Liberal Japan

[Update: I have updated this entry by adding some more news stories. Anything new in this entry is preceded by an asterisk [*]. No English editorial from Asahi or Japan Times yet. Asahi does have an editorial in Japanese. Two S. Korean editorials have been added! Couldn’t find anything in English language Chinese newspapers yet …]

I want to review some of the reaction in the media to the passage of resolution 121, the comfort women resolution, by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

I’ve already written my own reaction here.

I am still in the process of working on this entry, but wanted to forward what I’ve got so far.

Please expect an update or revision of this entry later today along with some added commentary! Japan Times and Asahi Shimbun will probably have an English editorial out on this later today.

Reaction to resolution:

• *2007/06/28 Indelible tracks of history, Yonhap News; The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution denouncing Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II. … Although it is not legally binding, the resolution is meaningful because the U.S. legislature officially recognized the Japanese military’s forcible conscription of sex slaves and urged the Japanese government to admit to and apologize for such crimes. No matter how hard Japan tries to conceal the truth, its past use of sexual slavery is a historical fact that cannot be erased, and the people of the United States have now officially recognized that fact for the first time. Until now, the Japanese government engaged in persistent and furious lobbying to stop the resolution from being approved by the committee. Japan’s legislature even published paid advertisements in a U.S. newspaper to flatly reject accusations that Japan was guilty of sexual slavery.”
• *2007/06/28 Resolution won’t hurt U.S. ties, Japan Times; Compiled report from Kyodo and AP.
• *2007/06/28 U.S. panel OKs sex slave resolution Kyodo News via Japan Times; “The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution Tuesday demanding an apology from Japan over the sexual exploitation of women in the Asia-Pacific region by the military during the war.” Bill is like to be voted on in middle or late July.
• 2007/06/28 Get facts straight on comfort women, The Yomiuri Shimbun; “The Japanese government should try to unravel the U.S. side’s misinterpretation of history in order to remove a source of future trouble, while in the meantime working to block passage of the resolution by the full House of Representatives. … The resolution was made without verifying the facts and smacks of cheap rhetoric. It makes us doubt the intelligence of U.S. lawmakers. … Before World War II, there were many women who were put to work as comfort women against their will by parents and brokers. But this does not mean the Japanese military coerced the women. In past studies, no evidence has been found showing ‘coercive recruitment of comfort women by military personnel or government officials.’ …
• 2007/06/28 Reaction may put strategic position at risk, The Asahi Shimbun; “The direct cause behind a U.S. House of Representatives panel’s approval of a resolution calling on Japan to apologize for the “comfort women” issue was an advertisement placed in the June 14 edition of The Washington Post. … If Japanese Diet members should decide to place another ad in American papers in reaction, it would only set off a vicious cycle that would lead to escalating criticism from the other side. … Michael Green, the Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the latest resolution could give those calling for a more flexible approach toward North Korea the excuse to argue that any position taken by Japan on the abduction issue lacks ethical reliability. … “
• 2007/06/28 U.S. pushes on ‘comfort women’, The Asahi Shimbun; “… In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his chief Cabinet secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the actions of a foreign legislature. … An executive of junior coalition partner New Komeito, however, criticized the June 14 ad placed in The Washington Post by 44 Diet members and others, which in part triggered the committee vote. … The resolution could be passed by the entire House as early as July. … [Tom] Lantos added: ‘The advertisement (in The Washington Post) suggests that these women, who were forcibly and repeatedly raped by soldiers, were engaged, and I quote, in ‘licensed prostitution that was commonplace around the world at the time.’ This is a ludicrous assertion totally counter to the facts.’”
• *2007/06/27 It’s Time for Japan to Sincerely Apologize for Sex Slavery, Korea Times; “A U.S. House committee has taken a first step toward condemning Japan’s sexual enslavement during World War II by passing a resolution on ‘comfort women.’ The resolution passed the Foreign Affairs Committee 39-2 Tuesday, garnering overwhelming support from congressmen. The passage carries significant meaning to sexual slavery victims as well as those suffering from wartime atrocities committed by Japanese troops. …It is somewhat regrettable that the House resolution toned down the wordings of its initial text that demanded an unequivocal apology by the Japanese prime minister. However, it retains its demand that the Tokyo government ‘formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner’ for the coercion of young women into sexual slavery. We hope the U.S. Congress will pass the resolution finally to help the victims relieve their pain and restore their human dignity. Before the expected passage of the resolution, Japan should make the utmost efforts to sincerely acknowledge and apologize for its wartime crime. Only after that can Japan develop amity with Asian countries and help heal the wounds of their peoples who were put to the yoke of Japan’s brutal colonial rule and wartime atrocities.”
