Comfort women :Korean comfort women during Korean war

I didn't know Korean institutes had admitted in effect that Korea had exactly same comfort station system as Japanse system during Japanese rule.
JoongAngDaily/Japanese 2002.02.24 Tokyo 東京＝呉デ泳（オ・デヨン)魚拓

A professor insisted that Korea also had military brothels during Korean war.
Asahi shimbun reported that there was a comfort women system during Korean War similar to Japanese one under Japanese troop.
Asahi reported that Kim kiok(金貴玉), a visiting professor at Kyonam(慶南) university in Korea lectured to this effect on 23rd at the symposium of Doushiha university in Kyoto Japan.
The professor Kim has made it clear that she comfirmed the testimonies to the effect
that (soldiers) used the comfort stations, and (women) were abducted for the brothels.
It is als reported that in the official record, 後方戦史(the war history of the rear troop) , "the stable comfort station" is mentioned and 89 comfort women served "comfort acts" 245600 times at four comfort stations in 1956 alone.
A person concerned in the institutes of Defence Forces Editing (国防軍事編纂研究所) said the troop provided the place under the agreement with women, the payment for comfort acts was distributed from the budget for running military. but it is a different from Japanese system in that Japanese forcibly mobilized civilians for the brothels, violation human right.

via Ken/occidentalism

And it is not true that Japanese systematically abducted women, though in some cases in Indonesia , there were cases where military was involved in forcing women for the brothels against policy.

..............................................................................
「韓国戦争中にも軍慰安婦存在」韓国教授が主張

日本軍の慰安婦制度を真似た慰安婦制度が、韓国戦争当時、韓国軍にもあったという主張が提起されたと朝日新聞が２４日報道した。

韓国の慶南（キョンナム）大学の客員教授の金貴玉（キム・キオック、４０）氏は、２３日京都の立命館大学で開かれた国際シンポジウムでこのように発表したと同新聞は伝えた。

金教授は「１９９６年以後、５年間『直接慰安所を利用したことがある』、『軍にら致され、慰安婦になった』など男女８人の証言を聴取した」と明らかにした。

金教授はまた「韓国陸軍本部が１９５６年編さんした公文書『後方戦史』に『固定式慰安所－特殊慰安隊』と記録された部分を発見し、これには４カ所で８９人の慰安婦が１９５２年に限って２０万４５６０回の慰安活動をしたという統計資料が添付されていた」と同新聞は付け加えた。

一方、国防軍事編纂研究所の関係者は『当時、軍は売春婦と合意の下で場所を提供した。また慰安行為の対価は部隊運営費から支給されたと聞いている」とし「しかし、日本の植民地時代に日本軍が人権を無視し、一般庶民を強制に連れてきて運営した従軍慰安所とは違う」と説明している。

東京＝呉デ泳（オ・デヨン）特派員


2002.02.24 1

Chikan disguised as a woman

Chikan is a derogatory word for the type of man who surreptitiously feels women up on the train or molests women in dark spots on the way home at night: It is unforgivable crime.
A guy of 51 years old was arrested on the train in Tokyo for molestering a female university student for 8 minutes.
He wore a wig of long hair, and pretended to be woman.
He said he thought it would be more difficult to be arrested disguised as a woman.
Oh no, whoever did it, it is Chikan.



ANN

....................................................................................
わいせつ行為8分間に及ぶ…山手線の"女装痴漢"逮捕

　東京のJR山手線の電車内で、女子大学生に痴漢をした51歳の男が逮捕されました。この男、ロングヘアーで女装していました。

　強制わいせつの現行犯で逮捕されたのは、東京・練馬区に住む田邊義博容疑者です。田邊容疑者は今月9日の午後6時ごろ、JR新大久保駅から池袋駅の間で、25歳の女子大学生の下半身を8分間にわたって触り、池袋駅で取り押さえられました。調べに対し、田邊容疑者は「女装していれば捕まりにくいと思った」などと話し、容疑を認めているということです。

Comfort women:US document to show girls were sold to brokers.

A JAPANESE ARMY BROTHEL IN THE FORWARD AREA.

Note: The following is derived from interrogation at C.S.D.I.C.(I) of M.739, and from O.W.I. Interrogation at Ledo Base Stockade of 20 Korean “comfort girls”,

Report dated 21 Sept. 1944.



M.739, his wife and sister-in-law had made some money as restaurant keepers

in Keijo, Korea, but their trade declining they looked for an opportunity to make

more money and applied to Army H.Q. in Keijo for permission to take “comfort girls”

from Korea to Burma. According to P.W. the suggestion originated from Army

H.Q. and was passed to a number of similar Japanese “business men” in Korea.

