A Nasty Trick 'The Main Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue'

A Nasty Trick 'The Main Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue'

Tetsuhide Yamaoka


In the film, the most unexpected voice among the sex-slave advocates was Hisae Kennedy, whom I have never met. She was once a popular advocate against the sex-slave theory, but as narrated in the film she suddenly disappeared from public view. Surprisingly, in the film she began by criticizing her former friends and supporters, explaining that her views were changed by scholar Ikuhiko Hata's argument that the Nanjing Massacre actually happened, though on a small scale.

She then brought up a report addressing the comfort women issue by the U.S. government's IWG (Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group). The IWG was established by the Clinton administration and took eight years to scrutinize classified documents at a cost of $30 million USD. In the end, it found no new or incriminating information on Japan's wartime comfort women system.

Kennedy herself had introduced the IWG report to Japan, as had some American journalists. However, in the film she dismissed the conclusions of the report, saying: "The purpose of the IWG was to investigate Nazi war crimes. They didn't find anything new about the Japanese comfort woman system because it was like looking for socks in the kitchen cabinet."

An individual is free to change their opinion, but not to bend the facts. The original purpose of the IWG was to investigate Nazi war crimes, as she says. But in response to strong protests by an anti-Japanese federation of Chinese American groups calling itself the "Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia," the official purpose was expanded to include the investigation of alleged war crimes by the Japanese military.

The conclusion of the investigation was that the U.S. military at the time found the comfort women to be ordinary prostitutes. Hence the Americans did not pursue the matter.

Bullying with Comfort Women Statues

Scatted throughout the film, Dezaki shows several videos of public hearings held by local governments in Glendale and San Francisco California, where anti-Japanese comfort women statues were erected. He uses these to emphasize local acceptance of the claims of the sex-slave advocates.

There were efforts of Japanese American parents to stop the statues, which had led to the increased bullying of Japanese American children. Their efforts were all unsuccessful, but Dezaki disputed the bullying itself and argued the claims were made up by a member of the Japanese Diet, Mio Sugita, who he said had never met such parents.

In that, Dezaki was very much like many anti-Japanese activists organizations, which have often regarded Japanese claims as groundless and ignored them.

I myself met several Japanese American mothers whose children were actually bullied or harassed and had long interviews with them. But they were not fighters and they didn't file complaints with the police or ask hospitals to provide medical certificates on the effects of the bullying. Although they didn't have a leader to help them fight the bullying, they still petitioned Prime Minister Abe on the issue of the statues. This is a big step for ordinary mothers. They would not have done so unless they were deeply concerned.

The Conspiracy Theory

This film was two hours and even Dezaki admitted it was too long. If I had been in a position to offer him advice, I would have recommended he cut the latter half of the film, because it was where he lost all logical train of thought.

According to the flyer on the film, while he said he was going to make a fair and neutral documentary about the comfort women issue, he intended to reveal "a conspiracy" behind the controversy in the second half. Instead, he failed quite miserably. and ended up introducing a groundless conspiracy theory.

The conspiracy theory Dezaki introduced in the film but couldn't prove seemed to be as follows: The aim of the Japan Conference and the Abe administration was to rearm and return to the glory of prewar Japan, based on the Yasukuni view of history in which Japan was infallible. The comfort women issue was a historical stain which they want to erase. So they tried to silence former comfort women and deny the existence of the issue.

関連する投稿


慰安婦問題を糾弾する「日韓共同シンポジウム」の衝撃(東京開催)|松木國俊

慰安婦問題を糾弾する「日韓共同シンポジウム」の衝撃(東京開催)|松木國俊

日米韓の慰安婦問題研究者が東京に大集合。日本国の名誉と共に東アジアの安全保障にかかわる極めて重大なテーマ、慰安婦問題の完全解決に至る道筋を多角的に明らかにする!シンポジウムの模様を登壇者の一人である松木國俊氏が完全レポート、一挙大公開。これを読めば慰安婦の真実が全て分かる!


