korea was part of Japan then) far exceeded the recruitment quotas and had to be turned down. ★1939 Applicants 12,348 Accepted 613 ★1940 Applicants 84,443 Accepted 3,060 ★1941 Applicants 144,743 Accepted 3,208 ★1942 Applicants 254,273 Accepted 4,077 ★1943 Applicants 303,294 Accepted 6,300 If the number of applicants exceeds the recruitment quotas to this extent, does it not follow that the applicants were doing so willingly? As for "forced conscription" that did not go effect on the Korean Peninsula until 1944, when the direction of the war was become clear and the Japanese military began to show desperation.
Yes they do, Right now as you type, there are countless J-bashers who actually believe that ALL comfort women were kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night by Japanese soldiers, and they were ALL thrown into sexual slavery to be perpetually beaten and raped, and there was no compensation, and Japan has never made any compensation nor apologized. Strawman? That's rather rich coming from you who uses a Mayor of a Japanese City's idiotic personal comments to draw a conclusion about an entire country.
Simon Foston
And then there's Shintaro Ishihara, former Tokyo Governor, Takashi Kawamura, the current Mayor of Nagoya who won re-election by a landslide, not to mention Katsuto Momii, Nariaki Nakayama who used to be a Cabinet minister until he had to resign for being a moron... it paints one picture if you cite just one idiot spouting off his views, but quite another if you consider just how many of these people there actually are.
OssanAmerica
Look through the comments of any news forum on the topic.
Yes there are but they are the few far right fringe, and any of the views you mentioned do not necessarily dictate their views on the Comfort Women issue. And it's unit 731.
sf2k
better keep the originals
JoeBigs
Which independent group has verified that these documents are actually real and relevant?
OssanAmerica
"Professors" don't run a country. So Japan has a "rightwing PM" which that means nothing when he got into office because of an entire RIGHTWING COUNYTRY next door. And the Chairman of the national broadcasting company somehow runs the country and dictates national policy? Not one thing you mentioned above has a direct bearing on the comfort women issue. They are nothing but collection of J-bashing points.
Asian2014
The weak governments in SEAsia can all forgive Japan. But it is about time they release the documents to highlight the poor women who were forced to be comfort women and how they were killed when they got pregnant with a Japanese child!
nath
OssanAmerica,
For every "denier" there might be, and I would like to question just how many you think there are in Japan, there 10,000 propagandists pumping out a toxic smoke screen of transparent falsehoods, exaggerations and outright lies twisting and manipulating the past joined by habitual racists who enjoy kicking a nation down.
yabits
One of the Nazi's most reliable tactics was portraying themselves as the victims. This is what motivates most latent, habitual aggressors -- that feeling of being victimized.
When juxtaposing a 16-year-old girl with a trained military man, it's easier to see who can justly claim to have been the victim. Japan's neighbors have good reason to feel concern.
sfjp330
OssanAmerica Jun. 08, 2014 - 08:10AM JST So Japan has a "rightwing PM" which that means nothing when he got into office because of an entire RIGHTWING COUNYTRY next door.
Maybe Japan would like to dispute the 200,000 comfort women figure or dispute the 300,000 who were massacred in Nanjing or 600,000 who were killed by the Unit 731 monsters. The fact remained that the nations of East Asia did not ask to be invaded, butchered, experimented with vile germs, raped and their sexual organs mutilated, babies bayoneted, pregnant women bellies split opened, not to mentioned the millions who were killed or displaced and billions in property and treasured destroyed. Everytime, when issues like this were brought up, japanese apologists always point to the “invaluable development aids” that were purported given by Japan. Whatever “aids” japan dispenses were almost always repaid with interests or access to markets in kind.
OssanAmerica
Really? Tell me which professors run the Chinese dictatorship. Which of us is stupid and dumb?
nath
yabits
Where the "trained military man" was probably just a 17 or 19 year virgin boy, taken from his home against his will, I'd say they were both victims but of an entirely different and bigger scenario.
