Ex-reporter files lawsuit over comfort women stories

@Christpher Glen

Links supporting your allegations please

Did you read my post above? I said no English article has been published but only KBS News. Do you know how to use Internet? At least just Google some key terms! I see you ask for links all the time but don't be lazy but do some research instead of spreading your one-sided agenda.

But since I am nice and honest person who likes reaserch and hard proof before I say anything,

<mobilenews.kbs.co.kr:1935/news/definst/mp4:2011/04/22/180.mp4/playlist.m3u8>

My Korean friend translated for me. I hope you read Japanese/Korean/Chinese since you seem to be so much into East Asia relations? Not everything is avaiable in your language.

Links supporting your allegations please

@Hana Kato

I agree! The truth needs to be told and discussed!

But how come I can't find the article about Uemura's mother-in-low being charged for $1,500,000 Comfort Women fraud? Other than KBS, no other Korean media or Washington Post or NYTimes who can't spend a day without publishing a comfort women article wants to talk about Uemura's mother-in-law tricking poor Korean comfort women into fake legal settlement and compensation...They shouldn't be covering up the truth! Like J-textbooks!! Don't you agree?!

The author of the Asahi Shimbun articles was Uemura Takashi. Mr. Uemura’s wife is Korean, and his mother-in-law is Yang Sun-im. She is the head of a group called the Families of Pacific War Victims, and was party to the suit of the Takagi/Fukushima team against the Japanese government. She is also said to have brought Kim Hak-sum and the Japanese legal team together.

Ms. Yang became the leader of the group in December 1991, one month before the articles appeared on the eve of the Miyazawa visit to South Korea. Last year, 39 members of that group were charged by South Korean authorities for fraud. They are alleged to have bilked as many as 30,000 people for membership fees and the funds to pay attorneys’ fees in cases to receive compensation from the Japanese government. She and other members told people they were eligible to receive compensation even if they were merely alive at the time and not directly involved.

I wonder... Do they think that if they claim, that there was no wrongdoing on japanese side for long enough, everybody is just going to forget everything? It is the same with the case of japanese history textbooks... The problem of comfort women has not been mentioned in them just until recently and even that only as a footnote. (the same goes for the Nanjing massacre). I wish there could be more people like Takeshi Uemura or Ienaga Saburou, who would fight this sham.

The lawsuit says Uemura was defamed as a “fabricator” in a magazine article published in February 2014 by Bungeishunju Ltd, and Tsutomu Nishioka, a Tokyo Christian University professor of Korean studies. He says the article triggered massive harassment and threats to himself, his family and the university where he teaches.

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This lawsuit has nothing to do with Japanese Govt or Japanese people. It is Uemura suing Bungeishunju and Nishioka. Abe and his maternal grandpa Kishi are not sued. Bungei Shunju monthly issues are in Japanese/ The article was one of many articles. As Bungei indicates, majority are novel Rensai (series on many issues) and not specialized in one side or other. Interviews are just fill up of pages (about 480 pages), Subscribers are usually very literate and educated people who don't need dictionaries to read books. Each issue has more novel pages. In past, the magazine had special issues that revealed secret of Japanese past including comfort women.

@Christopher: BTW. Kishi was in Sugamo but never convicted as A Class criminal

Yes, but Christopher, Nobusuke Kishi is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's grandfather!

Of that I'm fully aware. It was symptomatic of SCAP's postwar policy of releasing war criminals like Kishi to be a conservative counterweight to the communists

＠Redcliff

The Japanese people need to know the truth, no censorship or threat can stop this from being revealed. This cover up has been continue with the ernest help from successive Japanese Government since WWII.

To those who feel the need to find out more should read the RAPE OF NANKING by IRIS CHANG.

I don't know why you keep discussing Nanking incident on this thread since this is about comfort women article. And if you recommend books for Nanking massacre (I figure you prefer this to 'incident?') you should do better than Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking as you might lose all your credibility at a discussion forum...

If you still insist, make sure to include all the criticisms and corrections made by historians and scholars—as the book contains countless errors, forgeries, plagiarism, and false accusations. A quick Google can tell you I am not making this up or Japanese government is covering up unwanted truth. Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking is filled with bogus photos and statements and non-Japanese scholars have proved it, that's all.

I have seen lots of comments that blame Japanese government for denying the comfort women issue. But I have never seen that they officially denied the existence of those comfort women. I think some mass media tend to distort what they actually said and the fact that they have apologized many times. Especially Newyork Times desired to destroy Shinzo Abe's regime.

You seem to be mistaken:

Mr Abe's comments to Japanese reporters late on Thursday defied the widely accepted version of history. "There was no evidence to prove there was coercion as initially suggested. That largely changes what constitutes the definition of coercion, and we have to take it from there," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1544471/Japanese-PM-denies-wartime-comfort-women-were-forced.html

Interesting. Now we all get to see what was behind his mother-in-law and Uemura himself. Clearly, his article had helped his Korean mother-in-law's awful crime back in 2011.