• *2007/06/27 Why Apologize?!, Subajogu at MySpace; “Likewise, since the U.S. and many other western states didn’t officially protest during or immediately after the atrocities transpired, to do so now is unfair to modern Japanese who like the victims, must also live with the memory of their military’s regrettable wartime policies. By choosing sides, we are in effect holding an entire generation accountable for war crime debts that have already been paid during the 1946 Tokyo Tribunals. … Since the world is now poised to hear a sincere apology perhaps the House should reconvene and vote on the slavery matter too, thereby laying it to rest. I’m ready to receive my forty acres and a mule on behalf of my ancestors… scratch that, I’ll take the land and a convertible Mustang instead!”
• *2007/06/27 Japan Seethes Over Comfort Women Resolution, Diplomacy; “I have called upon the US to back the nations pushing the Japanese around because it is the right thing to do. In turn, the hissing, spitting Japanese officials make threats towards us. We should cut off trade until they figure out ‘do not attack your customers and allies’ stuff.”
• 2007/06/27 The Comfort Women Resolution, Japan Probe; Thank you to James at Japan Probe for citing Liberal Japan.
• *2007/06/27 Doesn’t Our Government Hve More Important Things to Do? Evan at MySpace; “The Dems in congress, even more so then the republicans (let’s be fair, they all suck, even if I do most of my complaining about Dems), care more about useless posturing then doing anything.  Their 100-day roadmap of all these things they were oging to legislate upon taking over the congress hasn’t produced squat.  So instead of really trying to do anythign about important things in the US, they’d rather pass a resolution saying that the Japanese governement needs to apologize for forced prostitution in WWII. I’m not saying that what the Japanese did with the comfort women is right or anything, but do we need our congressional leaders making that a priority in session?  Umm… this happened 60 years ago.  Japanese leaders hve apologized numerous times for htis.  Drop it already.”
• 2007/06/27 That Old Imperial Standard, Shisaku; “You could read the level-headed round up of the implications of yesterday’s action in the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives (here and here). Or you could bend an ear to the gnashing of teeth and feral howling at the moon of the correspondents of the Sankei Shimbun (no link, my translation) …”
• 2007/06/27 “No comment” — too little, too late?, Observing Japan; “This episode has been important in revealing how thinking about the relationship differs between Washington and Tokyo. Congress has never been particularly concerned about hurting Japan’s feelings, and of late the White House seems particularly disinclined to defend Japan. (But why should it? Is there another US ally that is incapable of handling criticism from the US government?) Meanwhile, the Abe government and its sympathizers, acting out of a mixture of pride, arrogance, and the absolute certainty that they have “The Facts” on their side have grossly overreacted to this issue, clearly leading some in Washington to wonder just who exactly the US is dealing with in Tokyo. As such, how can the alliance survive if one party expects love to be blind, and the other is beginning to take a closer look at its partner and noticing imperfections that were ignored in the first blush of romance?”
• 2007/06/27 US House Committee Passes Sex Slave Resolution; Measure Heads to Full House, Trans-Pacific Radio; “What happens when you take out full page ads in US newspapers attempting to put forward the ‘Show us the proof!’ line of argument concerning WW2-era sex slaves and then have a sitting lawmaker announce, “We are absolutely positive that there was no massacre in Nanking,” to the world? You end up pouring gas on a fire. I actually did this once, when I was ten or so years old. I learned, in a flash, that it was a bad idea. These are grown men who cannot comprehend the concept of pouring gas on a fire in the international public relations arena.”
• *2007/06/27 Asked for Apology, Japan Plays for Time in Sex Slavery Standoff, New York Times; Norimitsu Onishi says, “Even before a United States Congressional panel overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday urging Japan to apologize for its wartime sex slavery, the Japanese government said it would have no comment. But the vote of 39 to 2 by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs has set the stage for an adoption by the full House of Representatives next month, at which point Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will face pressure to respond in some way or another.”
• *2007/06/27 Tokyo Shrugs Off U.S. Sex Resolution, AP via WP, “Japan’s relations with the United States are “unshakable” despite a U.S. congressional resolution urging a further apology from Tokyo over wartime sex slaves, the Japanese government spokesman said Wednesday.”
• *2007/06/27 Japan says U.S. sex slave vote won’t damage ties, Reuters via WP; “Japan insisted on Wednesday that its ties with Washington would not be shaken by a U.S. Congressional resolution urging Tokyo to apologize for forcing women to serve as sex slaves during World War Two. … But a group of ultra-conservative lawmakers, including some of those who placed an advertisement in the Washington Post this month stating that the women had worked as licensed prostitutes, said the resolution damaged ties.”

Japanese Press:

• 2007/06/28 慰安婦決議—首相は深刻さを認識せよ, 朝日新聞. [This will probably be out in English today. The Asahi Shimbun seems to strongly support the resolution and asks that the Prime Minister follow it’s suggestions.]

Previous News:

• 2007/06/26 Lawmakers want apology for sex slaves, AP via Yahoo!News; “Congressional panel on Tuesday endorsed overwhelmingly a resolution urging Japan to apologize formally for coercing thousands of women to work as sex slaves for its World War II military. The 39-2 approval by the Foreign Affairs Committee allows the measure to be considered by the full House. A large crowd of supporters applauded and cheered after the lawmakers’ vote.”