OK, I think we can dispense with the meaningless debates about “narrow and broad definitions of coercion” now.
The Hankyoreh (English), Chosun Ilbo (Korean) and several other papers ran a transcript of some of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comments made 10 years ago on the subject of comfort women:
Abe’s statements made ten years ago on the subject were printed in a record of a 1997 lecture and question-and-answer session sponsored by conservative members of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The record, titled Doubts About History Textbooks and published in December 1997 by Tendensha Publishing, includes quotes from Abe in his capacity as the conservative group’s general secretary.
Following a lecture in April 1997 by former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobuo Ishahara, Abe, speaking about Korean comfort women, says, “They claim it was because of Confucianism that they were forced to maintain their silence for 50 years, but I doubt that is really true.”
“Korea has gisaeng houses,” Abe is quoted as saying, or places where men go to watch traditional female entertainers and in some cases arrange sexual meetings on the side, similar to the Japanese geisha tradition.
In that effect, Abe goes on to call the idea that comfort women were forcibly recruited as “something that could just never happen.” Abe then refers to the allowance of the existence of gisaeng as “something that had permeated life [in South Korea] to a considerable degree.”
Or, in other words, the comfort women were whores, which shouldn’t be surprising since Korea is a nation of whores.
Funny thing is, the gisaeng analogy wasn’t so off base, in so far at least that Korea did have a system of institutionalized sexual slavery for the state.
52 Comments
let’s take korea out of the equation. how does abe explain the comfort women from other nations, including some from western countries? so the japanese weren’t responsible for them?
so what if korea did have a system of institutionalized sexual slavery in the past… how is that relevant to former comfort women who are protesting outside of japanese embassy?
kimchi2000—Well, it might explain why locals were probably so heavily involved in supplying women to the Japanese military. It is relevant in that sense, but probably not in the way Abe and the like-minded would like it to be.
seoulmilk—Frankly, I always got the feeling it was easier for some in Japan to make it look like a Korea-Japan issue so that they could play down the issue as “Oh, those wacky finger-chopping Koreans are at it again.”
This goes waaaaay back to a question Haisan (I think) asked many threads ago that nobody could (or bothered to answer)…the relative role and status of women in Korea and Japan at the time.
This point would be very relevant to the discussion. I think the severity of the crime should be discussed within the context of what was acceptable at the time.
This is not to say that the actions were justifiable or should be ignored, but the context of the time should have some role (in my opinion).
Retroactively applying present day values to historical events would be a never ending (and dangerous) process.
since slavery was an acceptable social-economic system back in 1700-1800’s, applying present day values would be dangerous? i do not think it’s dangerous. in fact, we should retrocatively apply today’s values to historical events so same mistakes are not made in the future. as for the comfort women matter, whatever social acceptance was back then, we should not try to minimize the suffering these women went through. my thoughts.
marmot, i agree with you completely. that’s why it’s very frustrating to see wacko korean protestors who ultimately do more harm than good. for every step forward, these protestors in the eyes of the world, take two steps back for the whole country. another prime example is vank. they bring more unwelcomed awareness to korea.
seoulmilk,
It was pretty much inevitable that slavery would be brought up, but why stop there? How far back is acceptable? 50 years? 100? 500? Does the statue of limitations apply only if there are still people living? Relatives? How many generations?
Do the present day relatives of serfs deserve an apology? Did they get one? Women as a whole in western society? When do the people living in a society with a caste system get their due? Victims of WWII carpet bombing? What are we doing now (that is acceptable) that will not be acceptable in 50 years? Factory workers? Miners? Migrant workers? Conscription (for those who have it)?
Nice idea but it can get a little messy.
perhaps you’re right. and i knew you or someone else was going to say that slavery issue being brought up will be inevitable. anyway, with living individuals claiming what they went through, who are we to minimize their suffering by applying social behavior of that time? i may be wrong, but i don’t think these ladies here in korea or elsewhere went through amnesia for past 50 years and then all of sudden for no reason decided to come forth about what the japanese did. in fact, even if it were acceptable back then, i bet it was a shameful experience that most of the women kept quiet until they strongly felt the need to come out. and this behavior is common of rape victims.
and for every single issue, they should be viewed on a case by case basis. in this case, as history is relatively recent, and many are still alive, i don’t think we should minimize their claims and try to dust it under the rug.
Dutch and Filipino women who lived in the countries Japan invaded were the victims of individual crimes of war. Those Japanese soldiers must be punished in military law.
