Truth about Japan

Alexis Dudden, Associate Professor of history at Yale University and a feminism activist, wrote an article "Prime Minister Abe’s New Clothes" . It says: At stake are not the facts of coercion but the reasons for Abe’s reversals about the meaning of “coercion” and his current decision to avoid discussing the word entirely. Put simply, this is an attempt at whitewashing the record of the Japanese military before reinstalling them as a constitutional force. Abe’s determination to revise the 1947 constitution allowing Japan to operate its military had Washington’s open encouragement, which no doubt factored into his cavalier statements about the historical role of the military in the coercion of comfort women. She is not interested in the facts, as is usual for these activists. Without examining facts, they attack "whitewashing", "revisionism", and "militarism". These are new clothes of the left-wing activists that are facing extinction after the col...

In an interview with Newsweek , PM Abe reportedly said as follows: We feel responsible for having forced these women to go through that hardship and pain as comfort women under the circumstances at the time. (emphasis added) This translation is inaccurate. According to the full text of the interview in Japanese delivered by Japanese government, Abe answered as follows: We feel responsible for the circumstances in which they should be comfort women. This is not different from Abe's previous statements in the Diet. No "force" was mentioned.

Prof. Yoshimi and two accusers of "sex slavery" held a press conference at the Foreign Press Club on April 17. They claimed that they had found a new proof of military coercion. Here is the press release. According to them, a document submitted to Tokyo Tribunal includes following passage: Q: How many women were there? A: 6. Q: How many of these women were forced into the brothel? A: Five. In fact it isn't a new proof but a tiny footnote for the Semarang incident.

Yoshihisa Komori of Sankei Shimbun talked with Fareed Zakaria on a PBS program "Foreign Exchange" on March 30. See it on Google Video (from 11'20") and its transcription . It shows the sad fact that even professional journaist is ignorant of history. Zakaria: But the military was paying for it--just to get at this institutional nature of--of the sex trade; as I understand it the soldiers were not paying for the prostitutes. The military as--as an institution was paying--was contracting with the intermediaries, buying the services of these women and providing them to its--to its soldiers. Komori: But each soldier was paying--that--the individual. Zakaria: The individual? Komori: The individual...

Here is a report on "Japanese Mlitary Comfort Women System" by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, which was delivered to the congress on April 3. Excerpts: There is no doubt from the available evidence that most comfort women were in the system involuntary if one defines involuntary to include entering the system in response to deceptive recruitment. The military may not have directly carried out the majority of recruitment, especially in Korea; but the Abe government's denial of any evidence of military coercion in recruitment goes against the testimony of former comfort [women] to Japanese government researchers who compiled the 1992-1993 government report. In rejecting the testimony of over 100 former comfort women, the Japanese government appears to be putting itself in a position in which outsiders could begin to question the credibility of the claims that North Korea has kidnapped Japanese citizens. One factual error: since the testimony of comfort women to J...

These are video clips with English subtitles about comfort women from YouTube: Seoul University Professor on Comfort Women & Japan Bashing Questions and answers about comfort women in the Diet Comfort Women for US soldiers in Japan THE TRUTH OF COMFORT WOMEN

Here is a blog article that quotes a Korean professor's speech: Speaking at the Foreign Press Club in Tokyo to discuss the end of the Asian Women’s Fund, Sejong University professor Park Yu-ha pointed out that Koreans, too, needed to accept responsibility for the comfort women [YTN, Korean]. Park said, “It’s a fact that Koreans, too, were involved in the process of mobilizing comfort women. I think the responsibility for that wrongdoing surely rests with Korea, too.” In particular, she said one Korean comfort women he she interviewed said she was sold into it by her stepfather, and she said she hated her stepfather even more than the Japanese military.

The Yomiuri Shimbun published an opinion by an editor: Japanese intellectuals who have worked to boost Japan's amicable bilateral ties with the United States have been discouraged and offended by the way the U.S. media cover the problem. They are understandably displeased not only with factual mistakes the U.S. media have made over the issue, but with their nerve in nagging this country over a sex-related matter.