Though many Japanese residents and Japanese Americans spoke up at the meeting, and many more had sent an email to the city in protest, the city voted 4-1 for yes. Four council members (of which three are Armenian origin) voted for the monument, while the Mayor voted no.
I listened to what each of them said at the meeting, in the video recording. And I realized that among the four council members: one clearly holds the Tokyo Tribunal view ("Japanese government was simply evil, period"); one overlaps his personal recollection of "Armenian genocide by Turkey" with "Korean slavery by Japanese"; and two are straightforwardly against exploitation of girls and women, 100% believing the "testimonies".
And all the four, sadly, have seriously failed to form their opinions based on historical evidence - the works by historians based on the first degree historical facts, though they say "I've studied this already".
For example, Council Member Frank Quintero said:
Japanese government didn't teach its people the
correct history, always in denial including Nanking Massacre - Western people were there and saw it - , and that's why Japanese don't know about Japan's misbehavior and atrocities not only in Korea, but
throughout Asia. I studied history, I visited villages and cities and heard the witnesses - they said they (comfort women) were taken by the Japanese army.
But,
--> Western people were there in Nanking and did NOT see the atrocity of killing 200,000 people. The international safety zone committee reported 25 murders for the period Dec 12, 1937 - Feb 7, 1938.
--> Alleyne Ireland, a British American scholar, in his book "The New Korea" (1926), never mentions atrocity - far from it. He praises Japan of having brought so much peace and development to the people of Korea.
--> Dong-A Ilbo, Korean newspaper, of August 31, 1939, reported that brokers who forced women into prostitution were punished by the local police. Japan strictly controlled such inhumane practices from spreading.
Council member Zareh Sinanyan said, in brief:
Armenia's genocide experience is so similar to Korean experience, in terms of horror and pains. Turkish government has not apologized for their atrocity. Comfort women issue is a moral issue. There is absolutely no dispute that this happened. The word "prostitutes" are insulting and offensive. The reason why these women didn't speak up for years is because of the stigma. We are sharing the pains of our Korean Americans.
But,
--> Whatever genocide has nothing to do with "comfort women" issue, because these women were recruited and paid to work as prostitutes. There are lies going around saying "these women were tortured and even killed", but the US Army Report No.49 of 1944 that interviewed 20 Korean comfort women attached to the Japanese army clearly states:
- "A 'comfort girl' is nothing more than a prostitute" (p.1);
- "The contract they signed bound them to Army regulations and to work for the 'house master' for a period of from six months to a year depending on the family debt for which they were advanced" (p.1);
- "...in an average month, a girl would gross about fifteen hundred yen" (p.3) (half of which went to the master, meaning she earned 750 yen, 25 times that of a Japanese army sergeant).
- "The health of these girls was good. They were well supplied with all types of contraceptives, and often soldiers would bring their own which had been supplied by the army." (p.3)
- "In the latter part of 1943, the Army issued orders that certain girls who had paid their debt could return home. Some of the girls were thus allowed to return to Korea" (p.3)
This is not to shame or blame Japanese. This is not about pointing out who's at fault. What happened to these girls were simply a tragedy, and this monument is about innocence and horrors of war. That's why the monument does not condemn Japanese army or government. War has consequences and kids suffer. We have to remember the suffering of 13-14 years old children. There is no willing 14-year old prostitutes. This is about those women and their experiences.
But,
--> The monument clearly says "I was a sex slave of Japanese military". This is an ultimate shame and disgrace to Japan, which never institutionally forced women into prostitution.
--> Yet, there was an unfortunate exception in Indonesia, where some Dutch women were indeed forced into prostitution by some unscrupulous Japanese military officers. However, after 2 months, the Japanese army headquarters got to know about it, and closed the comfort station and released the women. The concerned officers were punished, and some were later executed by the post-war Dutch army court. This unfortunate incident, however, demonstrates that the Japanese army and government did NOT allow forced prostitution (Source: Sakurai Yoshiko, "Nihon yo, Rekishi-ryoku o migake" 2010).
--> Unfortunately, the testimonies are not accurate. For example, see "Reliable Testimonies by the Innocent Victims?"
As the only No Voter, Mayor Dave Weaver said:
"I was born in this city 74 years ago this month, I've seen light years of change occur during my life time. I'm Swiss German and I married to a Filipino. My father in law was in Bataan death march. He escaped and joined the American forces. My mother-in-law hid in the hills, Japanese officer befriended her, and my wife, who was a baby at that time - if it wasn't for that Japanese officer, giving food to my future wife, she wouldn't be with me today for years. And one of my brothers-in-law married to a Japanese lady. So much understand, I have history in my family about it...."
"I tend to agree with my colleagues (participants who spoke up), of all said, I wish I had more knowledge of it. Because I'd like to be certain of it. ... consistent with my past position on this, I will not vote for this monument at this time..."
"For over a decade, I've sat here for 17 years, we have talked about developing a master plan of our tiny little central park... we have everybody, all sister cities wanna put monuments in now. That comfort lady wants one in and wanna remain in the park. The veterans park, after veterans fought other wars outside the country. Until we develop a master plan, or park, until the general pubic of this city get to vote through public hearings, and say what they want in our little one block park, after we draw renderings of a master plan, then, and only then, I vote for anything in that park.... This park is the city of Glendale public park - Central Park. And I think we'd better get on a ball at least designing it even if we don't have the funding... Well, this is the public, see what public thinks. You wanna devote whole park to monuments, so be it. I don't believe that's my decision to make... I won't vote yes, until we do this thing the right way."
Mayor Weaver did not attend the opening ceremony for the monument.
************
Due to Koren groups' strong pressure, a similar thing is happening in Buena Park city, California, which will hold a council meeting in early September. If you want to raise your voice to the city, visit Japanese Women Justice and Peace (Nadeshiko Action). I will write more details about Buena Park in the next blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment