Happy International Women's Day!

[andy]

We still have a long way to go here in Japan, too.

Prime Minister Abe recently denied Japan's military role in coercing
"comfort women" (a euphemism for sex slaves) into prostitution during WWII.
This is despite evidence from diaries and testimonies of Japanese military
officials,(not to mention direct testimony from some of the women
themselves) as well as official documents from the U.S. and other countries
that show how the Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in
coercing, deceiving, luring, sometimes kidnapping outright young women
throughout its Asian colonies and occupied territories. As many as 200,000
comfort women are estimated to have served in military stations.

Some of the members of Abe's governing party supported Abe by suggesting
that "it is useful to compare the brothels to college cafeterias run by
private companies, who recruit their own staff, procure foodstuffs and set
prices" (a statement by N. Nakayama, leader of a group of 120 Japanese
lawmakers who want to rescind a 1993 official declaration acknowledging the
imperial army's exploitation of comfort women.) (International Herald
Tribune, Mar. 9, 2007).

Andrea Simon-Maeda


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