The situation of Korean comfort women was completely different from one of Dutch or Filipino.
Korean was Japanese in those days. If Japanese had gathered local women systematically in the battlefields, it would have been meaningless to kidnap Korean women and send them to the foreign countries which are so far away.
Korean women were sent to the battlefields to minimize the number of victims like Dutch and Filipino women.
In short, Dutch and Filipino women were the victims of war but Korean women were basically prostitutes.
It is very tricky to mix up both of them.
nice, jion999. I wonder what you are doing in Thailand.
jion999, occ’s outspoken Unit 731 and Nan Jing denier.
The crime of the Japanese is even more disgusting since they did this primarily to Koreans, who were supposed to be their citizens.
And, then, after all is done, they say this happenned because Korean women just wanted sex. Wild Korean women, heh?
I’m sorry, that’s more like Japanese culture.
wjk
So, is it your culture not to resist or fight against Japanese at all even if 200,000 of Korean daughters and sisters were kidnapped?
Wow, it is a shame for Korean men!
Do you like to insult your grandfathers were so cowardly?
I am not implying that it should be dusted under the rug nor that it should be minimized. I am just saying that it is quite a task to decided which are worthy of debate and resolution and which ‘less’ worthy.
I know that I would certainly not want that job - unless it paid really REALLY well
Apologizing for another generation’s actions is a completely empty gesture.
Wedge
Asking for apology for another generation must be just only harassment.
They never have an idea to accept and forgive Japanese even if Japanese apologizes.
That is the reason why they ask for apology again and again and again.
Never ending story…..
Having heard repeatedly that Korea “gave Japan all its culture”, I reckon the Koreans will have to take responsibility for the bad as well as claiming the good.
It would be interesting if Abe upped the ante by apologizing only to the Dutch, Chinese and Filipina “comfort women”.
Korea did have a system of institutionalized sexual slavery at that time, but they did not pick a random woman off the street & force them to sexual slavery. Those who became a Gisaeng were either family member of convicted criminal or offspring of Gisaeng. Some sold themselves or sold by their relatives to Gisaeng house, but it was done with set laws and regulations. I’m sure many of these women were forced into the situation, but it is not anything close to what Japanese did to the comfort women.
Jion999,
You cannot dismiss Japan’s atrocities were justified on Korean women but not on Dutch and Filipino women. They were all victim of imperial Japan’s greed and ambition & if you want to expand on this subject and look at the bigger picture, they were all victim of European, Japanese, and American imperialists at that time.
Having said all this, I think it is time to move on. We need to focus on the present & the future, not the past.
I find the argument that Korean prostitutes existed or that most of the “comfort women” were trading sex for money a blatantly irrelevant diversion. The “All were whores” claim begs evidence even more than the “no coercion” claim, because of numerous eyewitness and victim testimonies to the contrary. Sure, prostitution was legal at the time and did happen (which still does not make it morally acceptable today, by the way). But there is no way to prove what percent of encounters were strictly voluntary. The real issues are whether *any* women were raped by the military, especially with the consent of commanders. It needs to be recognized that even a prostitute can be raped. Every woman has a right to refuse unwanted sex. If any did refuse but were still raped, then Japan should condemened that as both illegal and immoral. While it is very difficult to discern which claims are authentic without corroborating testimony, the testimonies of the bulk of “comfort women” speaking out suggests that rapes not only happened, but were commonplace and widespread. And when one considers what is known about the behavior of sex abuse victims today, it seems quite possible that many “comfort women” who did protest at first, over time gave up fighting to avoid repercussions. That does not, however, excuse the rape that occurred. That Japan paid them a bit while holding them against their will does not make them all prostitutes either.
I agree with “reader” and “Uri Onara”.
reader
Uri Onara (What an ID!!)
Fantasy
You must read this.
http://www.exordio.com/1939-19.....-orig.html
They were prostitutes.
There is no evidence of coercion except shouting Korean old women.
The above document is an evidence they worked for money.
[DELETED. Reason: Inappropriate Language and Tone]
jion999, stop abusing white slavery in Thailand. Is that Japanese culture?Stop quoting that Alex Yorichi shit.
It’s so obvious what he was doing.
What was Korea supposed to do?
Japan mass murdered the Dong Hak rebellion, defeated the Chinese and Russians in wars, and came into take Korea after that. Japanese murdered the Korean Queen who was trying to ask for Russian military support.
