Cruel Japan

1. Cruel Japan Introduction to The Issues Cool Japan is Cruel

2. Japan Cool vs Cool Japan • Cool Japan • The country as a whole is cool • Japan Cool • Cool things come out of Japan but the country as a whole is NOT cool • Japanese media • Focuses exclusively on Cool Japan • Ignores high level of antipathy found in blogs, comments on newspaper articles • Highly “sanitized” presentation of how Japan is seen abroad

3. Major Issues • Historical • Comfort women 従軍慰安婦 jugun ianfu • Rape of Nanking 南京大虐殺 • Compensation for POWs and forced labor • Ministerial (aka official) visits to Yasukuni shrine 靖国神社参拝 • Colonialism • Lack of a sincere, high level apology for all of the above • Treatment (or lack thereof) of all of the above (and more) in Japanese public school textbooks

4. Major Issues • Contemporary • Trafficking 人身取引 • Child pornography 児童ポルノ • “Abductions” of children to Japan by estranged mothers • “Discrimination” against foreigners • Whaling, dolphin “slaughter”

5. “Comfort Women” • Currently quiescent • Major issue in 2007 • US House Resolution • Statement by PM Abe Shinzo • “Cruel” issues tend to be cyclical • Flare up from time to time • Complex • Easily warrant full term seminar • Large volume of writing in English and Japanese • Interpretation highly connected to politics in US, Japan, China

6. “Comfort Woman” System • 1930s system of military brothels • Arose out of concern over rapes of civilians perpetrated by Japanese soldiers in China • Initially staffed by Japanese women from brothels in Japan • Shortages lead to recruitment of women from colonial areas

7. “Comfort Woman” System • Recruitment is most controversial point • Was the Japanese military directly involved in the recruitment? Was the recruitment coerced? • No evidence of direct military involvement for formal system • Cases of ad hoc coercion conflated with formal system • Oherne taken by soldiers against standing orders • Japanese military itself punished soldiers involved in such incidents

8. “Comfort Woman” System • Who did the recruitment? • Civilian brothel operators • Primarily Korean and Taiwan Chinese • Some operators were women • Some were former comfort women • Korean and Chinese role glossed over • Collaboration extremely sensitive issue in Korea and China, especially Korea • Large fraction of postwar Korean elite had been Japanese Army officers

9. “Comfort Woman” System • Was force used for recruitment? • Not for the formal system • No shortage of poor families in Korea and Japan • Tradition of “selling” (indenturing) daughters to brothels to pay off family debts in Korea and Japan • Fully legal practice • Deception was used • Promised factory jobs • Generally not necessary • Brothel jobs openly advertised

10. “Comfort Woman” System • Treatment • Harsh and brutal treatment emphasized • Improbable numbers per woman per day • US interrogation report in Burma found well treated (text in handout)

11. “Comfort Woman” System • Peculiarities of treatment • Deliberate (?) mistranslation as in NYT treatment of Abe Shinzo’s remarks • Factual errors as in CBC broadcast • False claims of historical agreement • “Historians say ….” • High end estimates given as accepted without • Noting that these are estimates • Noting that other lower estimates exist

12. “Comfort Woman” System • Use of questionable sources • Soldier confirms wartime sex slavery • AParticle by Hiroko Tabuchi • Widely reproduced • 金子 安次 Kaneko Yasuj • Known “serial confessor” • Claimed to have participated in Rape of Nanking (1937) but records show he was not in the Army until 1940

13. “Comfort Woman” system • 金子 安次 Kaneko Yasuji • Claimed to have participated in poison gas attacks against Chinese civilians • Incident description lacking in realism, detail • Gas symptoms described are those of tear gas, not poison gas agents available to Imperial Army • Claimed to have participated in biological warfare experiments on humans conducted by Unit 731 in Manchuria • Army records show he was never stationed in Manchuria

14. “Comfort Woman” System • Star witness at The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery (女性国際戦犯法廷) • 金子 安次 Kaneko Yasuj • Member of a group of “serial confessors” • Shared experience as POWs in USSR, then China • “Brain washed” • Similar US cases from Korean war not taken seriously