Mother-in-law of Takashi Uemura in Asahi Shimbun fabricated reporter for "comfort women" is accused a lawsuit by compensation fraud. Officials organizations of South Korea are seized as deceive 30,000 people, "compensation from Japan" Sankei Shimbun 2011

[Seoul=Katsuhiro Kuroda] Seoul city police announced recently,39 the executive of organization arrested on suspicion of fraud, against the victims during the Japanese occupation of wartime mobilization, said do receive compensation from the Japanese government, for the attorneys' fees,had defrauded 1.5 billion won; approximately 120 million yen,$ 1500000) Up to 30,000 victims.

accused are "Pacific War Victims Compensation war-bereaved association "and "private claim right suit organization", such has developed as do the requirement to japan,anti-Japanese meeting,demo. Suspect has been also directed to (67) Chairman of the bereaved family,Yang Sun Im who is known activists in Japan since ancient times. it could take a brake on the movement compensation claims against Japan.

And of course, all the JT Comfort Women experts were aware this incident...I assume? Because both Korean and international medias were relectant to publish this. Yay for cherry-picking Journalism. Now, down vote me all you want.

I have seen lots of comments that blame Japanese government for denying the comfort women issue. But I have never seen that they officially denied the existence of those comfort women. I think some mass media tend to distort what they actually said and the fact that they have apologized many times. Especially Newyork Times desired to destroy Shinzo Abe's regime. NY always implies as if Japanese government have never apologized to those comfort women and denied the history. The fact is that Abe keeps saying he won't deny the statement for comfort women issued by former government. People should know that Japanese government have never published any statements that deny comfort women issue. Who denied Japan's wartime atrocities? The media is the one who really wants japan to deny the history because they need something to blame. They actually deny the fact that Japan have already apologized and compensated for Korean comfort women. Also,Korean government is an evil because they never suggest the specific solution for this issue so that they can blame japan forever. When Asian women fund,which was set up for the compensation, tried to send the victims some money and letters for the apology by Japanese prime minister,some Korean nationalistic organization disturbed it and ordered comfort women not to accept the compensation because they want to keep blaming Japan forever. They said "it's not true apology. " But,What is true apology? They must show Japan specific ideas that can make them satisfied. Why don't they do that? It's because they don't want to lose this diplomatic card that can undermine Japan's value in the world.

Those who deny Japan's wartime atrocities make as sick as those who deny America's and others atrocities.

Unfortunately, denial is a common and powerful force in the world. And its astonishing to note that most of those doing the denial had nothing to do with the crimes.

I wont hesitate to tell you that American soldiers raped plenty of women in war and in peace, or that they tortured prisoners, or dropped napalm on children or massacred villages. It wasn't me. And I won't defend those barbarians with words or a cover up.

So what's your excuse?

We believe what we want to believe and call it truth.

The truth hurts. Which is why you are so annoyed by it.

No, I've simply pointed out the truth. Your defence boils down to 'you just don't understand, and besides, others did it too'.

"...Any coercion, violence or confinement was exercised by Korean brokers against the rules. So if one wants to use the term "sex slaves" to describe former Korean comfort women, they were sex slaves of Korean brokers who owned and operated comfort stations..."-Prof. Pak Yuha, Sejong University

Like I said,it appears you are not familiar with the issue and yet there are people with the nerve to state "I've simply pointed out the truth".

It's not a criminal trial since it's Uemura as plaintiff suing Bungeishunju Ltd, and Tsutomu Nishioka on defamation at a civil court.

No, I've simply pointed out the truth. Your defence boils down to 'you just don't understand, and besides, others did it too'.

This is why Japan will never be taken seriously under their current strategy.

No, it was the military that did not allow them to leave.

Nope. Private operators. It appears you are not familiar with the issue at all.

And it's still just as irrelevant as when you first stated it. Other country's atrocities do not excuse Japan's. So deflecting the conversation away from Japan is disingenuous, and shows the weakness Japan's stance on the issue of their sex slaves.

Nope. Since you are the ones having issue with 'ownership', I pointed to the EXACT the said operation you described. Are you moving goal posts again?

False. It was the private operators decision.

No, it was the military that did not allow them to leave.

I just basically stated that Japanese military didn't own them so I simply addressed the instances where the government did establish them. It just so happens to be the one that makes the most noise regarding this issue.

And it's still just as irrelevant as when you first stated it. Other country's atrocities do not excuse Japan's. So deflecting the conversation away from Japan is disingenuous, and shows the weakness Japan's stance on the issue of their sex slaves.

0 Good Bad Mr. PerfectJAN. 10, 2015 - 03:51PM JST A Realist Jan. 10, 2015 - 01:51PM JST

If Takashi Uemura is correct in his accusations, then he will likely win his defamation suit. If he is not, he will lose and could be counter-sued. Court cases are judged on facts, not what by some posters on this site choose to believe. The issue is did Nishioka defame Uemura or not?