There was a non aggressive political protest on 3-1-1919 and what did you guys do? Shoot’em, gun’em down.
I thought your country came to HELP Korea?
To avoid the same fate, Japanese school teachers wore swords in class rooms, and posted factory job listings for the Wie An Bu, and these people ended up banging your tiny weenies somewhere where it does not even snow in December.
Wishing you evil, your worthy antagonist on earth, — wjk.
It seems to have been established that some level of coercion did coexist with voluntary whoring and impressment of established whores against their will. However, I would venture to say that the percentages of each type will never be known, and therefore this debate will never end.
The devil is in the details.
wjik
You had better be ashamed for your weakness backwardness of Korea in those days before criticizing foreign countries.
backwardness? What kind of HELP comes in, takes all the best land, and makes the natives of the land their servants?
Sorry for the bad posts.
Japan had many geisha houses…
I didn’t notice it is still being discussed.
Robert wrote
“The Hankyoreh (English), Chosun Ilbo (Korean) and several other papers ran a transcript of some of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comments made 10 years ago on the subject of comfort women:”
I wonder why they changed the subject. They were not against the statement made ten years ago, they were talking about Abe’s statement that there is no backed up evidence that Korean comfort women were systematically kidnapped by military.
If you can not refute it, dig the past, and find something to bash?
“I always got the feeling it was easier for some in Japan to make it look like a Korea-Japan issue so that they could play down the issue as “Oh, those wacky finger-chopping Koreans are at it again.”
I wonder who “some in Japan” you are talking about.
Roughly, the leftist in Japan wants to take this issue as a woman’s issue that happened and are happening in any place, The rightist in Japan want to take issue as an common problem which has been happening in a place where military is.
Again very roughly, in my impression, the former tends to thinks it is common “issue”, the latter tend to take it as non-issue since no other country take it up, what bother?
I wonder why some Korean hesitate to take their own issue through this issue.
Sure ohmynews took it up.
http://www.ohmynews.com/articl.....code=67635
Korea had the comfort women system like Japanese comfort station during Japanese rule.
As far as I read the article , there is no difference, thought the article claims there is.
One might say, the comfort station during Korean War was worse in that military directly run the brothels and there is no evidence they regulated pimps and brothels.
reader wrote
“Those who became a Gisaeng were either family member of convicted criminal or offspring of Gisaeng. Some sold themselves or sold by their relatives to Gisaeng house, but it was done with set laws and regulations. I’m sure many of these women were forced into the situation, ”
I agree so far.
Keep in mind 金学順,who was the first to come out as ex-comfort women was kaesen. And the other comfort woman who filed suit against Japanese government testified she was sold as Kaesen.
”
but it is not anything close to what Japanese did to the comfort women.”"
That is what you have to show.
Uri Onara
“The real issues are whether *any* women were raped by the military, especially with the consent of commanders. ”
There are cases where the woman were raped by the military officers.
But could you show the case where the women were raped with the consent of the commander?
I know the case where the rapist were punished.
Uri Onara wrote
“It needs to be recognized that even a prostitute can be raped. Every woman has a right to refuse unwanted sex. If any did refuse but were still raped, then Japan should condemned that as both illegal and immoral.”"
I agree.
And there is a record that the prostitute had right to refuse the sex. I am not sure if all the women were like that, though.
As for whether the state should be held responsible, suppose the man visit the brothel in, say, Australia where prostitution is legal, but say, Korean prostituted was forced sex by the Australian military officers at private brothel at private time, then should Australian Prime Minster issue apology and held responsible? Or the man who forced sex should be held responsible?
In case of Japan, Japanese military set up houses for brothels, transferred women, licenced the brothel, the police tried to regulate illegal pimps and brothels;regardless, injustice happened, and hence Japanese government was held responsible. I think Japan has done its due.
Uri Onara wrote
“the testimonies of the bulk of “comfort women” speaking out suggests that rapes not only
happened, but were commonplace and widespread.”
Which testimonies says it was common place and widespread?
With the constant use of the word “whores,” etc. to (mis)characterize the arguments of opponents, no one is doing more to lower the debate than the opening post(er) itself.
