Crimes against women, especially rape, have often enough been brushed under the carpet so that the victims' 'dignity' may be preserved. Now East-Asian women, who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, have a new honour to contend with - that of their assailants!
A brief history:
'Comfort Women' began as voluntary recruits to brothels that served the army during the Second World War. But as the war progressed and the army moved further from Japan to successfully occupy territories in Korea and China, increasingly women, and girls, in these areas were
coerced by force and kidnapping into serving as prostitutes. In many cases they were
bought from their poor families, and often enough they were
duped into the profession. There is historical documentation that proves beatings, serial rape, shoddy abortion, and sometimes at the end of it all - abandonment in alien territory.
'Comfort women' indeed! How the word hides the barbarity that lies behind it!
The horrors of this war crime have long been disputed - one, for their magnitude (the number of women who suffered remains a wide estimate), and two, for their sanction by the Japanese army. It was only in the early 90s, after historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi discovered proof (in military archives) that at the very least, the army was aware of what was happening at the 'comfort stations' that the Japanese government admitted the army's involvement(but even then,
not monetary or moral responsibility).
This turn of events finally led the then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono to issue something akin to an apology: (
full text here)
The then Japanese military was, directly or indirectly, involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of comfort women... The government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments. They lived in misery at comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere.
The reason I am writing about this now is because yet again we have denial by the Japanese on our hands - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made a volte-face on the issue:
The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion
Similarly, Nariaki Nakayama, chairman of the group of about 120 Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. a group that wants Abe to reconsider the Kono apology, has this to say on the subject:
"Some say it is useful to compare the brothels to college cafeterias run by private companies, who recruit their own staff, procure foodstuffs, and set prices...
...Where there's demand, businesses crop up ... but to say women were forced by the Japanese military into service is off the mark,...
...This issue must be reconsidered, based on truth ... for the sake of Japanese honor."
[source: Time]
Behind these denials lies the unwillingness of the nation to face its past - its desire to save face.
Unfortunately, this ostrich-like response to facts is not limited to the government of Japan. Go to Amazon's website and you will read what the citizens of Japan have to say about Yoshimi's book (the historian who discovered incriminating documents). Or open SCMP to find what their response to Abe's comments have been, such as this:
"May I remind readers how much the Imperial Army's comfort women got paid by the Japanese during the second world war? Four star generals were paid 52 yen, comfort women earned 80 yen. That is the bottom line, whether or not those women were forcibly hauled in," says Naoki Uchikata.
Honestly, even more appalling than Abe's denial is this contention that payments made to Chinese women made it fair for them to be raped! Wouldn't a 'Sorry' be simpler and more graceful than such tortured logic?