15. “Comfort Woman” System • Improbable numbers • General phenomenon in writing on Japan • Trees cut down to make disposable chopsticks • Number of Japanese young men in acute social withdrawl (hikikomori) • Most common number is 200,000 • High end estimate by Japanese left-wing historian • Gave 50-200,000 as estimate • Commonly asserted that typical comfort woman had 40 or more “customers” per day

16. “Comfort Woman” system • Improbable numbers • 40 x 200,000 = 8,000,000 “encounters” per day • Imperial Army size • 1941 - 1.7 million men • 1945 - 5.5 million men • Even 20 x 100,000 would be improbable given the size of the military

17. “Comfort Woman” system • “At the front lines” or “in front line brothels” • Illogical • Front line is where fighting takes places • If women had been in front line areas that would have been noted by Allied troops

18. “Sex Slaves” • Strange terminology to use • “sex slaves” search without “comfort woman” leads to porn sites featuring kinky sex • Terminology used by academic writers without quotes • Not academic terminology • More typical of tabloid journalism

19. “Sex Slaves” • What is slavery? • How appropriate is the term for the “comfort women?”

20. What is “slavery?” • No agreed upon definition • Some definitions include forced labor, others exclude forced labor • Many forms of slavery past and present

21. “Sex Slaves” • Term universally applied to “comfort women” • System initially relied on volunteers from Japan • Term “sex slaves” NOT applied to women working in brothels when prostitution was legal in Japan •  Cannot logically be applied to “comfort women” as a whole (but is)

22. “Sex Slaves” • “Slavery” that US or UK readers would know • Chattel slavery • Slaves are property • Status is hereditary and permanent • Children of slaves are property • Families may be broken up for the convenience of slave owners • Legal structure supports property rights of slave owners • Flight (escape) from slavery is rare • Runaways are sought by the police and returned to their owners if found • No wages paid • Which of these attributes of “slavery” apply to comfort women?

23. “Sex Slaves” • Term not consistently applied to other forced labor situations • Seldom used for Soviet Gulag • Seldom used for Chinese, Cuban, other forced labor regimes • Sometimes used for forced labor under NAZI regime in Germany but much less frequently than for “comfort women” for comfort women, POWs, and Chinese-Korean labor in Japanese case • ⇒ Term being used for Japan bashing, not analysis or precision

24. “Slave Labor” • Term also applied to POWs and Koreans, Chinese forced labor • See writing by William Underwood • Stopped using term after criticism by EHK • Own research showed more than 60 percent of “slaves” (Korean and Chinese forced labor) absconded • No mechanism for return • Own involvement in program to get back wages owed laborers inconsistent with notion of slavery

25. “Comfort Woman” system • American forces use of “comfort women” • See handout • Prostitution and the American military in Subic Bay, the Philippines • Legality of prostitution • Australia • The Netherlands

26. Shinzō Abe (安倍 晋三) • Prime Minister of Japan from September, 2006 to September, 2007 and currently • March 2, 2007, "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion.“ • Factually correct • Essentially repetition of statement in book by left-wing scholar Yoshimi Yoshiaki in Comfort women, Sexual slavery in the Japanese Military during World War II, Columbia University press, 2002

27. Shinzō Abe (安倍 晋三) • New York Times report • The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has denied that the military forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II, contradicting the Japanese Government's longtime official position on the issue.

28. Shinzō Abe (安倍 晋三) • New York Times report • Mr Abe's statement is the clearest so far that the Government is preparing to reject a 1993 government statement that acknowledged the military's role in setting up brothels and forcing, either directly or indirectly, women into sexual slavery.