Sorry, but no. It’s PM Abe and his friends who have lowered the debate. The fact that they’ve said inappropriate things in appropriate language—in this case, calling rape victims prostitutes—doesn’t make it any less inappropriate. Fortunately, sometimes, they dispense with the niceties:
http://www.nesa.org.uk/html/pa....._-_two.htm
jion999:
Now, leaving aside for a moment that the document you linked to says they were recruited through misrepresentation, what about this US Army document:
You know, WWII documents can be quite funny sometimes. I know the one linked above by Jion999 is getting a lot of currency in right-wing Japanese circles. I’d imagine this product of U.S. WWII intelligence is getting less.
You’re wrong, sir. Even in that link, which was indeed not very “nice,” the man in question did not use derogatory terms like “whore.” Asserting that certain people were prostitutes based on evidence (even if the evidence is not great) and calling people “whores” and a “nation of whores” are miles apart. And I’ve only heard the latter from you, not them.
Learn from the finger-choppers. Emotion does not strengthen your argument; it weakens it.
Robert
Abe didn’t say gisaeng were whores, you said it.
Abe would admit that there were those who were raped, but he has never said that women who were raped were whores.
Robert quoted:
“With the exception of Mrs.Hwang Nam-suk, all of the 23 women became “comfortgirls”, apparently under compulsion and misrepresentation. The fifteen who left Korea in July, 1943, for example, were recruited through advertisements in Korean newspapers offering employment for girls in Japanese factories in Singapore. The contingent with which they were sent southward included at least 300 girls who were similarly misled.”
Who denied many women were deceived?
Did you forget the three comfort women who filed suit? They were deceived by Korean pimps.
And did you forget the newspaper articles that since illegal pimps were rampant, police regulated them?
“I’d imagine this product of U.S. WWII intelligence is getting less.”
And this product is:
1942 US Army & Navy’s HOW TO SPOT A JAP Educational Comic Strip
Robert, what does this have to do with the topic?
“Who denied many women were deceived?
Did you forget the three comfort women who filed suit? They were deceived by Korean pimps.
And did you forget the newspaper articles that since illegal pimps were rampant, police regulated them?”
Esteemed Ponta:
Can you confidently rule out the possibility that the Japanese soldiers who had in sexual contact with these girls (terminology correct at the time of the events) did not even SUSPECT that their partners had been forced or deceived by SOMEONE OF WHATEVER ETHNIC ORIGIN ?
THIS is the question which really matters since it is the only passage open to the Japanese Empire of that era to exculpate herself.
It will not work, I’m afraid…
Fantasy
The problem is that they knew it well. But some can’t understand that there is a problem of gender involved, and that defending the pre WW2 comfort women systems means that you defend the whole concept of forced prostitution, selling women for money, deceiving them.
In other wother,they don’t recognize that defending that systems is to send a message to the world “it was OK at that times and surley it’s OK today.”
As if todays Japanese society is allowing that. And they are thinking that they are patriots.
Ponta:
in a different thread, some time ago, you asked me about German military brothels. I acknowledged their probable existence at the Eastern European front.
In the meantime I have done a little bit of reasearch and can now confirm the existence of German military brothels with forced prostitutes in German occupied Tunisia as from November 1942 until the surrender of the German Africa Corps to the allied Africa Forces (12 May 1943 in Tunis).
The existence of forced prostitution during WWII is being freely by the German government - there is absolutely no controversy about it.
Tomojiro:
I am sorry, I had not yet seen your comment when writing my previous contribution. Therefore I did not address you alongside with Ponta.
I see your point and am in full agreement with you.
Take care
Fantasy
Did you guys already see the Korean newspaper ad to recruit comfort women for UN soldiers in 1960’s?
lobotomy948
It seems that the Korean has “learned” the comfort women system from Japan, but that is not the point. That’s another story.
Albeit, I have no doubt that why the comfort women became not a problem until the 1990ies,was that the korean society shared a discriminative view against women with Japan.
No wonder that it was the feminists who raised this problem very loud in both countries.
Though the feminists are ignoring Japanese comfort women.
lobotomy948
You are right. That is a big problem. And there is the problem with the radical left feminists. Or you could say, about the hypocracy of some leftist intellectual in Japan.
They have a kind of double standard. Helping Asian comfort women is not wrong. But it is hypocratical when you ignore the Japanese comfort women. In other word, although they claim that they are “internationale” citizen and say they believe in universal values, apparently they also play with the “nationalism” card.
Suggested solution:
Apologise to the Japanese comfort women, as well, provided they were indeed forced or deceived, and provide them with compensation for their suffering whereever possible.