"Court cases are judged on facts". We ALL would like to believe that this is indeed the case but anyone who has lived any length of time in Japan, or any other place in the world for that matter, would be able to provide countless cases where individuals who didn't tow the government line or took positions that were deemed anti-establishment were denied justice! Court judges in Japan tread lightly and are nothing more than rubber stamps to any indictment handed to them by the Prosecutors Office and any lawyer in Japan will tell you that justice lays in the hands of the Prosecutors Office. If a judge has higher aspirations he would be slitting his own throat to break with the Prosecutors Office but it's not to say that there haven't been individuals who had the courage to do so. But their decisions are almost always overturned in appeals.

Any lawyer worth their weight would advise you to tread carefully if the Prosecutors Office had decided to indict because there is over a 99% conviction rate. There are VERY FEW cases that get reversed by the Japanese Supreme Court and they usually are done so on overwhelming evidence to support it.

Unfortunately, The likely outcome is Takashi Uemura will be denied a fair shake on the grounds of insufficient evidence but A Realist, is it your assertion that because an individual loses their suit that that person therefore is a liar? If that is the case then we should all hail the godly powers of the judiciary have in determining what is right, true and just but I for one have seen too much to buy that.

Unfortunately, it seems you have already pre-judged the case. Not only that, you assert that Uemura will be denied a "fair shake" and further assert that the Japanese judicial system is biased and essentially unfair and worthless. You go on to say that there "over a 99% conviction rate" and that there "VERY FEW cases that get reversed by the Japanese Supreme Court."

What in the world do criminal cases have to do with a civil suit such as Uemura's? Did you ever stop to think that maybe the conviction rate for criminals is so high because cases are not brought to court unless the prosecution has very good evidence, or a confession? No justice system anywhere is perfect, and very rarely innocent people are convicted of a crime, but I doubt very much if the Japanese system is any worse that of any other country in that respect.

Obviously Uemura and his lawyers think they have a case or they wouldn't bother with his suit. In his case it appears that either Uemura or Nishioka is not being truthful. I would not attempt to judge this case or any other case until I heard all of the evidence, and I don't think anyone else should judge it either if they don't know all the evidence. But that does not seem to stop most of the posters on this site; they have already judged it according to their own beliefs and prejudices, which have exactly nothing to do with this particular case.

The Japanese military did not allow them to leave. Therefore they were owned by the Japanese military.

False. It was the private operators decision.

Other countries' sex slaves are irrelevant to whether or not Japan's actions were wrong, so quit trying to deflect the attention to Japan's atrocities to other countries atrocities. The 'they did it too' defense does not excuse Japan's actions.

I just basically stated that Japanese military didn't own them so I simply addressed the instances where the government did establish them. It just so happens to be the one that makes the most noise regarding this issue.

"Uemura’s story was the first published interview with the first woman who came forward with her experiences, Kim Hak-soon. He has been criticized by revisionists since then"

If I recall correctly I believe that Kim Hak-Soon was one of the group of victims who was questioned and interrogated in South Korea back in 1992 by Professor Ahn of Seoul University and found to be "not credible". So the people who pointed out that Uemura's story was inaccurate are "revisionists"? The western media are so obviously biased in their view.

The entire "Comfort Women" issue is blown out of proportion and filled with inaccuracies which contradict historical evidence, such as the US Army Report No.49. Japanese are not the only ones who recognize the flood of erroneous information that is spread and repeated by the anti-Japan crowd, notably many in South Korea. This is an eye-opener for those who are entrenched in the myth.

http://scholarsinenglish.blogspot.com/

But then what can we expect? http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2005/07/03/2005070361027.html

Papi2013,

This sex slave issue is just one component of Japan's pattern of attempts to silence free speech, in their attempt to beautify their WWII history.

Quite true, but please note that the source of the attempt to silence free speech is not "Japan" but the Japanese ultra right, represented by the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.

This sex slave issue is just one component of Japan's pattern of attempts to silence free speech, in their attempt to beautify their WWII history. For example, the controversy in Japan over the movie, "Unbroken", which many in Japan denies the allied POW's were even mistreated. You cannot deny that the sun doesn't exist by covering up your face with your hands.

' ...hold the Asahi responsible for spreading the impression that all comfort women were coerced. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament last year that Asahi's mistaken report had hurt Japan's image.'

That's ironic. Far more damage is being done in denial. Everybody knows these were real events...

Reactionary politicians and their followers are always in denial, as if lying was justified as a core value in team support of fascist ideology.

Obama should speak again. In Seoul, he spoke the following, and the dishonest Abe-ites went nuts:

Finally, with respect to the historical tensions between South Korea and Japan, I think that any of us who look back on the history of what happened to the comfort women here in South Korea, for example, have to recognize that this was a terrible, egregious violation of human rights. Those women were violated in ways that, even in the midst of war, was shocking. And they deserve to be heard; they deserve to be respected; and there should be an accurate and clear account of what happened.

