More On the Issue of Japan's WWII Comfort Stations

[sechan19]

Earlier this week, I touched on the news item that Japan's prime minister, Abe Shinzo, had been edging around the tense issue of the Japanese military's involvement in the comfort stations of World War II.

There's an excellent editorial in this morning's Los Angeles Times, written by a professor of law at George Washington University, discussing the Japanese prime minister's attempt to deny that the Japanese military took part in the comfort stations that were established to service soldiers during World War II. She gives a very good overview of some of the historical facts surrounding the case, as well as the Japanese government's history of trying to sidestep these facts.

Highly recommended reading.

Japan Can't Dodge This Shame (LA Times)

Comments

Hello

[muroku.livejournal.com]

Sorry to pop in unannounced. Thanks for the link...I saved it for reference. It is very DISHONORABLE for Japan to do this sort of thing. The presence of real prostitutes in these stations does not nullify the forced and coerced system (I've read so many testimonies from these women---often after the war they are ostracized by their own families/cultures too---they gain little in telling their stories).

War crime denial by Japan angers me greatly. I happen to study Japan's atomic bomb projects (they had 2)...none of the western scholars who study those endeavours ever use it to *justify the US bombing of Hiroshima nor Nagasaki---yet the Japanese will use the equivalency technique such as "there was no massacre at Nanking, even if there was, doesn't the extermination of people during the Cultural Revolution and genocide in Tibet prove that China is evil?". It is all illogical and malicious. If we talk about comfort women, they bring up the internment of Japanese-Americans by the US gov, not once thinking that we are trying to be fair to all victims in each and every circumstance.

It worries me greatly that Japan is now once again very conservative, trying to change their constitution and justify a non-pacifist military---all this coupled with brainwashing labelled as "education" in their public schools.

I am still glad that users such as "TAMAGAWABOAT" on www.youtube.com is still a minority in Japan. Let is hope that sane Japanese civilians step up and take an interest in their own history and hold their gov. accountable.

Re: Hello

[reteva.livejournal.com]

Always glad to hear from you, muroku!

I quite agree with you on Japan's position of justification. There's another article I'll be posting later today that follows up on this issue. While each nation in the world has its own demons to wrestle with, and its own mistakes to atone for, such mistakes do not represent a carte blanche of justification for any other nation. Yes, China has done terrible things to its own people and to the people of Tibet and quite possibly to the people of Taiwan in the near future. But - as you quite rightly point out - that does not change what Japan did. The slaughter of 40,000 innocent civilians in Nanjing cannot be whitewashed by anything. It was wrong, and Japan ought to make amends for it. End of story.

I've had my eye on the country ever since Abe became prime minister, and what I've seen since his ascension worries me greatly. I guess we'll see what we see.