IV)Questions about Testimonies of Former Comfort Women.
Conclusion
Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai asked Nobuo Ishihara, the Liberal Democratic Party's assemblyman, (not Shintarou Ishihara who published Japan Could Say No) whether Japanese Army or government's documents proved that the Army abducted comfort women or not. Mr. Ishihara answered that they did not prove abduction at all. She explained the fact that Japanese officers burned a lot of unfavorable documents when Japan was defeated.
Mr. Ishihara said, "They were not aware of comfort women's issues at all when defeated. I do not think all documents of comfort women had been thrown away. The documents U.S. Army especially wanted were about special high police and political crimes. Some documents that the government took Korean workers to coal mining were burned, but they have been found from the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and local offices. I do not think some parts of forced recruitment about comfort women were thoroughly disposed."
Sakurai suspected the government offices might concealed the documents because the Ministry of Health and Welfare had concealed the important documents at HIV's lawsuit.
Ishihara answered the Ministry of Health and Welfare did not conceal the important documents at HIV's lawsuit when Prime Minister and the Minister of Health and Welfare ordered the related government offices to reveal them. If the related government offices concealed the important documents about comfort women, Japan does not function as a state.
First, the Minister of Health and Welfare concealed the unfavorable documents from 1989, the year of the HIV lawsuit's start to 1995, the year the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the injured party compromised. No matter how lawyers demanded, the Ministry of Health and Welfare did not reveal the document. After Mr. Kan, the Minister of Health and Welfare, ordered bureaucrats to reveal the important documents, a lot of documents that the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the chemical companies left not-heating blood untreated were revealed.
Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa ordered the bureaucrats of the related government offices to gather and reveal the documents about comfort women. Ishihara insists that the related government offices might not have concealed the documents.
Some support groups of comfort women insist no evidence of the Army's comfort women abduction, but that no evidence that the Army did not abduct them either. It is the same logic, "There is no evidence that UFO has not come, and that a ghost does not exist." They tend to insist like that when those who believe the existence of UFO and ghost are refuted by scientists completely.
Were comfort women normal prostitutes? Comfort women were not normal prostitutes. They played a very important role, and they were not despised at all.
The wife of a comfort station's owner said, "I did the job sincerely. I really wanted to comfort soldiers who served Japan at the risk of their lives. Their purposes were not always sex. They starved for human love. I used to recognize that comfort station was a place of comfort, and I did my job with the sense of mission." (translated by Shinji Kakichi)
Most former Japanese soldiers think, "We would never forget to show gratitude to comfort women. We feel very sorry that military scrip comfort women earned turned a waste paper after Japan's defeat. If some former comfort women were in trouble, we would like to pay some money." Most comfort women did not seem to be sex slaves at all.
The comfort women who demand Japanese government's apology were forced into
prostitution against their will. Japan might be morally responsible for the abducted or deceived women by some bad pimps, just as the United States of America was morally responsible for a lot of sexual outrages and rapes comitted by American soldiers in Okinawa while Okinawa was occupied. If Japan did not approve of prostitution's system and the American Armed forces were not stationed in Okinawa, such victims would not be seen at all.
If Japan was morally responsible for those women who were abducted or deceived by some bad pimps, Japanese must not end up only gratitude to the comfort women. Japanese should apologize to the comfort women.
Prime Minister Ryuutarou Hashimoto sent letters to those comfort women who demanded Japanese government's apology. It says that Japanese government feel moral obligation to deceived and abducted comfort women. (However, the following description in the letters, "under the Army's participation" is not correct. The statement, "The Army regulated bad pimps and protected comfort women," is correct. The letters must be clearly written again.)
Asia Women's Fund is privately made an appeal for contributions in order to supply compensation to the former comfort women who demand Japanese apology. (However, it is not right that the fund insists comfort women were abducted under the national policy.)
Japan has already completely apologized to the comfort women who were abducted and forced into prostitution by brothel dealers.
However, only the fact decides whether it has already completely apologized for what it did. The injured party could not entirely decide whether it was completely compensated or not.
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