I think Prime Minister Abe recognizes, and certainly the Japanese people recognize, that the past is something that has to be recognized honestly and fairly. But I also think that it is in the interest of both Japan and the Korean people to look forward as well as backwards and to find ways in which the heartache and the pain of the past can be resolved, because, as has been said before, the interests today of the Korean and Japanese people so clearly converge. They’re both democracies. You both have thriving free markets. Both are cornerstones of a booming economic region. Both are strong allies and friends of the United States. And so when you think about the young people of the Republic of Korea and Japan, my hope would be that we can honestly resolve some of these past tensions, but also keep our eye on the future and the possibilities of peace and prosperity for all people.

Comfort woman, euphemistically a declaration of respect than to reduce emphasis on its importance. Only diplomacy at the highest level will effect change that is sorely needed.

I have just seen and read part of the repot, that SENSATO has posted near the top of this article There has been no paper evidence it says, well in my experience paper burns, REF" Volunteer Corps system". would you not voluteer at the end of a gun barrel? And as for the only evidence that we have is the testimonies of the woman involved, but it seems to be that the evidence is from these woman but is discredited because there is no paper work, job done then, it didn't happen.

Yes, but Christopher, Nobusuke Kishi is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's grandfather!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi

They were "owned" by private operators. The government established ones are that of the Korean government during the 50's through the late 70's where these 'slaves' were made to have sex with U.S. soldiers. There is already a lawsuit filed by these women just recently.

This is a kind of statement that would make Toru Hashimoto glow with self-righteous nationalistic zeal. That this kind of thing is still an issue in Japan is because the postwar US occupation didn't properly purge the war criminals. Most of them were allowed to regain power - Nobusuke Kishi case in point - to counter the communists It's time for Japan to face facts about the sex slaves. A hand written letter of apology by Abe to all surviving victims would work wonders

shonanbb,

How come the word prostitute is not used rather than comfort woman?

Good question.

"Comfort woman" is a euphemism, rather like using "number 2" for "sh*t."

I think a closer translation might be "woman who gives relief."

Prostitute implies that the lady received payment and that she chose this profession. "Sex slave," which is very definitely not PC in Japan is even closer to the truth.

Ex-reporter files lawsuit over comfort women stories

They were sex slaves. Stop dignifying what they had to endure

NO SHAME!

How come the word prostitute is not used rather than comfort woman?

Hmm, this guy wants to be careful. Think about what happened to those cartoonists in France the other day.

A Realist Jan. 10, 2015 - 01:51PM JST

If Takashi Uemura is correct in his accusations, then he will likely win his defamation suit. If he is not, he will lose and could be counter-sued. Court cases are judged on facts, not what by some posters on this site choose to believe. The issue is did Nishioka defame Uemura or not?

"Court cases are judged on facts". We ALL would like to believe that this is indeed the case but anyone who has lived any length of time in Japan, or any other place in the world for that matter, would be able to provide countless cases where individuals who didn't tow the government line or took positions that were deemed anti-establishment were denied justice! Court judges in Japan tread lightly and are nothing more than rubber stamps to any indictment handed to them by the Prosecutors Office and any lawyer in Japan will tell you that justice lays in the hands of the Prosecutors Office. If a judge has higher aspirations he would be slitting his own throat to break with the Prosecutors Office but it's not to say that there haven't been individuals who had the courage to do so. But their decisions are almost always overturned in appeals.

Any lawyer worth their weight would advise you to tread carefully if the Prosecutors Office had decided to indict because there is over a 99% conviction rate. There are VERY FEW cases that get reversed by the Japanese Supreme Court and they usually are done so on overwhelming evidence to support it.

Unfortunately, The likely outcome is Takashi Uemura will be denied a fair shake on the grounds of insufficient evidence but A Realist, is it your assertion that because an individual loses their suit that that person therefore is a liar? If that is the case then we should all hail the godly powers of the judiciary have in determining what is right, true and just but I for one have seen too much to buy that.

It matters not that 1 or 1 million were forcibly raped. It matters that these events occurred and that they are denied to this day by those in power.....

nigelboyJAN. 10, 2015 - 10:01AM JST Nobody is denying the existence of comfort women. What's being questioned are the accusation that "200,000 Korean women were abducted by the Japanese Army" which there are no evidence to support.

As in Kim Hak soon's case as addressed in the article.

On Dec. 25, 1991, another article written by Uemura on the struggles Kim had experienced in her life was carried on Page 5 of the Asahi's Osaka morning edition.

Remarkably, Uemura did not mention in his stories about Kim that Kim's mother had sold her to a family that ran a school for kisaeng-a kind of female entertainer-for 40. Kisaeng learn traditional arts to perform at banquets and other events, and some reportedly became comfort women.

Furthermore, Kim has stated that her adoptive father took her to Beijing after telling her, "If you go to China, you can make money." Uemura's articles describe the person who tricked Kim as someone "doing work in the district." It is not made clear that it was, in fact, her adoptive father.

In December 1991, Kim filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court seeking compensation from the Japanese government. Kenichi Takagi, the lawyer who led the team for plaintiffs Kim and others, told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an interview in August 2014: "We and Ms. Kim are not saying she was forcibly taken away as a member of the volunteer corps. She was sold after she went to the kisaeng school."