M.739 purchased 22 Korean girls, paying their families from 300 to 1,000

according to the personality , looks and age of the girl. These 22 girls were of ages

from 19—31. They became the sole property of P.W. and the Army made no profits

from them. H.Q. Korea Army gave him a letter addressed to all military H.Q. of the

Japanese Army, requesting them to furnish any assistance he might require,

transport, rations, medical attention, etc.

Leaving his sister-in-law to carry on the restaurant, M.739 and his wife, with

their 22 girls, embarked at Fusan on 10 July 1942 in a group of 703 girls, all Korean,

and some 90 Japanese men and women, all of them of the same base sort as himself.

They sailed on a 4,000 ton passenger ship in a convoy of 7 ships. Free passage

Tickets were provided by Army H.Q., but P.W. paid for all meals during the voyages.

They called at Formosa, where 22 other girls bound for Singapore were taken on

board, and at Singapore where they transferred to another ship, arriving at

Rangoon on 20 Aug 1942.

At Rangoon they were divided into groups of 20—30 girls in each and dispersed

to various parts of Burma, each group being attached to various regiments, units or

formations, so that each had its own brothel (s).

ステージ風発

It was not uncommon in those days that the boys and girls worked for years under the contract that parents got the prepayment. It was a cruel system but keep in mind the debt bondage system lingered on after the liberation in Korea.
See also how was it parents sold their daughters
how has it been that the women were sold in China
Sex among allies

China is the benevolent older brother to Korea?

As to the incident caused by Chinese vessel, an American blogger notes:

Has anyone else noticed how matters are handled more “delicately” and “diplomatically”when it comes to the Chinese?lost nomad

Acute observation.
What if Japanese did that---oh dear.

Iran and North Korea has got what they want.

Iran, North Korea are 'expanding ties'
Nation's described by Bush as 'axis of evil' agree to regular meetings Slide show




Updated: 1:32 p.m. ET May 11, 2007

TEHRAN - Iran and North Korea have agreed to step up bilateral contacts, an Iranian news agency said on Friday, signaling closer ties between two countries that are part of U.S. President Bush's "axis of evil".mesnbc

Iran will get nuclear technology and North Korea will get oil.

Explaing why Japanese complement gaikokujin on their chopstick skills

I have a theory - or a bare hypothesis really - that the things Japanese are amazed gaijin can do are the things that Japanese tend to worry about their own skills in or they feel are dying out. Chopstick skills are deteriorating in the young, according to one report I saw (too much western food/fast food), so the Japanese are extra-amazed at how well gaijin can use it. When that Canadian dude used some slightly uncommon keigo (滅相もない) and everyone went Oooh! that too might be a comment about the decline of correct language. Or even sitting in seiza - I have beaten Japanese at seiza gaman contests, but only younger ones (apparently PM Hara used to sit in seiza at all times - not many could do that now)…. Conversely, has anyone been told “gosh, you bow well!”?overthinker

In many cases non-natives understand Japanese better than Japanese understand themselves.

Farewell to China and Korea.

Sparkling Korea has translated
Datuaron
, which was published in 19 century in Japan.
There are interesting arguments that still holds even today.And it exemplifies how (some ) Japanese people see China and Korea. It is a must read.

A rare case where I agree with Onish

I rarely agree with Onishi, a jounalist of NYT. since this is the exceptional case that I agree with him, it is worth mentioning the article.

NYT on forced confessions by Japanese police
(via debito)
It might be true the article 38 of the consitution defends the right in question.

Article 38:
1)
No person shall be compelled to testify against himself.
2)
Confession made under compulsion, torture or threat, or after prolonged arrest or detention shall not be admitted in evidence.
3)
No person shall be convicted or punished in cases where the only proof against him is his own confession.

But I sometimes hear that in some cases interrogations are actually severe, not that they are tortured physically, but that verbal abuse and the long time detention will operate against the suspect beyond a reasonable limit..

As a side note, as an anti-Japan propagandist, Onishi was sure to fail to mention Japanese system in which the suspects in detention actually have right to help from lawyers for free.

