Comfort Women Deniers take out Ads

June 21, 2007 on 12:52 am | In Society | | Email This Post

Fearing that there may be Americans who are still unclear on the “historical facts”, Japan (Actually it seems to be paid for by 5 prominent right-wingers) placed an advertisement in the Washington Post on Thursday, making it clear that the issue of Comfort Women did not really occur as reported by… well… everyone else.

[Click for Larger, Readable Image]

Can you believe it? A full page advertisement! In the Washington Post! I mean, even the US uses propaganda… But this is flagrant.

The blog Ampontan covers this entire issue in detail, providing many informative links. Especially interesting is this interview with Shoichi Watanabe, a professor at Sophia University who claims that every single one of the pictures in The Rape of Nanking is fake.

In response, the US is seeking a resolution [IHT] that will demand that Japan, Prime Minister Abe, offer an official apology for the Imperial Army’s victims.

America is not exactly the most morally sound country on the planet either…

However, the thing that gets me most about this whole Comfort Women issue is that the Japanese media is such that many educated Japanese are unaware of the extent of the problem of denial. By the way, in Japanese the comfort women issue is known as, 「慰安婦問題」(ianfu mondai).

It’s hard to find Japanese who have any idea that this particular advertisement was published, and especially those who know that the US is considering a resolution demanding an apology. At least in the US we criticism of our government (especially today) is all over the place. When Bush says something a little off the wall, it’s all over the media (where the media = Comedy Central) What Japan needs is something like the “Daily Show” to keep the layman informed!

- Harvey

By the way, if you want to read about this advertisement in Japanese, there is an article available here. A Japanese friend told me that 産経新聞 (sankei shinbun) is basically the equivalent of Japan’s right wing propaganda newspaper. I’m sure she’s exaggerating, but I guess imagining something like Fox news in the US would be an appropriate comparison.

Related Posts... (in theory)   Japanese Slang - arafou - Around 40    Book: Kickboxing Geishas    Skinny Girls  

Click here to Stumble Upon it!

8 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. Gravatar

    The Japanese are awesome at making fun of themselves on TV that you would think there would be an equivalent of the Daily Show. Here in Australia the most prominent shows like this are actually on the government funded stations!

    I am close friends with a girl from Japan living here in Australia and she is aware of the issue and is against what Japan is doing. However, I think she is not a typical Japanese woman, as even though she loves her country a lot of what she says is anti-japan :)

    Comment by Goddess Carlie — June 21, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    What I’ve noticed in Korea and Japan, and what it looks like from the outside is happening in China - All major Asian powers want to make themselves out to be the victim so that it gives them a “justifiable reason” to flat out despise other countries. It’s like a bunch of suit-clad politicians fighting in the schoolyard sandbox.

    There is pride in every country, that’s just human nature. But it seems like a lot more Americans can criticize their own country compared to many other nations. I must say, though, that Canadians, English, and Australians criticize America just as well, if not better than Americans themselves.

    In Al Franken’s book Lies and the Lying Liars…, he brings up a good point that it’s sad that people look to comedy channels for news, and look at news channels for comedy. But, the Daily Show and Colbert Report really expose a lot of people to the absurdity of American politics, and I think they are wonderful programs (even though some extreme right-wingers actually think that Steven Colbert is being sincere…just shows you how disconected they are from human emotions).

    Japan needs a show like The Daily Show, CNNNN, or Da Ali G Show - Something to lighten the mood on the world of politics, and to just make fun of absurd national policies and the people supporting them. I suppose that what it comes down to is that Japanese need a slightly more bitter sense of humor.

    Comment by Alex — June 21, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    Yes Alex! I agree. I wonder if any other Asian nations have the type of, criticize yourself comedy that is present in Western countries…

    Comment by harvey — June 21, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    Harvey! Dig the website!

    Just to clarify, the resolution in the US Congress has been on the books for quite some time (I think since January or February, if I’m not mistaken). Hence, this “advertisement” in the Washington Post is a response to the resolution, not the other way around as you indicated.

    And to open up dialogue a bit more, why do you think Mike Honda authored this (nonbinding, might I add) resolution to begin with? Why has this become a national issue for the American people? Are we saying that since Japan doesn’t have a culture of political dissent other countries have to step in?

    I agree that criticism of government (especially our current president) is quite widespread and, more importantly, tolerated in the US (at least to a certain extent — see Patriot Act). But — and this is something I felt very strongly after the results of the last presidential election — what are we accomplishing with this freedom?

    I should stop there, but thanks for the interesting post. I need to read up more on these issues…!

    Hope Osaka is treating you well. :)

    Comment by Ashton — June 22, 2007 #

  5. Gravatar

    Ashton!

    “Just to clarify, the resolution in the US Congress has been on the books for quite some time (I think since January or February, if I’m not mistaken). Hence, this “advertisement” in the Washington Post is a response to the resolution, not the other way around as you indicated.”

    True, I think it can still be said though, that the reason the resolution may be restated with more ‘assertiveness’ (though yeah, it’s non-binding), is in direct response to the advertisement.

    Do you guys agree?

    Why has this resolution come up. That’s a good question.

    I don’t know. I wonder if one of the reasons that it is being brought up again now has anything to do with the serious constitution revision talks, the new referendum law, and the new bill for the fundamental education law. Bush and Abe’s luke-warm relationship? It seems that a lot of things are happening lately that would make Japan seem to be more nationalistic than usual lately…

    Or maybe I’m just paying attention more now, and it’s always been like this?

    Comment by harvey — June 22, 2007 #

  6. Gravatar

    Congressman Mike Honda interview.

    Comment by Michael — June 23, 2007 #

  7. Gravatar

    Harvey, I did not know about the initiative of Mr. Honda until I read about it in the online newspapers (e.g. japantoday). However, Japan’s moves related to the comfort women (what a lousy word by the way) is widely reported about in Europe, and the Netherlands where I am from. Over the years there has been quite some resentment towards Japan about the political maneuvering and plain denial about their actions in WW2. The statements of both Aso and Abe were published widely in the Netherlands and inevitably create reactions from the readers. Maybe this topic has had more interest in Europe than in the USA over the years. Good to see that the USA is also taking some steps on this topic.

    Comment by J. — June 24, 2007 #

  8. Gravatar

    Maybe this topic has had more interest in Europe than in the USA over the years.
    Maybe, but it’s come up periodically in the US over the last decade or so. The government of California created quite a stir back in 1999 when it demanded Japan apologize and make amends for war-time atrocities, including the “comfort women” issue.
    …
    comfort women (what a lousy word by the way)
    Indeed! And the Japanese certainly realize this, which is why public figures and the press are usually careful to say something like 「いわゆる従軍慰安婦」, or “the so-called ‘comfort women’”.

    Comment by Michael — June 24, 2007 #

Leave a comment

XHTML: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Study Japanese with help from J-List!
Study Japanese with help from J-List!

Credit Card Consolidation - Credit Card - Personal Loans - Credit Counseling

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^