The Japanese women were comfort woman for the winning american troops too. They made dollars and could support their families.

The implications and nuances of "a comfort woman forcibly taken away by the Japanese military" and an "unfortunate comfort woman sold off by her parents" are strikingly different..."

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001682522

War brings hell along with it. I agree with your statement above.

As a regular visitor to Seoul I was able to observe myriad demonstrations in front of the Japanese embassy there. And as myriad documents relating to the war were destroyed by the Japanese military documenting events we will never learn the truth. Japanese politicians do not know their own history and and as a result the truth will never be sought....

sfpj: But why this was not a issue for South Korea for almost three decades from 1966 to early 1990's when most of these survivors were still alive?

Maybe because no civilian presidents were elected between the coup in 1961 and Kim's election in 1992.

(Or maybe had something to do with introduction of WWW in ROK in 1990's. This link just describes history of internet in ROK, not any link to expansion of the comfort women issue: http://net.its.hawaii.edu/history/Korean_Internet_History.pdf)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Young-sam

Kim Young-sam ... served as the seventh President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. ... Elected president in 1992, Kim became the first civilian to hold the office in over 30 years. He was inaugurated on February 25, 1993, and served a single five-year term, presiding over a massive anti-corruption campaign, the arrest of his two predecessors, ...

During the WWII the Japanese Expeditionary Force in Central China issued an order to set up comfort houses during the period of the time after the Japanese high Command made plan to create a giant underground system of military prostitution. The plan was straight forward by luring or kidnapping between eighty thousand to two hundred thousand women mainly from the Japanese colony of Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia.

The Japanese Government denied these incidence have anything to do with it but in 1991 Yoshimi Yoshiaki unearthed from the Japanese Department Agency Archives a document entitled "Regarding the recruitment of Women for Military Brothels". The documents bored the personal stamps of leaders from the Japanese High Command and contained orders to immediately construction of facilities of sexual comfort to stop troops from raping women in regions they controlled in China.

An interesting question all could ask is, despite all the confusion and disagreement over the facts; would anyone disagree that the Japanese army was not capable of forcing sex slavery on women given their attitude to human beings other than Japanese at the time.

Think about the massive evidence and eye-witness accounts of the many atrocities committed by the Japanese throughout the Asian region during the war - seriously, would anyone ever doubt the Japanese army was NOT totally capable of enforcing sexual slavery!? It's an extremely hard sell, written fact or no written fact, isn't it?

Azuma Shiro was the first Japanese veteran in 1987 to admit openly of his participation of this orgy killing in the City of Nanking the aftermath was threat and death threat targeted on him and his family.

Katsuichi Hora, a professor of Japanese History at the Waseda University in 1966 did his research in the Massacre of Chinese in Nanking during Japanese military occupation of the City of Nanking and concluded the Japanese atrocities in his published research in several books

A Realist

A defamation suit against is mainly against Shukan Bunshun for publishin an article against Uemura intentions and has little to do with actual historical account I am afraid.

Defamation suits have little to do with what is factual or not but the intentions that are behind those article spread to the public. Saying that I believe it would be very difficult for Uemura to win since he discredited himself with the sloppy writing to sensationalize withholding fact which would paint a completely different light to the story at hand.

The Dutch female case basically enforces that IJA had a policy not to force female against their will into brothels. There may had been individuals within IJA but they met punishment in the end through court martial.

@samuraiblue

Not true. The individuals involved did not face court martial, they faced a war crimes tribunal conducted by the Dutch government, according to Professor Nishioka's paper ("After the war that incident [involving the Dutch sex slaves] was submitted to the War Crimes Tribunal conducted by the Netherlands, at which the judgment was taken against certain Japanese military officers and civilians who were sentenced to death and executed. ").

So, based on what Professor Nishioka writes, I guess that case does NOT reinforce the notion that the IJA had a policy of not forcing women into brothels.

The Japanese people need to know the truth, no censorship or threat can stop this from being revealed. This cover up has been continue with the ernest help from successive Japanese Government since WWII.

To those who feel the need to find out more should read the RAPE OF NANKING by IRIS CHANG.

How quickly so many people believe what they want to believe! And how even more quickly they ignore the issue at hand and rant and rave about something else, or use it as an opportunity to bash the Japanese government.

Why not investigate the facts and look at issues without prejudice and pre-judging them? Did Takashi Uemura fabricate those stories, did he base them on false testimony or did he not? Did Prof. Nishioka defame Uemura or not? This case is just that, not murky history about "comfort women."

Why did Asahi admit that their reports on "comfort women" were based on false testimony? The Asahi Shimbun is a very left-leaning paper and would probably like nothing better than to say they were "pressured" to withdraw and apologize for publishing stories based on information that was proven to be false. There is absolutely no evidence at all that Asahi was pressured by the Japanese government or anybody else to withdraw their stories and offer an apology. It means nothing anyway since irreparable damage was already done.

If Takashi Uemura is correct in his accusations, then he will likely win his defamation suit. If he is not, he will lose and could be counter-sued. Court cases are judged on facts, not what by some posters on this site choose to believe. The issue is did Nishioka defame Uemura or not?