The US congressional research on the comfort women and Tanaka's book

A Japanese blogger(日本の評判) points out the hypocracy of the US congressional report
on the issue of comfort women. It bashes Japan's action on this issue, citing Yuki Tanaka's book while it ignores the other parts of Tanaka's important contention;The reason the US failed to prosecute the 'comfort' women system at Tokyo tribunal was becasue she had the same system run under the occupation in Japan and the other parts of worlds.
Here is a
The review of apan's Comfort Women:
Sexual Slavery and Prostitution
During World War II and the US Occupation

Tanaka's primary argument is that the Allied nations' own 'sexual ideology'—their treatment of non-Western women prior to the war, their practice and attempt to cover-up military-controlled prostitution during the war and their complicity in the establishment of a similar 'comfort' system for Allied personnel during the Occupation in Japan—is a telling factor in the lack of Allied prosecution (p. 87). Regarding the Dutch East Indies, for example, Tanaka argues that as the Dutch sexually exploited large numbers of Indonesian women while a colonial power in the region, it followed that the sexual abuse of Indonesian and Indo-Dutch women by the Japanese would probably not have been viewed by the Dutch as a serious crime (p. 82). During the war itself, Tanaka clarifies that the Allied 'sexual ideology' made it 'quite natural that [the Allies] were completely unable to discern the criminal nature of the comfort women system' (p. 109)

Tanaka reserves the bulk of his investigation for the activities of the military forces of the United States, Britain and Australia. He presents new evidence obtained from the United States National Archives to show that the United States deliberated on many of the same issues as Japan's military regarding the control of venereal disease. To curb the spread of the disease, for example, one Inspector General of the United States War Department recommended the establishment of 'supervised houses ... as other countries have done' (p. 89). In the end, the War Department neither promoted nor encouraged this type of military brothel and, indeed, held the official policy of not permitting soldiers to visit prostitutes. However, in central Africa, the Middle East, India and the Caribbean some local commanders went against this policy and designated some houses of prostitution as 'safe' by testing the female inhabitants for venereal disease. In Liberia, for example, soldiers were told not to have relations with any woman in the 'women's villages' that did not bear an official tag verifying her non-infection (p. 92). In testament to this reality, Tanaka alleges that the War Department 'institutionally supported' organised prostitution by supplying prophylactic protection to soldiers—an officer of the United States Medical Corps, for example, estimated prophylactic requirements at four units per month per soldier, a budgetary expense of about US$34 million per year (pp. 88-9). Australia, on the other hand, openly arranged military-controlled brothels in the Middle East, including selecting madams and conducting medical examinations on proposed women (p. 94). Drawing on an official Australian Army report on a newly-established Tripoli brothel, Tanaka comments that the description is 'strikingly similar to the situation of ianjo' (p. 97). While the women were professional prostitutes, he contends that it was still a breach of international law, although which which aspect of customary international law he does not make clear, that in at least one case a sixteen-year-old girl was approved and used as a prostitute by the Australian Army. Tanaka's overall argument in this section is that the engagement of the Allied forces in prostitution was similar to the 'comfort' women system perpetrated by the Japanese and this weakened the Allied nations' ability to perceive any criminality in the 'comfort' women system.

To further make the connection between the Allied nations' 'sexual ideology' and the failure to consider the 'comfort' women system as a war crime, Tanaka raises the issue of sexual violence committed by soldiers of the Allied Occupation against Japanese women. He admits that there is no documentary evidence of 'mass rape by the Allied soldiers' but points to credible oral accounts by Japanese women of rape and assault during this period (p. 110). In one case, for example, Tanaka uses Japanese police intelligence reports from Kanagawa Prefecture to show that nearly every day from the beginning of the Occupation on 30 August 1945 to mid-September that year, cases of rape by Allied soldiers were reported (p. 117). Indeed, General R. L. Eichelberger, commander of the United States' 8th Army, noted in his diary that his very first meeting with General Douglas MacArthur in Japan was not about Japan's surrender but rather about 'rape by marines' (p. 123). Such atrocities were widely feared in Japan, not only by the populace which had been indoctrinated by wartime propaganda to believe that mass rape was a usual characteristic of the immoral 'barbarians', but also by political and bureaucratic leaders. Even before the Occupation began, a vastly similar 'comfort' women system was established in Japan for use by Allied soldiers, staffed by professional Japanese prostitutes and recruited 'volunteers' (p. 138). Tanaka attempts to show that the fact that the Allied nations' expected—if not required—that such a 'comfort' system would be provided for them made it politically expedient for the Allied nations not to prosecute the Japanese for the 'comfort' women system (p. 151).