29. Onishi Norimitsu • Canadian journalist • New York Times bureau chief in Japan during Abe Shinzo term • No evidence in vita of study of Japanese language or history • Princeton education • Experience as police reporter in Detroit • Tokyo -> Jakarta -> San Francisco

30. Onishi Norimitsu • Right wing blogs suggested he was ethnic Korean with grudge against Japan • Strong leftist bias in writings • Frequent factual errors in writing about Japan • Katakana for things foreign indicates discriminatory nature of Japanese culture • Some articles provoke official protest • Japan “one party state” like PRC, DPRK

31. Mike Honda • Born 1941 • Peace Corps in El Salvador 1965-1967 • Public high school science teacher • California State Assembly 1996-2000 • 2001 – US Congress

32. Mike Honda • Noted for ties with Chinese-American community in SF Bay Area • First member of Chinese-Americans Citizens Alliance who was NOT of Chinese ancestry • Repeatedly refused to condemn civil rights abuses in China • Komori Yoshihisa article in right-wing Japanese magazine WILL used US public campaign records to document Honda’s dependency on Chinese-American money

33. Komori Yoshihisa • Sankei Shinbun 産経新聞 Washington Correspondent • One of few Japanese capable of making half coherent statements about controversial issues in English • Far more Koreans and Chinese capable of so doing

34. Komori Yoshihisa • “The comfort women existed but there is no evidence to support the contention that the Japanese military per se was forcibly recruiting those women against their wishes. It was done by so-called intermediary merchants of prostitution and should be condemned, except for the fact that prostitution itself was not against the law at the time. I know for a fact that some of those women were making lots and lots of money and built houses back home; remitted money back home to their loved ones. They were getting paid more than generals.

35. On Again, Off Again Issue • HASHIMOTO Toru • Osaka mayor • 2013 May statement • "In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk of losing their lives, if you want them to have a rest in such a situation, a comfort women system is necessary. Anyone can understand that."

36. Hashimoto Toru • After loudly questioning the existence of coercion by the Japanese military, Mr. Hashimoto then went on to suggest that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should “make more use” of the local sex industry to “relieve the sexual energy of the Marines.” • During his visit to the Futenma U.S. military base earlier this month, “I told the commander to make more use of the (legal) sex industry. He froze and said that they are off-limits,” Mr. Hashimoto said. On Tuesday, Mr. Hashimoto added to his Monday comments in an extensive Tweet: “A superficial off-limits isn’t going to eliminate the sex drives of soldiers. We need to face the issue head-on.” • An official with the U.S. Forces, Japan, told JRT that Mr. Hashimoto’s comments “do not align with the values we seek to instill in our personnel, and run counter to defense department policies and our laws.” (http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/05/14/osaka-mayor-stirs-anger-by-calling-comfort-women-necessary-evil/) • US response totally hypocritical • Until closed US base at Subic Bay in Philippines noted for massive scale of prostitution • Philippine sources claim active US military involvement

37. MOMII Katsuto • Chairman of NHK governing board • Appointed by Abe Shinzo

38. Momii Katsuto • “The comfort women system is considered wrong under today’s moral values. But the military comfort women system existed as a reality at that time,” said Momii. “Can we say there were none in Germany or France? It was everywhere in Europe.” • On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Japan denied that U.S forces operated a system of comfort women during or after that war. “We are not aware of anything that would indicate the U.S. engaged in any such kind of activity,” says an embassy official authorized to speak on the subject. “We would prefer not to comment any further on Mr. Momii’s statements. I would simply reiterate that his apparent belief regarding U.S. practices is incorrect.”

39. Momii Katsuto – France and Germany • Bordels Mobiles de Campagne or Bordel Militaire de Campagne (both abbreviated to BMC) is a French term for the mobile brothels which were used during World War I, Second World War and First Indochina War to supply prostitution services to French soldiers who were facing combat in areas where brothels were unusual, such as at the front line or in isolated garrisons. (Source: Wikipedia - Bordel militaire de campagne). • German military brothels were set up by the Third Reich during World War II throughout much of occupied Europe for the use of Wehrmacht and SS soldiers. These brothels were generally new creations but in the West they were sometimes set up using existing brothels. Until 1942, there were around 500 military brothels of this kind in Nazi occupied Europe. Often operating in confiscated hotels and guarded by the Wehrmacht, these facilities used to serve travelling soldiers and those withdrawn from the front. It is estimated that, along with those in concentration camp brothels, at least 34,140 European women were forced to serve as prostitutes during the German occupation. In many cases in Eastern Europe, the women involved were kidnapped on the streets of occupied cities during German military and police round ups. (Source: German_military_brothels_in_World_War_II)