Sensato

The Dutch female case basically enforces that IJA had a policy not to force female against their will into brothels. There may had been individuals within IJA but they met punishment in the end through court martial. Many of the females also left the brothels after they made enough money in the beginning of the war but it became more difficult as transportation got difficult with enemy subs disrupting trading sea lanes so they had no choice but to continue. I have read some memoirs of former Japanese comfort women quitting their job but continued to stay and open up small eateries and such towards the stationed military personnel.

At the end it not possible to establish what the SK is accusing Japan that IJA was directly involved in recruitment and management of the entire overseas brothel system overseas catering to military personnel through above evidence.

So it makes no sense in demanding the present succeeding JP government to compensate.

Japan has & continues to do severe damage to itself with the BS denying of the sex slaves, the evidence is so over whelming & the idiot right wingers focus on some tiny utterly insignificant aspect & then say because:

""not all sex slaves were forced at gun/knife point to be sex slaves = sex slaves did not exist""

Utter non sense! I have a feeling Japan is going really look bad at time this year, the 70th year after WWII, I shudder at the things the right wingers here are going to spout!

It's sad that the japanese are in so much denial. It's not only rightwingers but I'd say the vast majority do not accept their country's war crimes.

sfpj: "But why this was not a issue for South Korea for almost three decades from 1966 to early 1990's when most of these survivors were still alive?"

I'm sure it was very much an issue for them and no doubt something they struggled with, as victims and aggressors often do when it comes to atrocities and even general acts of crime. Many times a person who was raped does not immediately come forward, or soldiers don't confess to things they did in war until their dying days when they ultimately want to say what they did or experienced as a form or relief, or to alleviate guilt, or just to let people know what they did or experienced so that it does not happen to others. We know that from former Imperial soldiers in many, many cases -- they confess to committing rape or slaughter of innocents, but did not come forward before for varying reasons, and now they are being told their 'liars' or 'have unreliable memories', or no proof. In the case of the Korean women and government, they received some pittance some time ago and that could be one reason why they did not act as verbally as they are now, since many of the women are dead or slowly dying off. The problem with many on here is that they seem to think paying the money the Japan government did means that the existence of any wrong doing ceases. That a woman raped who got compensation money should no longer voice concerns or suffer because the issue 'is over'. These women want what happened to be known, admitted, and understood before they die so that they can have a little relief and truly hope it will not be repeated. The current government has proven that it in fact wants to backstep, and worse that anyone who talks about it be shut up on pain of imprisonment.

The Tokyo Christian University professor is not a christian, thats one of the problems the other is tgat he has been associated with extreme right wing groups.

Don't use an event that will bite back at you to prove a point.

@SamuraiBlue

I'm not trying to "prove a point," I'm just trying to clearly and honestly sort out what the deniers like Professor Nishioka do and don't deny. That's all.

I have heard opinions of some deniers who say that not a single comfort woman was forced to become a comfort woman by the government/army of imperial Japan (not even the Dutch comfort women), and on the other side of the coin I have heard views that portray every single comfort woman as a sex slave, where the word "comfort woman" is synonymous with "sex slave."

I am somewhere in the middle, in that I think a certain number of comfort women were sex slaves, and a certain number were not.

It seems to me that there were many women (Korean, Japanese and other nationalities) who became comfort women of their own choice, albeit many of them were forced to continue once they had become comfort women, thus becoming sex slaves. Others were forced into the position from the start, some by recruitment agencies funded by the Japanese government, others directly by the government/army of imperial Japan.

Sensato

And can you elaborate how the people who were involved in the forced Dutch female ended?

Don't use an event that will bite back at you to prove a point.

Good ! Let us fight the revisionism and whitewashing in general.

Japanese nationalists use an age old method of denial: Find any minor mistakes to discredit a whole undeniable event in history.

I really can't believe people down thumbing nigelboy and labeling people of denying history when he posts the details placing light to the entire story not told by many.

Nobody is denying the existence of comfort women. What's being questioned are the accusation that "200,000 Korean women were abducted by the Japanese Army" which there are no evidence to support.

@nigelboy

In addition to what you write, what is also being questioned by the deniers is whether even a single woman was forcibly recruited. Among the conclusions reached in his paper, Prof. Nishioka asserts that, "there were NO INSTANCES in which KOREAN women were forcibly recruited by government authorities to become comfort women" (capitals are mine).

Interestingly, in his paper Prof. Nishioka seems to admit that there were Dutch comfort women who were forcibly recruited by government representatives, noting that "some Japanese Army units forced Dutch women in a prisoner-of-war camp to work in a brothel for some months." Also, although in his paper he claims that no Korean women were forcibly recruited, he does not deny that there were cases where Korean comfort women were forced by government representatives to have sex after they had been recruited.

I want to support and believe Prof. Nishioka

A 1991-1993 government investigation concluded many of the women were recruited against their will, leading to Japan’s landmark apology.