On the one hand, for example, Japanese soldiers had a 'personal choice' in relation to the exploitation of 'comfort' women and, Tanaka writes, 'in that sense, those Japanese men who chose to avail themselves of this facility undoubtedly bear personal responsibility for the crimes they directly committed' (p. 4). Yet in an interesting comparison of respective responsibilities, Tanaka notes that the:

Allied forces who participated in the Occupation, from the ordinary soldiers up to the staff of the PHW [Public Health and Welfare] Section of the GHQ and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers himself, were all responsible for the tribulation that many Japanese women experienced (emphasis added, p. 165).
Certainly, the Allied nations bear a significant burden of unfulfilled responsibility regarding the issue of the 'comfort' women. At the end of the war, the United States in particular was in an unprecedented position to investigate and prosecute these serious offences against women; a position which it chose not to exploit. Yet even in the convoluted lexicon of contemporary international law, failure to prosecute is not quite on the scale of a crime against humanity reached by the organised sexual slavery of the 'comfort' women system. The Allied nations' endeavours to combat the spread of venereal disease, their support of the enticement of impoverished women into prostitution and the supervision of brothels for military use during the war and the Occupation, while morally reprehensible, cannot be accorded the same level of criminality as the 'comfort' women system. Tanaka's almost unequivocal equation of the two does a disservice to the complex question of why the Allied nations failed to prosecute the 'comfort' women system.

The review itself attack Tanaka's book for the reason that is not a reason.

anaka describes how he undertook his first research trip to the United States in 1995 on this topic but 'could not find a single document that referred to comfort women'. He therefore came back to Australia, where he was based at the time, 'without any "Christmas present" for Mr Ômori' (p. xvii). The characterisation of documents explaining the legal disinterest of the Occupational authorities as a 'Christmas present' is not only insensitive given the subject matter of the volume but it raises questions about the agenda, if any, of Ômori Junrô and NHK in commissioning such research in the first place.

It is interesting how people want to evade the responsibility when it comes to the crime of their country.

In my opinion the US congressional report itself is biased and one-sided.
It cites Tanaka for instance,

Of the 400 plus testimonies cited in Yuki Tanaka’s Japan’s
Comfort Women, nearly 200 of these women described forcible seizure by Japanese
military or military police officials or by agents of the military. This was especially true
of Filipino, Chinese, and Dutch women.
27
The summary findings of the Japanese
government’s report of 1993 states that “recruiters resorted in many cases to coaxing and
intimidating these women to be recruited against their own will.” The report, itself,
reportedly stated that “there were many cases that businesses, requested by the Army,
drew women with sweet words or by force.”
2

But note that it does not say how many were forcibly seiezed by military, and "the agent of military" means the agents commissioned by military. Surely there were cases where mililitary officials were alledged to have forced women, and the agents were recruiting women, but the facts themselves are nothing new.

Japan protected by Ultraman, who just got married with the former morning Musume

Tokyo Times

Sarkozy's aggressive immigration laws

"We no longer want immigration that is inflicted [on us]," he said. "We want selected immigration. The system of integration the French way no longer works,"

Workers who could "contribute to the economic dynamism of our country", such as scientists, IT experts or artists, would be given a three-year work permit.

Students taking courses that are in less demand would be given priority in obtaining visas to study at universities.
Immigrants applying for lengthy stays would have to respect a list of obligations as part of a new "contract of welcome and integration".

These include learning French and actively looking for a job. In return, they would be "protected against discrimination" and given 10-year residency permits.

Immigrants failing to respect human rights would face expulsion.

"In the case of a woman kept hostage in her home without learning French, the whole family will be obliged to leave," Mr Sarkozy said.

The law also makes it harder for an illegal immigrant to gain residency status by marrying a French person.

The new spouse must now wait three years instead of 18 months to apply, then prove that he has made efforts to integrate into his new home.

Only five per cent of legal immigrants came to France for work, said Mr Sarkozy, who heads the ruling UMP party. The remainder arrived to join family members.

While that right is guaranteed under the European convention on human rights, Mr Sarkozy pointed out that "a foreigner wanting his family to join him would have to prove that he can support them through his salary".

Under the proposals, companies that employ foreign workers illegally would have to pay for their repatriation.

In the interview, he rejected the zero immigration policy of the far-Right National Front, calling it "technically impossible and counter-productive".

But the "clandestine prize" which gives illegal immigrants permanent residency if they stay in the country for more than 10 years unnoticed is expected to be scrapped under the new laws.telegraph.co.uk

pros and cons
AFP
SIA workpermit.com
MIgration Rechit net

cons

"The proposed bill is a blatant violation of immigrants' rights and is based on a selective racist approach," eight rights groups led by the French League for Human Rights (LFRH) said in a joint statement on January 7.

