'Comfort women' resolution could harm ties, says Japan's ambassador to U.S.

either...what is mentioned is that the funding of AWF will end on March 2007 and...

"Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Government of Japan—

(1) should formally acknowledge, apologize, and
accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as ‘‘comfort women’’, during its colonial
and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II;

(2) should have this official apology given as a
public statement presented by the Prime Minister of
Japan in his official capacity;

(3) should clearly and publicly refute any claims
that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the
‘‘comfort women’’ for the Japanese Imperial Armed
Forces never occurred; and

(4) should educate current and future generations about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the ‘‘comfort women’’."

Items 1,2, and 3 have been accomplished repeatedly and item 4 refers to changing textbooks.

 

If Japan had just apologized sincerely and properly right after the war, things would probably be different. Instead half the country says "we apologized already" and the other half says "we didn't do anything wrong". What a mess.

 

every white person in America should have to bow down, kiss the ground and appologize to every black person that they meet.

What Japan did was terrible to the women and they should have been compensated and should still be compensated.

However, doesnt the US congress have bigger things to do then to pass resolutions about what happened 70 years ago?

 

Haha, "not desirable"? TOO BAD! Deal with the crap that your ancestors did! What goes around comes around! YAH!

 

They must apologize for managing pros properly...

They established detailed regulation to protect health and property of so-called "comfort women," though such words did not exist in W.W.II.

Japanese soldiers paid half of their salaries for one "rape" that anti-Japanese claimed for. It is equal to 30,000 yen ($300) in current Japanese Yen!! How expensive "rape" it is!!

Japanese soldiers have never kidnapped women. Only one testimony was denied by an ex-soldier who testified. EVERY KOREAN who lived where the soldier testified the kidnap DENIED such a shameful incident occured in their territory. Don't underestimate Korean power! They have never allowed such an incident!!

GANBARE, KATO-SAN! You are only one hope of Japanese. If you fail, every Japanese will never find any merit to be with U.S.A.

 

If Japan has to be reminded by America (the land of manifested destiny - remember the Indians) about comfort women, then America should be constantly reminded about Slavery. What white owners did to slave women was probably just as bad if not worse than what the Japanese did. This is a different Japan like it is a different America (slavey days).

I am not saying Japan should get away with this terrible deed, what I am just saying is that America is getting too much into other countries business.

 

The Asian Women's Project in Indonesia, is coming to an end on March 31, 2007.

Other projects have been completed in the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Netherlands ended as recently as May 2002.

Mike Honda's bill explicitly mentions the end of funding on March 31, 2007.

That is why this issue has come up again. Some political forces would like funding of this to be in perpetuity.

 

That’s a bad example, what has Japan done to right the wrongs in it history? Ignore it and give an insincere apology decades later?
You want to compare it to US’s history with slavery, but there is no comparison, 360,000 union solders died paying that debt and our history is filled with people making great contributions to repaying that debt.
How is that a comparison? What has Japan did that compares to what has been done in the US?

 

The issues have been resolved thru San Francisco treaty and other contracts Japan signed with other parties. Unless the countries that signed the contract wants to renegotiate, its a done deal and 本当にみっともない when you start to whine and complain about the facts when this has been settled legally, politically and morally.

Just like how President George W. Bush told China President to get over with WW2 issues, all the whiners need to get over it as its a done deal.

The colonialism that took place in history, did any country besides Japan apologized for it. Name a country besides Japan that apologized for colonialism. Mr. Mahatir, Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Ho Chi Minh did not think it was cool, as if it was those countries would still be a part of the colonizer:s country.

This is another shake down, but will not work as the US Supreme Court ruled that you cannot sue as there is a contract already signed and its a done deal.

Phillippines did not ask to be a part of USA, but it happened and there was no aplogy for that.

Read what you signed and get over it, as the contract was signed voluntarily and failure to honor the contract is a dishonourable act.

 

it seems pretty easy. Just say "it was bad and shouldn't have happened. sorry" and carry on. Will take lesstime and effort than arging about it.

Not that the US was much different.. given the way US soldiers treated vietnamese and japanese women after the war. Same holds true for almost any victorious army.

 

Time ago ,thier is a new sheriff in town , How ironic the resolution will be passed by House of Congress controlled by a woman, japan should of attone for crimes a long time ago,an american view

 

Ossan, if my post was unclear before please allow me to explain. I dont compare the situations involved but the level of sincerity in expressing remorse. In the case of the Hyogo train derailment I should have said that I was impressed by the level of sincerity. When I said amazed I should have elaborated that I was amazed by the level of sincerity. The JR officials should not have to apologize in the future because they did it right the first time. What I meant was that the apologies offered by the Japanese government, albeit in my limited opinion, are not sufficiently sincere to cover the scope of the situation. In regard to the post by `diveit` about apologizing to all descendants of African slaves I can only say that it is a different issue that I did not comment upon and the complexities are beyond me. As there is still significant racism in the US toward blacks, most recently displayed in Barack Obama`s run for the White House, yes perhaps whites should do more to apologize. Again, you brought that issue up not me and again, it is beyond me. As far as Mike Honda goes I didnt say he was Japanese. I said his name was. Perhaps he is in fact a traitor to America as you seem to imply but I think he is probably just a man decended from Japanese people who may still feel he has a connection to Japan and he wants to make up for the mistakes of his country men (women) in law. Again, I guess it cant be proven and the debt cant be claimed but if he is ever proven to be a Chinese operative I will give 10,000 yen to Ronald McDonald Children`s Charities on your behalf. Mostly because I love Big Macs. Please reflect.

