Liberal Japan

There are always more than a few stories circulating about the comfort women. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye recently …

Japan politicians to protest at U.S. sex slave voteConservative Japanese politicians, scholars and journalists plan to write to U.S. lawmakers urging them to revoke a resolution calling on Tokyo to apologize for forcing women to serve as sex slaves during World War Two. Arguing that there were no sex slaves and that the women were prostitutes, the group said they were “surprised and shocked” when the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Committee passed the non-binding resolution last month.

This will inevitably backfire. Apparently they have a letter on-line, but I haven’t been able to find it yet.Has anyone stopped to consider that both viewpoints might be right — being a prostitute in Asia prior to WWII probably meant being a sex slave.Both sides in this debate at least appear to be taking extreme positions. One cannot understand the comfort system without looking at the institution of prostitution itself in Asia at the time.That said the letter written by the Japanese conservatives apparently asserted: “Professional camp followers were providing prostitution. There were only business organizations and prostitutes to make money from soldiers.”I’d like to see the context, but this seems a clear misstatement. The military wanted there to be comfort women, and assisted in the administration of them. So they were not mere camp followers.Also, the idea that it could be profitable to be a prostitute in Asia at the time is exceedingly questionable. Most prostitutes became scorned by society, suffered from venereal diseases, and became destitute, did they not? How was it profitable to be a prostitute? Conceivably they could have been sending money home to their family. It seems to add insult to injury to make these women into nothing but entrepreneurs. I’ll look into this and try to determine what exact claim is.Overall, in my opinion the only proper defense here would be to indict all of Asia for the way women were often treated like commodities, and then to admit that colonization and war by bringing together large groups of military men under duress further exasperated an already bad situation for women. This is a complex issue and I hope to elaborate more on this in the future.Of course, it goes without saying, America should not be involved in this issue in the first place unless it is to apologize for its own use of comfort women, and its continued victimization of women around military bases in Asia.Here is another article of note:

Sen. Inouye renews opposition to ‘comfort women’ resolutionDemocratic Sen. Daniel Inouye reiterated in a recent statement submitted to the Senate his opposition to a resolution demanding an apology from Japan over the sexual exploitation of young women in Asia by the Japanese military during World War II. ”Why should we involve ourselves in a legislative act that would jeopardize a relationship as good as we share with Japan?” he asked. “Is this how we Americans should conduct ourselves with the Japanese, our friends and allies?”While emphasizing the Japanese military’s mistreatment of the women, known euphemistically in Japan as “comfort women,” cannot be “condoned or justified,” Inouye questioned the nonbinding measure.”What would be required of Japan under (the resolution) to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner?” he said.Inouye said the issue of compensation for Japan’s wartime crimes, including the comfort women issue, has been resolved by the postwar peace treaties Japan concluded with other countries.Noting six Japanese premiers have apologized on the issues in their official capacities since 1994, he said, “I would think that in the world of diplomacy, these words would suffice as official statements.”He also referred to the 1995 and 2005 resolutions adopted by the Japanese House of Representatives expressing deep remorse for the wartime wrongdoing, including the comfort women issue.“I would suggest that so many apologies should suffice,” he said.Inouye, a Hawaii senator of Japanese descendant, submitted the statement to the Senate on Monday, ahead of a full House of Representatives vote on the resolution, expected soon. His statement was kept in the official congressional proceedings…Inouye also pointed out in his statement that the United States has not acknowledged many past events that merit an acknowledgement and apology, and other nations have not officially reprimanded Washington for it …

In general, I think in principle the resolution is wrong and have already discussed this in previous entries:

• Isn’t the comfort women resolution pro-war?

 

• Comfort women resolution, on it’s way to a full house vote!

Finally, here was an article that caught my eye. I’m not entirely sure what the point of the article was, but this is worth looking at:

Japanese prostitute’s job application found in ChinaAn antique collector in northern China’s Hebei Province says he’s recently gained a piece of special collection of high value, a Japanese girl’s application paper for becoming a prostitute, submitted in 1921. The collector from Bazhou city, surnamed Shi, told the Hebei-based Yanzhao Metro Daily he spotted the application paper days ago from an old porcelain flask he purchased in 2003 at the price of 300 yuan or 40 US dollars.The application paper, printed in the original complex form of simplified Chinese characters, consists of two parts for the applicant and her insurer respectively. The 21-year old Japanese girl gave her name, age, nationality, address and explained her reason for becoming a prostitute - poverty, with the announcement that she had volunteered to do so. …

If you use the link given above and go to the actual article you can see a facsimile of the contract.