"This draft law does undo all the good work made by the French government in enhancing social welfare and immigrants' rights over the past years," LFRH media officer Patrick Emanuel told IOL.

He hit out at the "inhumane" nature of the new bill as it made no exception for neither the handicapped nor patients who need residence permits to get charge-free medicine.

The move angered rights groups and left-wing politicians, who described the clause as an insult to the second and third generations of the immigrants.

"Keeping the best and sending back the worst is not exactly Christian," said Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon.
Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy said: "This notion of chosen immigration, this migratory apartheid takes us back to the time of slavery, when the traders chose the strongest or those with the best teeth to take them to the west."

rebuttle

"African slavery was one of the worst tragedies of history and it is essential not to trivialise this crime against humanity by inapt comparisons. Chosen immigration means regulated immigration, organised with reference to the reception capacity of our country," he said.

it is not true, that selective immigration per se is an evil. It is not a discriminatory argument to state that integration and acceptance of immigrants may be enhanced if their qualifications are valued.

pros

"The violence which exploded in our suburbs is not unconnected with the shocking failure of our policies of integration and immigration," he told the National Assembly.

"We are closing the doors to those who have a job and opening it for those who don't. This absurd system is an essential ingredient in our malaise."

Hmmm what do you think?

Ahn, Korean professor emeritus at Seoul University, speaks about Comfort station.

Asked by people concerned, I have done
detailed investigation including interviews with the former comfort women:As far as I know, there is no source to show that Japanese troop forcibly mobilized women to make them comfort women. The times was when there were too many stories of selling oneself out of poverty, why was there any need to forcibly mobilize women---it is unreasonable.

Prostitution is essentially the world where violence and deception are involved. It is natural tragic story accompany where brothels are

there are testimonies that the man who looked like a soldier took a woman away, but there were many people who wore clothes similar to a soldier.

Last year, I talked above story on TV, I was bashed so harshly but I'll not stop itlfor,it is undeniable fact that there is no evidence to show there was forced mobilization for comfort women Most member of the new right foundation understand it.

Prime minister Abe should not take the attitude that he would apologize to avoid troubles; it will mislead the discussion in Korea

安教授の話
「関係者に依頼され、聞き取りも含め詳しく調査したことが
あるが、私の知る限り、日本軍が女性を強制動員して慰安婦にしたなどという資料はない。貧しさからの身売りがいくらでもあった時代に、なぜ強制動員の必要があるのか。合理的に考えてもおかしい」「売春は本来暴力や詐欺行為が渦巻く世界だ。どこであれ、売春に関して悲惨な話が出てくるのは当然だ」
「兵隊風の男がやってきて、といった証言もあるが、当時、兵隊のような服を着た人間はたくさんいた」「昨年、テレビでこうした見解を語って袋だたきにあったが、今後も同じことを言う。強制動員を示す資料はないというのは事実で、曲げようがないからだ。ニューライト財団の人々は、おおむね私の考えを理解している」
「安倍首相は、厄介だから謝っておこうという態度を取ってはならない。それは韓国の議論をミスリードする」

ステージ風発/『現代コリア』5月号

What is wrong with Japanese leftist?

According to a Japanese blogger/依存症の独り言, Japanese leftists, communist, socialist ,
social democrat, in essence, aim a revolution, hence, anti-state, anti-regime is a must. They have no perspective of state interest , national interest:Whatever will jolt status quo, whatever makes the state in trouble is good. That was why Mao welcomed Japanese imperialist: to topple the nationalist army.
Western social democrat by contrast seek social, economic justice, seek more equality, more human rights through a social reconstruction. So French Socialist party has denounced China, saying that China is not making effort to correct ethnic cleansing in Sudan.
Sadly Japanese leftists turn blind eyes on China, as if it was none of their businessf----so he argues.


I am not satisfied with LDP, but something is seriously wrong with the Japanese opposing party.

