Japan explains 'comfort women' stance in German after statue set up in Berlin

Won’t work. In any language people can see through Japanese denial

of history. Nice try though.

Koreans go out of their way to devote inordinate amounts of time and money to get under Japan's skin. It's like an annoying dog nipping at their heels.

In the Mainichi newspaper yesterday they covered this topic while in another article they reported about the unveiling of a statue in Shizuoka dedicated to the 'Japanese Schindler,'Chiune Sugihara.

I bet very few Japanese people could see the irony in that.

The document, posted on the ministry's website, refutes the allegations that the women were "forcefully taken away" by the Japanese wartime military and government authorities, noting that cannot be verified by any of the historic records that Tokyo has identified, while asking people in Germany not to use the expression "sex slaves."

The same old lie! It’s ridiculous they expect the world to believe these tens of thousands of women from all over Asia left their homes voluntarily to become ‘sex slaves’ for the imperial army? It’s no wonder Korea and other countries can never forgive and forget Japan’s imperial rule when they won’t ‘man up’ admit to their atrocities.

From the English document...

“Forceful taking away” of comfort women by the Japanese military and government authorities could not be confirmed in any of the documents that the Government of Japan was able to identify.

The Japanese military and government authorities never forcefully took away comfort women. They got contractors to do it. :)

The Government of Japan has been making efforts to provide clear explanations regarding its sincere efforts and official position in international fora

Well, readers will always find it super-interesting to know how the government spends its time.

They might find these government "clarifications" might work inside their bubble but not outside.

marcelitoToday  03:59 pm JST

Japan and Germany - the contrast could not be starker between these two countries in how they view and own up to their history.

Really? Please show me where Germany has apologized for their own Comfort Women System.

"It is estimated that, along with those in concentration camp brothels, at least 34,140 European women were forced to serve as prostitutes during the German occupation. In many cases and Eastern Europe, the women involved were kidnapped on the streets of occupied cities during German military and police round ups"

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/German_military_brothels_in_World_War_II#:~:text=German%20military%20brothels%20were%20set,set%20up%20using%20existing%20brothels.

The contrast is one of honesty. Germany admits its war crimes. Japan tries to hide them.

Very stupid that Germany allowed this statue in Berlin :/

This stupid War and the bad things that were done are things of the past and there are Hardly any people still alive from that time and the few that are alive where mostly children ...

It makes sense not to forget that it was bad so that it won't be repeated BUT it doesn't make sense at all to still hold resentments against former "opponents"

The document, posted on the ministry's website, refutes the allegations that the women were "forcefully taken away" by the Japanese wartime military and government authorities, noting that cannot be verified by any of the historic records that Tokyo has identified, while asking people in Germany not to use the expression "sex slaves.

So now it's official Japan use history revisionist as base for other countries beside Korea to comply with Japan's request

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_history_textbook_controversies

This is a movie about comfort women issue, there are lot of denier in Japan.

Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtNuze8mNUQ

For me, it seems not necessarily bad or illegal to build a statue addressing the issue of wartime violence against women (or other marginalized peoples), even within the non-committal "third party's" territory, going out of geo-historical context. In fact, Germans have similar dark history; Nazi ran own wartime brothels; mass sexual assault against local women by Allies (mostly Soviet army) after the Berlin downfall and during the postwar occupation.

Whereas Korea's campaign has been cheating on and highly manipulative to the wider public. Or say, they use elusive double narratives. On the one hand, they tend to stress that the statue symbolizes rather the general and global issues: world peace and prayer for female victims regardless of time and place. On the other hand, the attached texts to the statue shows anti-Japanese grudges, specifically points to the case of the Imperial Japan and comfort women system. The statue would end up serving the public misunderstanding and incite. It's a symbol of hate and hatred against the particular group of people (Japanese).

There are literally comfort women still alive today, yet Japan will go around saying there was no such thing. Seriously Japan...if you're trying to save face, let me tell you that this is just more embarrassing and shameful than admitting to past crimes and providing closure to victims.

The original paper is written quite ok:

https://www.de.emb-japan.go.jp/files/100104909.pdf

I missed the link the article! The context mentioned in the article above is only a short passage from it. Nevertheless, exactly that is what I find Japan should not have written into that explanation, rather that those statues are an unfriendly actof accusation despite settlements were undertaken.

Sorry. If they looked in the diaries of John Rabbe of the rape of Nangking against the tales from Japan, they will know the truth......and the truth shall set them free.

The document, posted on the ministry's website, refutes the allegations that the women were "forcefully taken away" by the Japanese wartime military and government authorities...