「核爆弾の奴隷たち」北朝鮮驚愕の核兵器開発現場|石井英俊

「核爆弾の奴隷たち」北朝鮮驚愕の核兵器開発現場|石井英俊

「核爆弾の奴隷たち」――アメリカに本部を置く北朝鮮人権委員会が発表した報告書に記された衝撃的な内容。アメリカや韓国では話題になっているが、日本ではなぜか全く知られていない。核開発を進める独裁国家で実施されている「現代の奴隷制度」の実態。


アメリカは強い日本を望んでいるのか? 弱い日本を望んでいるのか?|山岡鉄秀

アメリカは強い日本を望んでいるのか? 弱い日本を望んでいるのか?|山岡鉄秀

副大統領候補に正式に指名されたJ.D.ヴァンスは共和党大会でのスピーチで「同盟国のタダ乗りは許さない」と宣言した。かつてトランプが日本は日米安保条約にタダ乗りしていると声を荒げたことを彷彿とさせる。明らかにトランプもヴァンスも日米安保条約の本質を理解していない。日米安保条約の目的はジョン・フォスター・ダレスが述べたように、戦後占領下における米軍の駐留と特権を日本独立後も永続化させることにあった――。


Does The U.S. want Japan to be strong or weak? |Tetsuhide Yamaoka

Does The U.S. want Japan to be strong or weak? |Tetsuhide Yamaoka

J.D. Vance, the officially nominated vice-presidential candidate, declared in his speech at the Republican convention that he would 'not tolerate free rides from U.S. allies'. This is reminiscent of how Trump once voiced that Japan was taking a free ride on the US-Japan Security Treaty.


「もしトラ」ではなく「トランプ大統領復帰」に備えよ!|和田政宗

「もしトラ」ではなく「トランプ大統領復帰」に備えよ!|和田政宗

トランプ前大統領の〝盟友〟、安倍晋三元総理大臣はもういない。「トランプ大統領復帰」で日本は、東アジアは、ウクライナは、中東は、どうなるのか?


最新の投稿


【今週のサンモニ】口だけの核廃絶は絶望的なお花畑|藤原かずえ

【今週のサンモニ】口だけの核廃絶は絶望的なお花畑|藤原かずえ

『Hanada』プラス連載「今週もおかしな報道ばかりをしている『サンデーモーニング』を藤原かずえさんがデータとロジックで滅多斬り」、略して【今週のサンモニ】。


衆院解散、総選挙での鍵は「アベノミクス」の継承|和田政宗

衆院解散、総選挙での鍵は「アベノミクス」の継承|和田政宗

「石破首相は総裁選やこれまで言ってきたことを翻した」と批判する声もあるなか、本日9日に衆院が解散された。自民党は総選挙で何を訴えるべきなのか。「アベノミクス」の完成こそが経済発展への正しい道である――。


【今週のサンモニ】偽善と悪意に溢れたコメント連発|藤原かずえ

【今週のサンモニ】偽善と悪意に溢れたコメント連発|藤原かずえ

『Hanada』プラス連載「今週もおかしな報道ばかりをしている『サンデーモーニング』を藤原かずえさんがデータとロジックで滅多斬り」、略して【今週のサンモニ】。


なべやかん遺産|「スーパーパワー」

なべやかん遺産|「スーパーパワー」

芸人にして、日本屈指のコレクターでもある、なべやかん。 そのマニアックなコレクションを紹介する月刊『Hanada』の好評連載「なべやかん遺産」がますますパワーアップして「Hanadaプラス」にお引越し! 今回は「スーパーパワー」!


【今週のサンモニ】石破氏を美化していた『サンモニ』|藤原かずえ

【今週のサンモニ】石破氏を美化していた『サンモニ』|藤原かずえ

『Hanada』プラス連載「今週もおかしな報道ばかりをしている『サンデーモーニング』を藤原かずえさんがデータとロジックで滅多斬り」、略して【今週のサンモニ】。