Japan is a rich nation, much better off than Germany. I’m convinced she will not be bankrupted by such a move…
Fantasy
Too bad.
Japan is no longer rich nation.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/h.....08-jij-pol
Please don’t rely on their wallet anymore.
Japan is not ATM for your war.
Fantasy
If you see the revisionist arguments, you will recognize that they fail to understand that this is simply not a problem between nations, but also a problem between genders.
Ofcourse it was the Japanese government and the military that created and maitained, managed this system. But the conservative and revisionists simply handle this problem as it is concerned about national honour, thus they resort to absurde logics like “selling women was common at that time” “we are not the only one who did this” and so on.
“My” war
News to me…
Lobotomy948
Somewhat I think I can understand your frustration. It is frustrating to be accused again and again by Koreans and Chinese.
The japanese empire died loooong ago before I was born and even my parenst were little babies.
But I sometimes think the anger of the young Japanese generations should be aimed against the older generation who had direct responsibilities about what happened, and who failed to do what they should do ,rather aiming against the victims of the Japanese war and colonialism.
tomojiro
Yes it’s about fairness.
If America demands compensation to Japan for the comfort women issue, then America should compensate rape victims in Japan (especially in Okinawa), shouldn’t they?
America is also demanding compensation to Turkey for the massacre of Armenians which happened in 1915.
Japan and Turkey are both America’s allies and supported the war on Iraq.
People in those countries will regret.
The rapes in Okinawa did not happen with the connivance of the US military, absolutely not.
The GIs who raped the 12-year old girl in Okinawa were put on trial, convicted, and served their time.
“Japan and Turkey are both America’s allies and supported the war on Iraq. People in those countries will regret.”
And the Iraq war (whatever you think of it) does not come into play here…
Fantasy
Thanks
I don’t disagree.
I have been insisting that this issue should be approached in view of man’s exploitation of women
and it should not be used as a tool to fuel nationalism.
For your reference,
http://search.japantimes.co.jp.....320i1.html
here is two experts’ view on comfort station under Japanese rule. (Yoshimi is a representative historian and supporter of comfort women) Though they disagree on several points, note that they agree there is no evidence that Japanese troop systematically kidnapped women.
Note also the living conditions of comfort women is not different from what i said.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/.....ment-74556
Abe’s statement that there is no backed up evidence that Japanese troop systematically kidnapped women is nothing new and grounded. (The historians must judged to be neo-nationalist and holocaust denier and they must be saying comfort women are whores if they participated in this forum on this blog and deny Japanese troop systematically kidnapped women )
Though Japanese troops didn’t systematically abducted women to make them prostitutes, though Japanese military/police regulated illegal pimps, and brothels, in many cases it is not hard to imagine that the living condition was horrible as i said before. In some cases there might have been the cases where women found it hard to reject the sexual intercourse. Facing this fact, Japan apologized and set up funds.
I am not saying that comfort station system was right. I am saying it was wrong.
And I am saying it was wrong whoever did it and
it should be approached from the viewpoint of man’s exploitation of women.
i am also saying German had the similar system as two historians claims and Korea had the comfort station during Korean war exactly like the one Japanese rule as a Korean professor Kim claims.
Both countries has not faced the fact.
And I am asking what people are doing when they keep bashing Abe while they are turning blind an eye on those countries. What is their point? do they just want to bash Abe, or do they just want to help victims , ex-comfort women under Korea, under German?
Ex-comfort women during korean war are aging.
I am saying this kind of thing, human trafficking
and unwilling prostitution has been happening in East Asia, in particular in Korea.
Korea is No 1 in the number of illegal prostitutes.
http://www.donga.com/fbin/outp.....0609250118
I am saying there are still cases where prostitutes find it hard to explicitly reject the customer and they are under threat from the pimps.
I am saying Korean women’s situation has not changed; they are still economically and socially forced to be prostitutes, exploited by Korean pimps.
Korean prostitutes are demanding they should be given the status of “official prostitutes” because otherwise they are being exploited by pimps.
http://www.segye.com/Service5/.....1641002232
I am asking what pro-Korean people doing, nitpicking what Abe said ten years ago while Abe confirmed and affirmed Kono statement a week ago.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/w.....e9308.html
I am asking why some people want Japanese to say what they are not saying.
No body said comort women just wanted sex, nobody
said ex-comfort women were snile old whores.
Tomojiro
Have you checked the record?