40. Momii Katsuto- US • Known that US troops used brothels set up by Japanese authorities in first months of occupation • Later nominally prohibited • Soldiers given free condoms and lectures on how not to get in trouble • Recent book documents direct US military involvement in brothels for US troops in post-liberation France

41. Obama in Korea • President Barack Obama says Japan’s use of South Korean “comfort women” during the Second World War was a terrible and egregious violation of human rights. • “Those women were violated in ways that even in the midst of war was shocking,” Obama said. “They deserve to be heard, they deserve to be respected.” (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/obama-urges-japan-korea-to-move-forward-despite-comfort-women-legacy/article18205395/)

42. Japanese Response • Japan warned the issue of its wartime system of sex slavery was not a "diplomatic" subject, after US President Barack Obama on Friday called it a "terrible" violation of human rights. • Katsunobu Kato, deputy chief cabinet secretary, said Japan was aware of the suffering of the victims and was trying to avoid politicising the emotional issue. • "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he is deeply pained to think of the people who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering," Kato said in a television programme late on Friday. • "This issue should not be made into a political or diplomatic subject.“ • (http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1497596/japan-issues-warning-obama-over-comfort-women-debate)

43. US Political Background • Genuine concern for “comfort women?” • If so, why now? • Existence known since 1940s. • Ethnic voting blocks in US • Japanese • Small in number, dispersed even in California • Koreans and Chinese • Large in number, increasing, concentrated

44. Guardian 28 April 2014 • Papers prove Japan forced women into second world war brothels, says China • China has released documents it claims offers "ironclad proof" that the Japanese military forced Asian women to work in frontline brothels before and during the second world war. • It was not immediately clear why the body had chosen to release the documents this week, but Chinese state media speculated that the publication was in response to repeated claims by conservative politicians that the women were not coerced by government authorities or the military.

45. Guardian 28 April 2014 • One of the released documents records the number of women sent to have sex with Japanese soldiers in certain parts of occupied China over a period of 10 days from 1 February 1938. • In Nanking, for instance, there were 141 women and 2,500 Japanese soldiers. "That is to say, one woman had to be tortured 178 times within 10 days," said Su Zhiliang, director of the China research centre on comfort women.

46. What is Behind Chinese Rhetoric? • TOTALLY ABSENT during Mao years • Some concern with “rise of Japanese militarism” • Textbook issues in late 1980s • NOTHING about “comfort women” until Japanese push for permanent seat on UN security council • NOT a major issue in Taiwan although Chinese “comfort women” primarily from Taiwan

47. What is Behind Chinese Rhetoric? • Contemporary Chinese politics, NOT concern for “comfort women” as such • Divert attention from domestic problems • Pollution • Income disparity • Corruption • Separatist movement

48. What is Behind Korean Rhetoric? • As with China, recent • Korean women’s groups took up in 1990s as a mechanism for criticizing Korean (not Japanese) government • Korean government rhetoric largely since Park Geun-hye • DPRK description • “… a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation.” (http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/99921/World/International/SKoreas-Park-a-prostitute-being-pimped-by-Obama-Py.aspx)

49. Park Chung-hee • Korean president 1961-1979 • Came to power through a military coup • Assassinated in 1979 • Highly authoritarian regime • Widespread abuse of human rights • Officer in Japanese Army (Kwantung) • Highly probable that he would have visited comfort stations • Associated with setting up prostitution for US military • “Sex tours” for Japanese organized during his tenure

50. Important Points • Comfort woman issue relatively recent • Existence known since 1940s • Only media and political issue since 1990s • Highly charged because of “sex” • “Sex slaves” terminology only since 1990s • UN rapporteur used term • Forced labor (non-sexual) gets relatively little attention