IMO this is all that matters. Continuing to argue over the semantics of the apology -- Was the military involved or not? Exactly how many were there? Were the brothels government-owned or private? Etc? Etc? -- is just childish nonsense at this point. Grow up Japan and stop trying to find wiggle room in the "facts" so you can try to feel better about yourselves. Twenty years ago the government had the guts to take a real moral stand on the issue. Why can't the current generation? Has the roughly two lost decades since the bubble burst damaged the country's self-esteem so badly that they need to waste time on this?

I hope he has a chance with this lawsuit. Right wingers want to stick their heads in the sand and deny, deny, deny!

He'll lose.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament last year that Asahi’s “mistaken report” had hurt Japan’s image.

Tha "mistaken one" is Abe himself - it's he and his cronies who are hurting Japan's image.

"Last August, the left-leaning Asahi acknowledged that its stories in the 1980s and 1990s quoted a wartime labor official who fabricated accounts about forcing Korean women to provide sex to soldiers during the war. The Asahi also said that earlier stories, including Uemura’s, erroneously mixed up “comfort women” with those who worked in other capacities."

@nigelboy: How did the Asahi Shimbun determine that Seiji Yoshida did in fact fabricate the comfort women accounts to warrant issuing a public apology for publishing the stories. Or did the newspaper just cave into government pressure and accepted that he had done so?

The Japanese military did not allow them to leave. Therefore they were owned by the Japanese military.

Other countries' sex slaves are irrelevant to whether or not Japan's actions were wrong, so quit trying to deflect the attention to Japan's atrocities to other countries atrocities. The 'they did it too' defense does not excuse Japan's actions.

Regardless of which, they were owned by the Japanese military and not allowed to leave (aka - slaves), and were made to have sex with many men every day (sex slaves).

Nope. They were "owned" by private operators. The government established ones are that of the Korean government during the 50's through the late 70's where these 'slaves' were made to have sex with U.S. soldiers. There is already a lawsuit filed by these women just recently.

Nigel boy

You are correct when you say that the number of comfort women bandied about by Korean nationalist scholars is not supported reliable research. One of the problems with the sex slavery issue is Korean nationalist scholars inflate the numbers, and Japanese nationalist scholars minimize the number. The sad truth is the true number can never be known, because Imperial Japan burned all the records. Another problem is Korean nationalist scholars include every prostitute and sexual relationship between a Korean female and a Japanese soldier.

As an aside, Japanese nationalist scholars do the same regarding rape in Occupied Japan.

Its a numbers game. ;)

sfjp330, this has nothing to do with South Korea, when it's the Japanese government trying to silence the dissented opinion in Japan and whitewash Japan's history as if Japan was the victim in WWII. Today in the news, I understand the Japanese government has decided to expunge all references to the comfort women from school text books which will now project a more nationalistic and favorable view of Japan during WWII. This is a Japanese issue, why are you turning your hostility at South Korea who hasn't said or done anything regarding this ex-reporter's lawsuit? Or are you just perturbed that South Koreans who hear all this, thinks badly of Japan's behaviors?

Dollars to doughnuts that Abe and his LDP cronies pressured Yoshida into changing his story to support their revisionist plans

Except for the inconvenient fact that Yoshida didn't change his story before he passed in 2000.

The implications and nuances of "a comfort woman forcibly taken away by the Japanese military" and an "unfortunate comfort woman sold off by her parents" are strikingly different..."

Regardless of which, they were owned by the Japanese military and not allowed to leave (aka - slaves), and were made to have sex with many men every day (sex slaves).

Who cares who sold them into that slavery? The fact is that the Japanese were guilty of buying sex slaves, and using them as sex slaves.

The more I learn about this issue, the more it appears the former labor official, Seiji Yoshida, and the Japanese government are the ones lying. Dollars to doughnuts that Abe and his LDP cronies pressured Yoshida into changing his story to support their revisionist plans. Just like they pressured the University of Tokyo scientist to change his earthquake prediction (70% chance in the next 4 years) prior to the IOC vote on the summer Olympics. I believe Uemura. He didn't "erroneously mix up" anything. The ruling party just wants to silence people, deceive and cover it all up. I suppose the Asahi Shimbun had to issue a correction to the story as Mr. Yoshida completely changed his position, but the newspaper should have never apologized. That was not warranted and unnecessary.

smithinjapan Jan. 10, 2015 - 09:18AM JST I find it sad how easily many Japanese politicians, so-called historians, and lawmakers, as well as people who have lapped up their garbage, will say that soldiers and women who have come forward are 'liars' and 'have no proof' and insist they themselves, who were never here, are correct (despite having no proof themselves except 'indepenedent research' or what have you).

But why this was not a issue for South Korea for almost three decades from 1966 to early 1990's when most of these survivors were still alive? If the issue of comfort women was so important to them, don't you think the South Korean goverment would've acted much sooner and brought attention to Japan? Point is, South Korean goverment couldn't care less about these women for a long time, as long as Japanese goverment paid their millions. The fault also lies on the South Korean goverment, and Park should acknowledge this.