Testimony: GHQ ordered to recruit Japanese comfort women and set up comfort station

Sankei/1994/9/17*
Isomura Eiichi国を憂い、われとわが身を甘やかすの記(魚拓）
When the war ended, I was the director of public relation in Tokyo
and was ordered by GHQ to do the job of providing "service" . An order of a conqueror was absolute. I was ordered to construct houses for military officers , to do that, I had to confiscate the western style toilets from Japanese house.
On the Christmas eve, I was called on by an officer of GHQ and ordered to report the situation of Yoshiwar, red-light district. Of course, the district was burned to the ground. I was ordered to recruit women and construct houses for GIs. The order was to construct RAA. At first I thought it was something for an indoor athletic place, but it was for " Yoshiwara" as it used to be.
It was Japanese administration's policy at the time for women and children to disperse from Tokyo into rural areas, so labor force was definitely in short. Besides, I used to tell people that foreign soldiers were beasts:naturally, it was hard for me to recruit women to provide such "service"
However among civilians, there was absolute lack of foods and there was a rumor that
a woman sold her body for a piece of chocolate. There was little choice but to recruit women who used to live at the red-light district, promising them to provide them with foods. I persuaded them, saying that you would save the virgin of Japanese women----- I am ashamed of having said that to the women at that time and talking of, and standing for the human right now.
I called the brokers and asked them to do the job, saying it would be for the country.
If Japanese government decided to do something about so called the issue of comfort women at UN for foreign comfort women, how would people interpret my word, "it will be for the country"?
I visited an women who seemed to have provided such "service for this article ;She seems to have been recruited by my order, which in turn was forced by GHQ. She asked me if I could honestlly face the past shame, I had no word to that. Honestly I have no word to say to the fact that I brought them to such a situation.

................................................................................
*

【正論】地域改善啓発センター理事長・磯村英一　日本軍だけでない慰安婦問題
[ 1994年09月17日 東京朝刊 オピニオン面 ]

日本の終戦直後、私は東京都の渉外部長で、占領軍司令部の命令に、“サービス”を提供する役割を課された。戦勝者の命令は絶対である。僅か一、二週間の間に占領軍の兵隊のためにワシントン・ハイツ等という名の宿舎の建設が命令され、将校たちのためには、洋式のトイレの住宅を接収し、提供した。

敗戦の年のクリスマス、司令部の将校から呼ばれて“ヨシワラ”の状態の報告を命ぜられた。もちろん、その地区は焦土と化していた。命令は宿舎を造って、占領軍の兵隊のために、“女性”を集めろということだった。

命令は英語で“レクリエーション・センター”の設置である。最初は室内運動場の整備だと思ったが、そうではない。旧“ヨシワラ”のそれであった。

敗戦直後の東京の行政は、女・子供はできるだけ地方に分散するようにという命令が出され、占領軍の兵隊のための宿舎をつくる労力さえも不足の状態だった。しかも外国の兵隊は、鬼畜とさえ教えたのを、改めてそのようなサービスを提供するなどできるものではなかった。

しかし、市民の中には、食べ物も少なく、中にはチョコレート一個で身体を売るような話まで広がっている。やむを得ず焼け残った“地区”の人々に、文字通り、食料を支給すると約束してバラック建ての“サービス・センター”に来てもらった。その理由として、日本の“一般の女性の操”を守るためにといって頭を下げた。こんな犠牲を強いた私自身が“人権”などという言葉を口になど出せるものではないと反省している。

◆「昔の恥を」と詰問される

やむを得ず関係している業者に直接話して、“お国のため”という言葉を使ったことを覚えている。もし仮にいわゆる“慰安婦”問題に関して国連の舞台で、日本政府が外国人の慰安婦に何らかの措置をとる場合、そのような言葉を使ってサービスを求めたことはどうなるのか。この一文を書くために、その当時、私の命令―事実は勝者の強制を背後にして―によって、サービスをしたと思われる人を訪れたが、“昔の恥を思い出させるのか”という返事に返す言葉がなかった。正直にいって、敗戦の中で女性をそのような環境に追いやったことに、返す言葉をもたない。

Comfort women /Testimony/Koon Ja Kim.

The handbook of the house of sharing

When she was 16, she was adopted to the (korean) policeman. Her foster told her to go to the place where she could earn money, if she couldn't just returned home;she followed a Korean soldier who came home to pick her up.

June/2005?Hokkaido newspaper

Her foster father told her to go for an errand and rode on the train; there were many women and she saw soldiers

Nov/2005/the conference of peace for Junior High School Students

when I was 16, I was picked up by a Korean soldier, being told by my foster father that you'll have a good place to earn money

May/2006/Asahi newspaper
When she was 17, Two Korean men took her away, saying that she could work at the factories.She was taken to China, where there was a comfort station.


/Date unknown/Expat Advisory Servise

One such victim is Kim Koon Ja, now aged 81. After exchanging greetings her first words are, "I'm too embarrassed to talk about this." This is her story. After her parents passed away before she was 14, she was orphaned. Her impoverished relatives could not afford to care for her and her siblings, so they lived with other families serving as maids.

