Mayor Hashimoto, San Francisco, then Milpitas

Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto's comments on comfort women in May this year shocked many including Osaka's sister city San Francisco.

To refresh your memory, here are some points Mayor Hashimoto said on May 13:

1. We need to give consideration for comfort women.
2. During WWII, armies around the world had the system of comfort stations. Why should only Japan be condemned?
3. Korea calls Japan "the country of rape", but the claim lacks evidence.
4. Soldiers need a comfort women system.
5. I suggested the commander at Futenma US Air Station (for the US army) to utilize the adult entertainment industry (to address the concern of continuing assault on local women by some US soldiers). 

On May 27, Mayor Hashimoto had a press conference for foreign journalists to clarify his comments. In response, the Board of Supervisors of the City of San Francisco sent him a resolution of condemnation. Feeling that the condemnation was based on misunderstanding, Mayor Hashimoto has sent a 7-page letter back to the City on August 13, to clarify his true intent and to request the City to publicly rescind the resolution.

In his letter, Mayor Hashimoto first points out two misunderstandings by the City of San Francisco:

"Although the resolution states that I defended my previous remarks...that "US soldiers in Okinawa should use the island's 'adult entertainment industry' in order to reduce incidences of sexual assault on local women," this is completely incorrect. I rescinded and apologized for that remark during the press conference, since I myself judged that the statement was inappropriate. What I meant in that remark was to urge the commanders of the US military bases in Japan to tighten their official discipline among their soldiers".

"I cannot overemphasize that I have never condoned or justified, even in my statement of May 13, the use of 'comfort women'".

Expressing his deep sympathy for those who had to work as comfort women, he then goes on to explain his concern about the recent tendency of exaggeration of the "comfort women" issue:

"It is totally unacceptable that private recruiters recruited 'comfort women' at the request of the military... On the other hand, the condemnation of Japan in this regard often contains rootless and exaggerated claims. For example, it is frequently reported as if all or most 'comfort women' were abducted systematically by the Japanese authorities. That is simply a baseless statement."

"...your resolution assumes that scholars have already concluded that the Japanese government systematically got involved in forcible recruitment. There has not been any scholarly confirmation that Japan, based on the will of the state authority, abducted and trafficked 'comfort women'." 

"As ongoing research shows, diverse forms ... of recruitment of 'comfort women' existed, and as some historians suggest, their circumstances at the stations widely varied among individuals, which situation requires further historical investigation. Collectively calling all those women 'sex slaves', as stated in your resolution, may be an over-generalization..."

To give you an example of "diversity" of the situations, the US Army report No.49 written in 1944 records the working conditions of the 'comfort women' in detail, stating that these women were highly well-paid, lived semi-luxurious lives, amused themselves with social activities with soldiers, and were in good health. The report mentions that about 800 comfort women were sent to Burma with the Japanese army.

Mayor Hashimoto also points out unreliable reporting by the media on the issue:

"It is regrettable that most media reports consistently use imprecise terminology and rely on the unconfirmed data of the number of victims, thus leading many people in the world to believe the incorrect information as historical facts."

Then Mayor Hashimoto asserts that singling out Japan would make people blind to other past incidents and to contemporary problems of similar nature:

"The violation of the dignity of women by soldiers during wartime is a common problem in many parts of the world... Professor Mary Louise Roberts' research has uncovered the brutal deeds conducted by American soldiers during the Normandy landings. In addition, scholarly research demonstrates that American soldiers used comfort stations during the Korean War and the Vietnam War...  the South Korean army installed military-operated comfort stations for its own soldiers during the Korean War. Furthermore, sexual assaults by Korean military personnel during the Vietnam War resulted in many Vietnamese women giving birth to thousands of babies."

A mixed ancestry person born to a South Korean father and a Vietnamese mother (including the victims of Korean soldiers) during the Vietnam War is called Lai Dai Han in Vietnamese. The number of Lai Dai Han is estimated to be between 5,000 and 30,000. One should then wonder why we don't hear about the babies of comfort women and Japanese soldiers, especially when the number is claimed to be 200,000?

Mayor Hashimoto further points out the illegality of the comfort women claim by Koreans:

"Japan and South Korea have legally resolved any wartime and colonial disputes between them, including the issue of 'comfort women', through the mutually agreed-upon Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea...."

Following the Treaty in 1965, Japan excessively compensated Korea postwar reparation of US$ 800 million, which was 2.3 times the Korean national budget at the time. Furthermore, Japan renounced the right of assets from prewar period left in Korea, which amounted to US$ 5.3 billion, excluding military assets.

It is stated in the Treaty that "Post-war process is confirmed having been thoroughly and definitively settled. (the Article II-1 of the agreement)" Surprisingly, the Korean Government has left the Korean people uninformed
about this Treaty for decades. Coming back again and again to what was already settled in an international agreement between the two states - one only wonders about the credibility and sense of justice of Korea as a state.

After San Francisco, Milpitas City Council, CA, adopted a resolution on August 6, 2013, supporting the South Korean government's request for US officials to investigate claims that the Japanese government operated a system of sexual slavery in WWII. Before any more US cities make false accusations based on misled anti-Japan propaganda by Koreans, "the facts" must be spread. 

Though Mayor Hashimoto caused shock-wave in all directions, it should serve as the starting point of further investigation on the issue for those who simply believe in "200,000 sex slaves by Japanese army" myth.