The Significance of Nippon Kaigi in the Revisionist
Tomomi Yamaguchi The “HistoryWars” and the “Comfort Woman” Issue: The SignificanceofNippon Kaigi in the Revisionist Movement in ContemporaryJapan Introduction In December 2012,Abe Shinzō became Japan’sPrime Minister for the second time. From the beginning of his political career in 1993asanew member of the House of Representativesfrom the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (hereafter,LDP), Abehas been apolitician committed to historical revisionist causes. Both times that he served as the primeminister in 2006–2007 and then since 2012,Abe showed extensive interest in denying Japan’sresponsibility over the “comfort woman” issue, and the issue gained lots of political attention, both in Japan and abroad.¹ At the national political level, the revision of the Kōno statement issued on 4August 1993, by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary, Kōno Yōhei, became the topic of intense discussion. The statement includes the phrase, “[a] government studyhas revealed thatinmanycases they werere- cruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, etc., and that,attimes, administrative/military personneldirectlytook part in the recruitments.”² Right- wing forces arguetothis daythatthe Kōno statement’sindication that the “com- fort women” wereforciblyrecruited by the Japanese military is false. After the building of the “comfort woman” statue (Statue of Peace) in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December 2011, the Japanese right-wingand the government have been obsessed with “comfort women” statues and memo- rials in different overseas locations, giventheir heavy interest in the internation- al reputation of Japan. The building of the first “comfort woman” memorial in the U.S. in front of alibrary in Palisades Park, New Jersey,in2010,gainedatten- tion of Japanese conservativesinspring 2012.Subsequently,statues werebuilt in The term “comfortwomen” was aeuphemism used during WWII, which does not reflect the harsh realities of women forciblyengaged in sexual slavery.When used in English-languageac- tivism and academia this term is often put in quotation marks.
[Show full text]