history

Recently, Elizabeth van Kampen commented on a post in this blog. She provided a link to her site, and I checked it out. It is a wonderful site and I strongly urge anyone reading this to check it out. Spend some time there and learn some real history.

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

What do we know about the comfort women issue? How many interviews do we have with actual comfort women, soldiers and ex-doctors? To what degree are these interviews accepted at face value as opposed to being scrutinized in some sense? What documents do we possess that provide a historical record? It is generally argued that the following problems exist:

1. Comfort women are resistant to come forward because of the shame and humiliation they are afraid they might experience.
2. Soldiers are reluctant to reveal what part they took in the program.
3. Many documents were burned immediately after Japan surrendered in WWII.
4. Information that would probably implicate the relevant authorities is not being made available to the public, even though some of it still exists.

These are claims that each need to be examined in turn. In this entry, I want to focus on the last one.

A sad story about a Japanese comfort women appeared in the Japan Times today. The article is titled, Memoir of Japanese 'comfort woman' recounts 'this hell'. This article is well worth reading. Here are some things that I noticed:

Just thinking aloud here ... is any of the following true?

• People that lean to the left side of the political spectrum tend to support resolution 121, the comfort women resolution.


• People that lean to the left side of the political spectrum would tend not to support a similar resolution condeming the large number of abortions in Japan each year.

I'm wondering if people are being ideologically inconsistent on this issue. I think people who lean towards the left are expressing strong dissatisfaction with America meddling abroad, yet at the same time support America meddling abroad. It would seem to merely depend on the issue. I think. I don't really know. Any opinions?

Update: Good grief! Kyuma resigned. I couldn't believe it when I heard it yesterday. What incredible news! Could things get any worse for Abe? I really want to do a news round up but not sure when or if I can get to it. I want to comment too ... but have to run for now. Great reporting of this at Observing Japan and other places as well. [sigh] I have to run.

[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.

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, one of my favorite historians writes an excellent review for the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun's watershed publication, Who was Responsible? From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. Here is a link to the review: Who is Responsible? The Yomiuri Project and the Enduring Legacy of the Asia-Pacific War

• U.S. House panel to put to vote 'comfort women' resolution on June 26, Kyodo News; "The House Foreign Affairs Committee has decided to put to a vote on June 26 a resolution to seek a clear apology from Japan over the sexual exploitation of Asian women by Japan's military during World War II, a committee official said Monday." Story developing ...

The Japan Times reports:

S. Korea to seize assets of colonial collaborators The South Korean government announced Wednesday its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged collaborators during Japan's colonial rule. South Korea will confiscate 3.6 billion won ($ 3.9 million) worth of land from the descendants of nine alleged collaborators who worked for Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, a presidential committee said in a statement.