With intention to pursue clarification and justice in history, and no intention to offend anyone, I started the discussion about "comfort women" in WWII and revised text book in Japan since the beginning of April. Besides the English articles and reading materials I posted in this blog, I've also initiated possible discussions with some of my Japanese friends within a diary community network, known as MIXI and accessible only to members. The feedbacks are surpringly interesting and widely ranged since then.
Many people I don't know at all read my blog and even left comments; some Japanese friends got interested in searching info about comfort women, a subject they seem not to have learned at school and had absolutely no idea about, after reading my Japanese diary.
In short, I think I have more or less achieved a part of my goal in this series of discussion. A few days ago I got a comment from an American acquaintence who has been living in Japan for quite some years. With his consent, I post his comments as follows. Meanwhile, I take this chance to post other comments below it for my blog readers to track back.
Enjoy the reading, and I hope to share with you all something more cheerful and joyful soon, such as cherry blossom viewing and sightseeing in Japan...
Princess Rose @ Tokyo
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From PSC,Tokyo Japan (4th April, 2007)
We too live in Japan and appreciate the cleanliness convenience and the
safety . But after a total of over 10 years here , i too wonder about
the Japanese people's ability to forget ....without say anything in the way
of apology ....
For a people who; towards foreign business people; insist that an error
in shipping dates or a minor quality issue be dealt with by bowing,
apologies compensation loss of face and the like, it is ironic that the
Japanese have never seen fit to apologize for their mistakes. Even today.
In fact ;when you ,as one occasionally does, catch some one out in a
clerical error ,or omission in there bureaucracy( as we did recently
dealing with immigration ) it both perplexed those involved, and in one
case i was told "yes we are same govt department, but in different
location..." ---not being able to admit ,even on a minor error that they'd
made a mistake.
Certainly Nanjing and Okinawa atrocities rank nearly as high as Hitler,
yet the Japanese have never acknowledged their action..which are well
documented. China's invasion of a peaceful sovereign country of Tibet,
killing thousands of monks is also quite brutal and tragic--and they to
fail to answer for this. US's invasion of Iraq; while misguided and tragic
; has received a lot of attention---but for all its faults its be openly
acknowledged as US action and is a temporary measure.
So for as much as those of us who like to live in Japan like ; we must
never forget what is printed on our 'permanent' resident card (Alien ) For
no matter if we live here for a year ,thre ten, a lifetime ,or are third
generation Korean born here---we will always be aliens here ---and the
Japanese group centric will always close ranks, be "Japanese" and refuse to
admit that they could make any mistakes.
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Other comments and my remarks:
❤❤❤ 搬家公告 ❤❤❤
8 years ago
by Email
BACKGROUND OF 'COMFORT WOMEN' ISSUE / Kono's statement on 'comfort women' created misunderstanding
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070402dy01.htm
April 2, 2007 5:02 PM
I'm glad to see a comment on this article, no matter it stands pro or against the original one. It shows that people do care and do ponder over the issues involved.
After reading the provided article in Yomiuri, I'd like to point out the following for everyone to reflect:
1. The current Japanese government argues the "comfort women" were not recruited under "forceful recruitment". My questions are:
- Was it MORALLY CORRECT for Japanese military to find a justification for recruiting women into army brothels at first place regardless out of force or not?
- If army brothels were considered as necessary for Japanese soldiers' "well-being", why not recruit Japanese womem, who would definitely understand Japanese guys better than Korean or Chinese speaking foreign laguages etc.
- Let's imagine how it was like during the WWII. Japanese armies invaded Asian countries and occupies their territories. Under such a circumstances, would women in occupied countries have freedom to refuse something they were unwilling to do?
2. In the comfort women case (war crime), many proofs or historical documents must have been destroyed at the end of the war so that people involved would not be blamed or trialed for their crimes. Therefore, it is indeed difficult to reconstruct the history itself with hard evidence. In this case, why cann't we take the testimony from those women who have lived the experience of "comfort women" as living historical document? You might want to argue that those women could "lie", but can all those who have come forward from different countries lie about this embarassing experience? It's like taking the witness stand in a rape trial. The whole process does a huge damage on women to the extent that men can seldom understand.
3. Kono Statement was issued in 1993. According to the article in Yomiuri, the statement was made under international pressure, but not based on historical research and studies.
I personally find it hard to believe. For it suggests that Japanese government then LIED
about its own history so as to please the international society. A politician might lie for his political career, but what can take a GOVERNMENT to lie COLLECTIVELY must be at a huge stake. It's about the credibility of a country.
If that was the case, I suggest that we might just want to be more reserved & cautious about any statement made by Japanese government. For it might just a convenient LIE to serve government's political agenda.
April 2, 2007 6:17 PM
Now,the Japanese will understand why asian people hate them, especially Chinese.Asian people suffered a lot by their invasion, but they are afraid of to acknowledge their fault,and deny the truth ......
April 2, 2007 10:30 PM