When war broke out, many Koreans were marrying quickly so not be drafted by Japanese forces. At 17, she also planned to marry her boyfriend, but his parents objected because they could not overcome her background. Not being married, she was unwillingly drafted by Japan as a sex slave and was forced to China.

February 2007/hearing of the Subcommittee on Asia/

I became an orphan when I was 14 and I was placed in the home of Choi Chul Ji, a colonial police officer. As his “foster child,” I cooked and cleaned for Mr. Choi. I had a boyfriend and we wanted to be married. However, his family objected because I was an orphan.



I remember the day that changed my life forever. I was wearing a black skirt, a green shirt, and black shoes. It was March of 1942, and I was 16 years old. I had been sent out of the house by police officer Choi and told that I needed to go and make some money. I found a Korean man wearing a military uniform and he told me that he would send me on an errand and I would be paid for this errand. I followed him and he told me to board a train – a freight car.

In 1942, there were not many Korean soldiers. There might have been Koreans who voluntarily applied for the Japanese troop, but it is not likely they were assigned the job to recruit women. It is more likely that she mistook him for the Korean broker who wore Kokumin fuku/National uniform at the time
And probably she was sold by her stepfather.


.................................................................................

ナヌムの家歴史館ハンドブックより。16歳のときある巡査の家の養女となる。その養父に「お金を稼げる場所があるので行っておいで、稼げなかったら帰ってくればいいから」と言われ、家まで連れにきた朝鮮人の軍人と一緒に・・・。
2005年6月23日、北海道新聞での証言　「お使いに行っておくれ」と言われて、汽車に乗せられた
幼いとき両親をなくした金さんは、六十数年前、日本植民地時代の韓国江原道で、養女に出された。ある日、養父から「お使いに行っておくれ」と言われて、汽車に乗せられた。女性たちがたくさんいて、兵隊の姿も見えた。[[1]]
2005年11月「東京の高校生　平和のつどい」における証言 「お金を稼げるところがあるから」と言われて、朝鮮人の軍人に
私は10歳で父、14歳で母を亡くし、孤児でした。あの頃はみんなそうでしたが、大変な暮らしで、他人の家に働きに出て日銭を稼いでいましたが、16歳の時、チョロンの巡査の養女になりました。その頃、私にはボーイフレンドがいましたが、結婚できませんでした。1942年3月、養父に「お金を稼げるところがあるから」と言われて、朝鮮人の軍人に連れて行かれました。[[2]]
2006年03月02日、朝日新聞。17歳の時、家に朝鮮人2人が来て「工場で働かせてあげる」と言われ列車で中国の琿春に連れて行かれ慰安婦となった
幼い時に両親が死んで養女に。１７歳の時、家に朝鮮人２人が来た。「工場で働かせてあげる」。列車で連行されたのが旧ソ連国境近くの中国・琿春。慰安所だった。
2007年2月15日、米国下院対日非難決議案に関する公聴会での証言（秦郁彦による要旨）[1]
16才で養父のチョイ（朝鮮人警官）から金を儲けてこいと追い出され「軍服」を着た朝鮮人の男から金になる仕事があると貨車に乗せられて、と申し立てている。
終戦後、韓国に戻る。
1998年よりナヌムの家に住むwiki

Interview With George Tenet

CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Abe's apology

Reuters reveals that when reporters traveling with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his trip to the Middle East asked him if he still thought that there was no evidence that comfort women were coerced by the military, he replied (italics mine):

“I think that my thoughts and feelings were not relayed correctly (at first), and I explained this to congressional leaders, who I believe understood…I did not apologize to the United States. I only clearly expressed my feelings.“

Anpontan
This is a bit different from what happened. The journalist who asked this question blogged this event as follows.
*

J
At the US-Japan summit too, the comfort women issue was one of the topics. Do you still think that there was no coercion by Japanese troop?

A
I have already explained everything. My thought and feelings has been conveyed wrongly, so I explained it. I explained my thought to the leaders of the Congress. I think they understood it.

J
You statement as to the comfort woman at the US-Japan summit was reported in the media as if you were apologizing to the US. It makes sense to apologize to the former comfort women but it doesn't make sense to apologize to the US. What is your opinion?
Do you have something more to say about it?
A
I didn't apologize to the US at all. My feeling toward the former comfort women was conveyed wrongly, so I only clearly express my honest feelings.

So the point is , from the context in which Abe talked, the apology was not for the US, but for the former comfort women.

