■
==2007/04/27 19:00 AP通信 ERIC TALMADGE記事とMike Hondaインタビュー記事へのリンクを追加==
Concord Monitor online 2007/04/26
America's comfort women Tokyo officials kept sex slaves working for U.S. occupiers By ERIC TALMADGE The Associated Press http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/REPOSITORY/704260410/1013/NEWS03
Herald Sun 2007/04/27
GIs used 'comfort women'(AP) http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21628101-663,00.html
JAPAN'S abhorrent practice of enslaving women for sex for its troops in World War II has a little-known sequel: a similar system for occupying US GIs.
[写真説明]Uncomfortable sight: In this undated image released by the Yokosuka City Council in Japan, US sailors gather in front of a Yasu-ura House 'comfort station' in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. Picture: AP / The Associated Press
CANOE--CNEWS 2007/04/25
U.S. troops ignored Japan's sex slaves By ERIC TALMADGE http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/04/25/4130408-ap.html
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's practice of enslaving women to provide sex for its troops during the Second World War has a little-known sequel: after its surrender - with tacit approval from the U.S. occupation authorities - Japan set up a similar "comfort women" system for GIs.
ABC Radio Australia - 25/04/2007
Comfort women - Japan's shameful legacy Mike Honda, US Congressman http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/viewpoints/s1906373_to.htm
Japan has long had strained relations with its neighbours, who claim Japan has not faced up to its wartime brutality.
Earlier this year, Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, provoked outrage when he suggested that the so called 'comfort women' used in brothels by Japanese soldiers during World War II weren't coerced.
During the war, historians say the Japanese kidnapped up to 200,000 women - some as young as 12 - and forced them into army brothels to act as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers.
For decades the issue was widely unknown in Japan, where history books paint a very different picture of the war. But a series of protests by former comfort women over the past 15 years has led to expressions of regret from Japanese politicians - but no official government apology or offer of compensation.
The outcry that followed Mr Abe's recent comments forced the prime minister to backflip, offering a very ambiguous apology. However, a Congressional Committee in the United States wants more.
As Mr Abe prepares for a visit to Washington, a resolution has been put before the US Congress denouncing Japan's sexual enslavement of women during the war, and demanding an official apology.
The congressman behind the resolution is Mike Honda, a Japanese-American, who was put in an internment camp during the war. He tells Australia Network's Helen Vatsikopolous why an official apology is needed.
-----
Why did you introduce this resolution now about something that happened so long ago?
When the new millennium occurred, in my mind, it was time for us to look at reconciliation, look at this century as a century of reconciliation. We had a whole history of wars in the past and, quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of it.
I grew up in this country, a third-generation Japanese-American. My government made a mistake when we entered into World War II. They incarcerated Japanese-Americans. Fifty-plus years later, we decided that this country, as a government, needs to address its past.
So as a people we got together and lobbied Congress to acknowledge its history, validate its history, come to terms with it. Congress in 1988 passed HR442 and President Reagan signed it. Japan coming to terms with its own history is just as important.
You met some of these 'comfort women', including the Australian, Jan Ruff-O'Herne. You heard the testimonies. What did you make of them?
They're women of great spirit, great strength and, I think, of great patience. I believe that they're women who want to hear the apology in its proper context. And I think that they want to be able to forgive and then move on.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, arrives in Washington in a few days. With this resolution pending, do you expect some lobbying from the Japanese delegation?
I think that one thing we should be clear is that it's not the Japanese people that we're looking at. It's the politicians in the Diet that needs to bring this to a head on behalf of their country.
Will the weight of this resolution, coming from the US Congress, its biggest ally, ultimately be an embarrassment to the Japanese?
It's certainly not my intent, nor the assent of Congress, to embarrass anybody. Certainly, they're not making a lot of effort, it seems, to stop the printing of the history books and revising their history. I think that those are the kinds of outcomes that, I would hope, that would be created as a result of this resolution and also the apology.
Why do you think that members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are so keen to negate the past apology and rewrite aspects of their history?
This is just a personal comment. They tend be very nationalistic, they tend to be very conservative. And, as such, they probably want to present a face that is not as embarrassing as the truth may be. But I'm not going to say that every member of the Diet feels that way. I think that there's a tension there and I would like to see that debate come to more of a public view so that the public can also impact the political decisions in Japan, as it does here.
Japan is trying to be more assertive on the international stage. Do you think it will be forced to come to terms with its past history before it's accepted for a greater role?
This is one of those issues that get in the way between Japan and the other Asian neighbours that Japan has. Bringing this to a closure and healing that wound, I believe that it would improve the relationship and perhaps indicate that Japan as a political and a growing and a maturing democracy can gain more credibility and more support for their global leadership.
Ultimately, will the United States overlook any refusal by Japan to apologise for its past, because it needs Japan as an ally in the region against China and North Korea?
The issue of us being allies with Japan, I don't think that's a question. We are their allies, we're their partners, and we're growing and maturing together as a democracy, and we need each another as friends. And asking people to make amends doesn't lessen or diminish that relationship.
Is retrospective justice for the 'comfort women' important to you personally because of your past incarceration?
Ah, yeah, I think that that's a true statement. When we understand what an apology does, and when we see the kinds of healing that occurs, I think that it's the same kind of dynamics that would play in this issue with the victims of sexual slavery, the victims of other military adventures that the Japanese Imperial Army had in other parts of the country.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/viewpoints/s1906373.htm