Unfortunately, the portrayal of the prostitution system has been falsely exaggerated and the evidence and documents so far support that it was not how the propagandists portray it.
Bear in mind, more than 20 years have past since the Japanese leftist professor made his estimates and that the 200,000 figure was only his high estimate. He has since changed his position as despite having teams of researchers working on the issue, the support evidence has not arisen.
There are also multi-national groups working on coming to a greater understanding. We should wait for their findings and not be swept along by the tides of propaganda wars.
yabits
So, the Japanese Imperial Army on the Asian mainland from 1936 to the war's end was primarily composed of 17-to-19 year old, unwilling, male virgins. Anyone older than that was "probably" not victimizing comfort women. Well, to the extent that you describe the unwilling young men and the comfort women as "both victims," they were both victims of Japanese militarism. And Japanese militarism is a manifestation of a type of Japanese mindset that still is quite prevalent today.
We see it in the thinking of the revisionists. Simply amazing how everyone was a victim and no one was responsible.
I also find it amazing, when met with the simple fact of a young woman contrasted with an armed military person, the attempt is made to morph the military person into a meek, unwilling little lamb. The women describe the abuse they suffered. They weren't the only ones to suffer abuse at the hands of the Japanese military. Their stories taken greater and greater credibility.
This I can say with 100% certainty: If the findings swing the balance over to the comfort women, a dozen Japan revisionists will be here trying to spin it away. Simply pathetic.
nath
Are the poor, uneducated and working classes exploited by the elites of all nations in their ridiculous wars against each other?
Of course they are. Everyone with brain agrees on that. The only people who don't are those employed by the elites - or those who see their personal interests best served by supporting the elites as they manipulate their poor, uneducated and working classes.
Is it more more amazing and immoral how the propagandists accuse and hold responsible every Japanese person for perpetuity, and seek to blame and hold them responsible, whether they were involved or not, or even against the war.
In the minds of the propagandists, even women and children are guilty.
Part of your problem in understanding the facts, and it's common across these related issues, if that you imagine things in the language of your own experience. Therefore, when an American or Australia etc imagines a military brothel or a military personal, they imagine, for example, the brutality of a large American soldier on a tiny Thai, VIetnamese or Korean "LBFM".
You have no idea of the nature of the Japanese sex industry and how Japanese conduct themselves in the sex and entertainment establishment because it is largely closed to you. Because of their ignorance and prejudices they find it impossible to conceive that such transactions are carried out very much entire the same way as every other transaction in Japan is. This is similarly true of the Chinese imagination of governmental and military atrocities, they project their own cultural experiences and tendencies onto it.
To get to the truth, you have to remove all these.
Amongst the documents that have turned up, there are prostitutes earning 3 times more than a general and owning a fortune in cash reserves; there are prostitutes marrying their clients; there are Korean prostitutes choosing to remain in Japan after the war; there are military administrations punishing soldiers for abuses; there are military administrations warning against corrupt and malicious Korean pimps and agents; there records of touching kindness between prostitutes and their clients.
All of those fly in the face of imaginations the propagandists want to make real and have largely been successful in indoctrinating their own country people with. Remember, freedom of information and opinion does not exist yet in China nor even does intellectual freedom in South Korean academia; whereas with relationship to this issue, it would not be where it is if it were not for Japanese activists and academics supporting it.
It's just a shame that those who have very recently usurped the issue for nationalistic and economically intent hate campaigns lack a sufficient enough integrity to address these outstanding anomalies and answer them.
sfjp330
@herrokitty
Prior to 1970, there was no open denial by the Japanese regarding the atrocities. In fact, there were a number of Japanese books, many were confessions or diaries by Japanese soldiers, which confirmed and gave detailed accounts of the atrocities. The denial of the atrocities started around 1972, when the right-wing political force in Japan began to rise. The Japanese denial of the atrocities in Asia can be divided into three broad categories: 1. Complete denial of the massacre. 2. Disputes on the number of people killed in the massacre. 3. Distortion and rewriting of history. The Ministry of Education has never admitted that the distortion of history is a mistake.