 

Export...We've all heard the "sincerity" factor a gazillion times when talking about Japanese apologies. The truth as we all know is that "sincerity" is a subjective form of measurement subject to the whims, beliefs, agendas,and prejudices of each individual. You're entitled to believe anything is sincere or insincere and I'm not going to waste my time debating it.
From what I've gathered of the derailment accident to which you refer, the driver of that ill fated train was found to have been breaking protocol, starting with excessive speed. Hence, I can not agree with you that the Rail company's apologies were anything less than what anyone should expect. I sure as hell wouldn't be amazed. Hell in Japan I wouldn't be amazed if the president or some top exec killed himself over it.
Yes you did say that "Honda" was a Japanese name, and you made that statement with the implication that because he is of Japanese decent that should somehow exonerate him from suspicion of Chinese influence. BTW, I have always said "influenced" by the PRC government, not a "Chinese operative". If we ever have a "Chinese operative" as a Congressman well I think we'd all better start taking courses in mandarin cause the game's over. If ever Honda is uncovered as being "influenced" I fear very much that it will be at a time when the proverbial brown stuff has already hit the fan, and he won't be the only one being investigated and hung out to dry. MacDonalds is another company which is doing big business in China, and could easily be lobbying for the PRC. Better give your donation to Wal-Mart. Ha.

 

How can he be a Chinese operative, spy or whatever people are saying. I grew up watching him get elected in Northern California. As I am Asian American living in Japan, I can proudly and truthfully say that this is a bunch of rubbish. He grew up with probably the exact same education as I did growing up though he is obviously older than me and him or all of his family were interned during WWII and taught to choose between his loyalty to the US and his country where his ancestors came from. Most chose the US because that was where they were born. We were all taught about WWII and the brutalities of the Germans to the Jews and to a lesser extent to the Chinese, British, Dutch and Americans in the Pacific, unlike Japan which only showed the German side and not the Japanese side. The Japanese side only showed the atomic bombs and the people in Manchuria. The rest is a national amnesia because when we try to mention it, it is an embarrassment and people start getting mad at us (meaning the US or outsiders) saying we are to blame. Or the other normal excuse is saying you are foreigners and do not understand Japan. Both of these excuses are a lot of bull and gets really tiring as this is the 21st century and not the early 20th or 19th century.
As for Mike Honda, he probably grew up learning about WWII which includes the Bataan Death March, the lost of Singapore, Hong Kong, Guam, Wake and the Philippines, in addition to the Rape of Nanking. For a lot of Japanese ultra rightist nationalist and some people here you think I am making this up, but you can look this up on any American WW II history book, internet homepage, or even on Wikipedia and they will all say the same things, except the figures might be wrong on the number of casualites. However, I tend to think as one Japanese author named Hajime Fujiwara's "Japan's Zombie Politics" that mentioned in this context concerning the Rape of Nanking, that the numbers do not mean anything. It is still a massacre no matter if it is 300 or 300,000. If I got this wrong I apologize in advance, but I have a copy of the book.
In the end, I believe Mike Honda is overall an Asian American and he knows the injustices suffered to the Asian American community in the US in the past as well as the injustices the Japanese did during WWII because that is his land of his ancestors. It is the same for the Chinese Americans who say that yes the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward was a mistake that the Chinese should never have done.
There is also something called "lobbyists" which in simple terms means in the US that they bring to the attentions of representatives and govt officials their particular greivance or wants. In this case, he makes no specific mention to Chinese comfort women, though it is mentioned. People just tend to focus on this as people tend to thnk of China as the main antagonist. What he really means is comfort women throughout all of Asia, which includes the Philippines, Korea, and if I may say so nurses that served in the American, and British army that were caught up in the war in Asia. Anybody who thinks that this concerns only China wake up and stop living in the Cold War. As Robert Gates said recently about Putin, "One Cold War is enough."
I can say more as I have taken Asian American History to understand where I have came from in my unviersity of SF State University. I would recommend that before anybody start presuming, that people understand more about Asian Americans or talk to Asian Americans, Asian British, or Asian Australians before they start pushing buttons which sounds offensive or downright uneducated.
As for people, who say I am anti Japanese, that is not true. I live and work in Japan and I like certain aspects of the cultures and I will gladly say there is something we all can learn about Japan and it's good points as most of us are aware of. Also, I do know about what happened to the Japanese in Manchuria at the end of WWII and I believe they got the short end of the stick so to speak from both the Japanese government and from the Chinese, and the former USSR.

 

Nobody knows, that the US Army report revealed that this "comfort women," who were actually normal prostitutes, were paid for 30 times of Japanese soldiers at that time. Nobody knows they were recruited by native owners of prostitutes, NEVER BY JAPANESE SOLDIERS. Nobody knows Japanese medical stuff provided sincere care for every woman working there.

Nobody knows, that every criminal thing of Japan, testified by the women, has never been proven by historical facts nor evidences, and that even testimony fluctuates over time. They have many birthdays, several different life stories, and bunch of different sets of "rape" experiences.

Nobody knows, that Japanese President of National Congress has already publicized apology WITHOUT any historical investigation. Nobody knows that is because of compromise with Korean government which did not desire to bring the issue for a long time.

Nobody knows, that Japanese Prime Minister sent letters for showing apologies, despite any historical evidence shown, for the women several times with attaching millions of Yens per person, DOZENS OF TIMES, ANNUALLY.

Nobody knows about their backgrounds, that the women must be victims of Japanese imperialism, not prostitutes, at any reason. Otherwise, Korean society will never accept them, who worked for Japan.

Nobody knows the truth... The shameful resolution will be passed...