Nobody is denying the existence of comfort women. What's being questioned are the accusation that "200,000 Korean women were abducted by the Japanese Army" which there are no evidence to support.

As in Kim Hak soon's case as addressed in the article.

On Dec. 25, 1991, another article written by Uemura on the struggles Kim had experienced in her life was carried on Page 5 of the Asahi's Osaka morning edition.

Remarkably, Uemura did not mention in his stories about Kim that Kim's mother had sold her to a family that ran a school for kisaeng-a kind of female entertainer-for 40. Kisaeng learn traditional arts to perform at banquets and other events, and some reportedly became comfort women.

Furthermore, Kim has stated that her adoptive father took her to Beijing after telling her, "If you go to China, you can make money." Uemura's articles describe the person who tricked Kim as someone "doing work in the district." It is not made clear that it was, in fact, her adoptive father.

In December 1991, Kim filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court seeking compensation from the Japanese government. Kenichi Takagi, the lawyer who led the team for plaintiffs Kim and others, told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an interview in August 2014: "We and Ms. Kim are not saying she was forcibly taken away as a member of the volunteer corps. She was sold after she went to the kisaeng school."

The implications and nuances of "a comfort woman forcibly taken away by the Japanese military" and an "unfortunate comfort woman sold off by her parents" are strikingly different..."

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001682522

Why do stupid people try to deny history like that somehow makes it non-existent. Denying this is like denying slavery in the U.S. or Germans denying the Nazi party in WWII. It sucks, it's ugly, but it happened, admit it and move on.

Another thumbs up for Uemura-san.

This problem of denial is a human problem through out the World. I see it on my own environment daily. This is something Human that will never be fixed.

titaniumdioxide: "Drama! Stop playing victim!"

This? coming from a Japanese?

I find it sad how easily many Japanese politicians, so-called historians, and lawmakers, as well as people who have lapped up their garbage, will say that soldiers and women who have come forward are 'liars' and 'have no proof' and insist they themselves, who were never here, are correct (despite having no proof themselves except 'indepenedent research' or what have you). Sensato gives a good example of how many Japanese think on this issue: a man who was never there but claims the whole issue is the fault of the victims (and Japan is a victim of the media!), that they have 'foggy memories' and what they say is not true whereas the revisionists give facts, etc. And this man is a professor at an esteemed institution that claims to be open to the world, and who is brainwashing the youth of the nation.

titaniumdioxide: "Drama! Stop playing victim!"

This, from a guy who supports revisionsim so that Japan is not seen as the aggressor it actually was, and instead, yes, a VICTIM of war.

Anyway, it's no surprise that people like titanium and other right wingers claim it never happened, and history should be forgotten, that there is no proof and therefore that is proof that they were willing prostitutes (for which they have no proof, of course), etc., etc. Shame on you people! If your own grandmothers had been forced into sexual slavery by Imperial troops you'd find ways of trying to ignore the facts. Nah, the women who were there and experienced it are all 'liars' according to the 'historians' who were never there, and the off-spring of war-criminals who were. The Japanese soldiers who have come forward and admitted it have 'foggy memories' according to government officials who were never there but insist that other countries stop bringing up 'maligning untruths that hurt poor Japan's reputation', etc.

Sensato gives a good example of a man held in high esteem in Japan and in the education cirlces in particular who is nothing but a racist scumbag.

Thanks for the link, Sensato. It makes interesting reading. Much of it can be summarised as "We didn't do it, so!" But I found this very interesting:

House Resolution 121 (Comfort Women Resolution), adopted by the United States House of Representatives in 2007, includes in its statement of justification, “Whereas the ‘comfort women’ system of forced military prostitution by the Government of Japan, considered unprecedented in its cruelty and magnitude, included gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation, death or eventual suicide in one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century.”

I find it hard to believe that that statement is fiction, as Nishioka insists.

I was shocked to read that, of all institutions, a Tokyo Christian University professor (Tsutomu Nishioka) is so active among those who deny that not even a single comfort woman was forcibly recruited by the Imperial Japanese Army, and is helping to spearhead the witch hunt against those who claim otherwise.

This is ironic given TCU's positive reputation and given that its website describes TCU as a university that "unites students from all over the world who live, learn, and serve with a high purpose, that Christ is all and is in all," and as the only evangelical university accredited by the Japanese education ministry. I previously had a positive image of TCU, but maybe I need to take a closer look.

To add further irony, prof. Nishioka is a professor of Korean studies (from a Japanese right-wing perspective obviously). Professor Nishioka published a paper through the Japan Policy Institute titled, "The Comfort Women Issue," and the first chapter is titled, "The Allegation That Comfort Women Were Forcibly Recruited By Government Authorities Is Not True." Here is the link: http://www.seisaku-center.net/sites/default/files/uploaded/The%20Comfort%20Women%20Issue-02.pdf

As if his accounts aren't true... Take a good hard look at your actions Japan. Be ashamed.

Thumbs up for Uemura.

Drama! Stop playing victim!