Source below: http://factsanddetails.com/Asian.php?itemid=2512&
Regarding Controversial Japanese Textbooks in the 2000s. A textbook, New History Textbook, approved in 2001 by the Ministry of Education contained no references to comfort women and forced laborers, glossed over atrocities like Unit 731 and the Nanking massacre, and asserted that World War II helped Asian countries achieve independence.
The textbooks were largely written by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a controversial right wing group of revisionist historians, who said the were interested in engendering national pride. Local school districts overwhelmingly refused to use the controversial textbook. Bookstores, however, had trouble keeping the books in stock.
In August 2005, the Tokyo Education Ministry approved a new edition of a history textbook written by nationalist scholars that critics said whitewashes Japan’s militaristic past, downplaying or ignoring the Rape of Nanking and the system of sex slaves. South Korea and China both lodged complaints about the texts. Controversial textbooks have only been adopted by .04 percent of Japanese schools.
New high school history textbooks issued in 2007 modified previous passages about the Battle of Okinawa, saying that Okinawan residents were “driven to mass suicide: without saying anything about the army’s role.” To play down the role of the Imperial Army in the mass suicides on the island the textbooks eliminated statements like the residents of Okinawa were “forced by the Japanese military” into committing mass suicide. There were descriptions of comfort women mo mention that there were coerced b the Japanese military. Screeners with the Education, Science and technology Ministry all want to make adjustments on the numbers listed in the Rape of Nanking.
The new Japanese history textbooks were blasted for inflaming jingoism among students and glossing over Japan's occupation of Korea and China. In the 1990s, North Korea condemned the book and Li Peng, the No. 2 leader in China, presented a list of changes. Despite objections the government refused to do anything. South Koreans were particularly outraged by the textbook. Dozens of exchanges between South Korea and Japan—ranging from visits by Korean sumo wrestlers to official visits by top-level politicians—were canceled. South Korean hackers disrupted the websites of the Japanese Education Ministry and Japan's ruling political party. A South Korean rock group shredded a Japanese flag during a performance in Japan. There were worries the protest might endanger the World Cup soccer tournament, cohosted in 2002 by South Korea and Japan.
yabits
Every Japanese person? No, that is not how it is. Those opposed to the war among the Japanese were often treated very harshly. I know at least one Japanese Christian minister who was in that category. But Japanese of goodwill are missing very important opportunities to show how they distinguish themselves from the revisionists. (The same kind of revisionist thinking that led to physical abuse of those opposed to Japan's war efforts.)
For example, when one of these monuments is dedicated to comfort women, there should be some Japanese who come to the dedication to represent the spirit of remorse and reconciliation, and reaffirm that the history of the events will be properly taught to Japanese children, instead of revisionist falsification. By no means are all Japanese revisionists, but those who are not must take pains to demonstrate the beautiful side of the Japanese man or woman.
It is a far greater shame that wiser people in Japan have not prevailed, and have allowed the genuine concerns of others at Japan's mistreating of history and its failure to take anything resembling genuine remorse, and turning it into another in a long series of self-pitying and self-victimizing delusions. All this does is to put Japan in a deeper hole, morally speaking.
The tone and logic of the revisionists calls to mind an earlier embarrassment of Japan on the world stage -- when it completely walked out and quit the League of Nations (in 1933), after 42 nations voted unanimously that Japan was in the wrong with regards to Manchuria -- the vote being 42-1 (with Japan the only dissenting vote). All the nations of the world were wrong and only Japan knew what was best for Manchuria. Of course, that was what the elites in Japan wanted everyone to think. The world is not fooled that easily.
I'm not trying to deflect from the topic, only to say that there has been an undercurrent in the Japanese mindset that has been willing to go along with those who want to portray Japan as a victim when in fact it is acting aggressively.