There were illegal pimps who deceived and attempted to kidnap or actually kidnapped women to make them prostitutes and Japanese police regulated them, arrested them. That means it was wrong even then and so was it recognized. When it was found out women was forced, the record shows the brothel was closed.
That means it was wrong even then
But it is imaginable in some cases the condintion
was horrible under a coercive atmosphere, and in view of that Japan apologized.
tomojiro
The generation is almost dying.
They don’t even remember their children’s name.
But the Chinese and Koreans are aiming not only the older generations but also the young generations who weren’t even born yet at the time.
For example, a Japanese kid in Shanghai was made to take some kind of toxic thing by force at the local school several years ago.
Because they said the kid was “Riben Quizi”(Japanese devil).
Fantasy
So there was no official apology and compensation.
How about the GI who raped 9 month old baby in 1948?
http://www.coara.or.jp/~yufuki.....higai.html
Ponta,
I see your point. I fully admit that you are really very knowledgeable regarding the matter, more than most other commenters from both sides of “the big divide” here - and definitely much more knowledgeable than me.
“But the Chinese and Koreans are aiming not only the older generations but also the young generations who weren’t even born yet at the time.”
lobotomy948:
I do not like you, but admittedly you’ve got a point here.
lobotomy948
“But the Chinese and Koreans are aiming not only the older generations but also the young generations who weren’t even born yet at the time.”
Yeah,true. But that’s their problem. To be honest, I don’t think that the Koreans and Chinese will stop grudging against Japan whatever the Japanese do. Not until the Korean peninsula will be united and plus some decades maybe. The chinese will not stop until they success to become a democratic nation plus some decades maybe.
Yes the Korean government is playing the history card, so do the Chinese. That’s because they have problems in facing their own troubled history. But hey, isn’t that the same with the Japanese government and some Japanese people?
I mean if you want to criticize the Koreans and the Chinese because of their nationalism, then you must be able to have the guts to overcome your own nationalism and have the guts to face your own ugly parts of history. Defending what happened in the past is no good. Especially, I can’t even imagine a right winger today who thinks that colonizing Korea or invading other parts of Asia was good. I can’t imagine even a single right winger in Japan who thinks because it was “good” we will do it again.
What they do is a “defensive” arguments, an apologetic one, “We were not that bad” “We had some good intentions” etc. That will not earn respect in the international society, rather it would give some suspects “Hey, maybe these nationalisitic Koreans and Chinese are right, the Japanese don’t feel any guilt at all about what they did” and frankly speaking, nobody in the world supports colonialism and invasion today. In the latter half of 19th century and until 1918, it was justified because of social Darwinism which was combined with imperialism.
And I think to pick up other nations with their imperialistic past comparing with them and defensively, in an apologetic way accusing them that “we are not alone who committed crimes in the name of imperialism” is also not a good strategic.
Only if you have the blunt guts to face your own past you will have the moral grounds to criticize others. In other words, what the politician have done in this comfort women case has really damaged the image of Japan. Yes, the US congress bill is a very hypocratic one. But you should just laid back and don’t react to hypocracy. That the Japanese was defensive and apologetic this time (including me) was a big mistake.
Tomojiro
“And I think to pick up other nations with their imperialistic past comparing with them and defensively, in an apologetic way accusing them that “we are not alone who committed crimes in the name of imperialism” is also not a good strategic.”
Abe’s remark was not directed at the foreign media, and what he said was nothing new.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1259
It was foreign media that has misinterpreted his statement and made a big fuss.
Japan has admitted the injustice about the comfort station and apologized.
And few are arguing that since the other countries did it Japan was not wrong. Japan was wrong.
The point is how you see this issue: do you want to see it the problem of Japan avoiding facing the past? or do you want to see the issue that will shed light to the issue of women and that is
still inherent in the present society among Asian nation?
If the former, Japan admitted she was wrong, and
Abe confirmed and affirmed Kono’s statement.
It is just that Japan does not have to accept, without ground, what she has not done. It seems to me the irrational demand to accept what she has not done is just the political game of getting hegemony by demonizing Japan or something
like that.
(Note, in passing, the link about Japan which Robert put up on this comment section.)
If the latter, there are still issues that should be discussed, it can and should be discussed among all the nations concerned. Then we can work together to improve the situation, learning from what Japan did to comfort women under Japanese rule, though it seems some people do not want to discuss the issue, citing evidences.
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