UPDATE
Here is an article comparing Abe's apology with Korean the ambassador of South Korea 's apology for the incident of the Virginia Tech tragedy,

The hothouse (and sometimes hot air) South Korean print news media, or at least the conservative portions of it (which is most of it), will probably never be satisfied with a Japanese Prime Minister’s apology. A more humanitarian and statesman like response from the Korean media would have been to take Abe at his word, and assume that Japan’s actions would mirror these words over the next few years – until proven otherwise. Don’t hang the guy before you even give him a fair chance!

All nations and cultures have committed terrible misdeeds in the past, for which the current generation is not responsible. While it is most appropriate to accept and recognise the reality of history, it is unhelpful and counter-productive to hold up the sins of the past as an obstacle to progress in the future.

Apologies, as with all human communications that attempt to reflect reality, however roughly, need to be expressions more or less proportionate to the matter at hand. In this regard, the Japanese prime minister’s struck me as far more rational than the Korean ambassador’s – and arguably more helpfully sincere.

via 日本の評判
*

　《記者A　日米首脳会談でも慰安婦がテーマになった。首相は軍による強制性の証拠はないという認識に変わりはないか



　安倍首相　そういう問題は、私が説明したことがすべてであって、私の考え、気持ちが間違って伝えられたと思うので、それを説明した。私の説明について、議会の指導者にも説明した。理解していただいたと思う。

　(中略)関係ない質疑



　記者B　日米会談での首相の慰安婦発言が、報道ではまるで首相が米国に謝罪したかのようになっている。元慰安婦に謝罪するのならまだ分かるが、米国に謝罪となると意味が分からない。ご所感は。また言いたいことはあるか



　安倍首相　米国に謝罪したということではまず、全くない。当たり前の話だ。私の慰安婦の方々に対する気持ちが間違って伝わっていたので、私の率直な気持ちを伝えたということだ》

　隠しても仕方ないので白状すると、記者Bは私です。質問はいったん打ち切られたのですが、「最後にもう一問」とねじ込んで聞いてみました。まあ当然といえばこれ以上当然のことはないという答えでしたが…。阿比留

Abe's apology to comfort women
In case of Blare

Hard for women to support selves

yomiuri

Japan's social security system can never be said to be well designed to encourage women to be financially independent

Hard for a lazy nerd like me too.
Do something for women, do something for a nerd like me.....please.

Pan-kun's ape's right is being violated.

"Legally, chimpanzees belong to the same scientific family as humans. They're not pets, and they shouldn't be made to perform on TV shows for entertainment. It's damaging his chances of returning to his natural environment,"

"Chimpanzees aren't like cats or dogs, which have a 9,000-year history of being domesticated by humans. Chimps are wild animals. And they're an endangered species, having lost about 30 percent of their total population over the past 10 years," Matsuzawa tells the women's weekly. "Chimpanzees sleep 12 hours a day and spend three-quarters of the day in trees. They need seven meals daily. Making them walk around like humans all the time is too much."

"Chimps have an incredible growth spurt around age 6. They can grow to weigh around 60 kilograms and have too much power for an adult human to control them. By that time, they can't be sent back into the jungle," he says. "If they can't continue to be looked after, often they end up shut away in little cages. Making chimps into TV stars is robbing them of their right to live."

"Pan-kun turns 6 this year," Komiya tells Josei Seven. "I'm worried about what sort of life he'll be able to lead from here."

"We're going to keep in close contact with the experts and those involved in the chimpanzee's care to make sure Pan-kun grows up properly," a spokesman for the network says.waiwai

James will miss you when Pan-kun returns to the jungle.

The changng map of powers in Far East

China’s Increasing Maritime Reach, Missile Programs Cause Concern

It’s as if China was in near war-time production of missiles … in what amounts to the largest missile production and test rate since the Cold War.”

According to some analysts, there are real concerns in Far East Asia that Washington is continuing a long-term regional disengagement, citing the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam in 1975, Taiwan in 1979, the Philippines in 1992, and the expected withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea and Japan within the next 20 years. Following an agreement between Seoul and Washington last February, for example, South Korea will take over wartime operational control of its military from the United States in 2012 and the United States is in the process of relocating 7,000 forces from Okinawa to Guam over the next six years.

Worse still, that Washington may accommodate China’s new regional influence “at the expense of traditional alliance commitments in Asia,” Richard Fisher, vice president of the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center told Defense News, March 19, 2007.May 2, 2007JINSA

Japan needs more grand stratedgy dealing with the changing world situation.