Until now I supported the Japanese stance that this issue has been dealt with through apologies and payment of cash. I thought that the Koreans were just looking for more money through this issue. But now I feel the pain and disappointment of the Koreans and other Asian countries through this denial by the Japanese Foreign Ministry...pathetic! The entire world knows the sex slaves were forcefully taken by the Japanese Wartime Military! It’s this constant denial that makes the issue never ending!

Why is there a comfort woman statue in Germany, and other foreign countries for that matter?

@oldman

that is a great question that I’d like the German government to answer.

And why is Sth Korea putting up these statues in other countries !? (Of course to annoy Japan)

Why does Japan deny the truth? You can fool yourselves but you cant fool the world. Stop playing the victim, it wont wash. Korea has the right to pay for and erect statues anywhere they like. Japan has no right to deny the truth.

The original paper is written quite ok:

It's a tone-deaf piece penned by Nagatacho hacks.

The world will soon know that CW were paid Sex workers as for slave the definition of slave itself defines it. The era of war every bad thing has happened thats y its war now its not war period

South Korea trying get sympathy and understanding from Germany, a country that had pretty much the whole nation's girls and women, from Berlin east all the way to the Russian border gang raped in the millions by the Red Army during the downfall of the Reich. Good luck trying to get them to feel sorry for you, SK.

I will like to remind Germany of the way they handled the Civitella case, because it is so analogous to what is happening between Japan and Korea. When the Italian Supreme Court took it upon itself to impose extra liability beyond what is settled in the agreements, Germany took it to the International Court of Justice, and won on the Law.

If Koreans are consistent, they should have been very critical for Germany's attempt to "evade responsibility".

And if Germany is consistent, they should acknowledge what is really happening and deny that little statue.

The document, posted on the ministry's website, refutes the allegations 

That should be "rebuts", not "refutes". "Refute" would be editorializing by the writer, or more likely, a mistranslation.

Keiji D'OsshaToday  04:04 pm JST

That should be "rebuts", not "refutes". "Refute" would be editorializing by the writer, or more likely, a mistranslation.

I agree. Rebut is an attempt to refute. Refute is a successful rebuttal. But I see the two confused quite a lot these days so won't place too much on it.

This is why the issue won’t go away; how can Japan apologize for and deny the existence of comfort women / sex slave at the same time?

Even Nazi officers were stunned by the barbarity of the Japanese soldiers in China.

For those ignorant of reality Germany 2020

-Has refused to pay any more compensation, give any more apologies.

Poland, Greece wants Billions of Euros!

What did Germany say? No more compensation!

2015 Comfort Woman Deal Sign between Japan, S. Korea

Japan apologies for the 55th time and paid compesation for the 2nd time.

What did South Korea do?

Back out in 2017 when new Korean administration took over.

Does the actions of South Korea are ever examine, analyze, discuss, debated? No, No one holds South Korea responsible for backing out of deals each and every time. Fact

Korean signs a Deal called Final and Irreversible in 2015 and then backs out in 2017.

I think, the best way for Japan to explain is to show in NETFLIX JAPAN Korean Drama depicting the much of Goreo and Joseon period had portrayal that powerful and rich people had up to dozens of concubines. Brothels existed in Korea since Goryo period. So probably, significant portions of the so-called comfort women were not really forced-sex slaves. And there were also some decency and rule of law on the Colonial Japanese government from 1910 to 1945. THERE COULD BE SOME TRUTH THAT THERE WAS NO MASSIVE ABDUCTION OF JAPANESE SOLDIERS OF WOMEN AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS AND FORCIBLY BROUGHT THEM TO BARS AND HOTELS AS SEX-SLAVES (SIMPLY THERE WERE NO DOCUMENTED CASES). However, in the case of Germany, Russian did that (massive rape) to millions of East German women... up to the point that German women preferred American/British carpet bombs above their head than Russians above their bellies.

Pukey2Nov. 5  06:03 pm JST

Even Nazi officers were stunned by the barbarity of the Japanese soldiers in China.

Incorrect. Nazi officers in China were busy chasing Jews, and the Japanese were thwarting them. In Europe they were carrying on atrocities against Jews and people of the countries they occupied.

You are confusing the fact that John Rabe, a German business man and Nazi Party member was in the Nanking Safety Zone at the time. "According to Rabe, the Nanking Massacre resulted in the deaths of 50,000 to 60,000 civilians." A far cry from the 300,000 that China later claimed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe

zichiToday  06:04 pm JST

The brutal slaughter of 50,000 to 60,000 civilians is a Class A major war crime.

Legally, no it's not because no one was charged or tried for it. The Republic of China under Chiang Kai-Shek attempted to file charges for Nanking at the International Tribunal for the Far East (aka Tokyo Trials) but was dismissed by the Court for lack of evidence.