Japanese Army Sex Slaves

Japanese Army Sex Slaves:
"On this day, a new group of LDP Diet members who refuse to admit that Japan waged a war of aggression (Chairman: Okuno Seisuke, former Minister of Justice) was launched. The idea for the group is: 'We cannot stand for the self-humiliating historical re cognition and mean apologizing diplomacy. We have tried to regain what we have lost after World War II and raise healthy Japanese.' During the press conference, Okuno, who was asked about the issue of sexual slavery, answered, 'Comfort women participated in commercial activities, and they were not forced to do so.' Itagaki, secretary general, also commented, 'The situation of textbooks of implanting the image of sexual abuse was wrong.'"

In case you are wondering why I dredged up this ten-year old article from a Japanese magazine, it was to juxtapose these comments which were thrown in the face of real victims during a visit to Japan in 1996 with a statemeent from Japan's foreign minister today that this historical incident never happened.

Foreign minister Taro Aso's comments came in response to a US House resolution condemning Japan for sexual exploitation of women in WW2, This, of course, raises another question, Why, at this late date, does the US House of Representatives feel a need to roil the waters of US-Japanese relations?

In a delicious irony, the same day's Japan Times carries a story about a foreign woman who came for an internship with a Japanese company and leaves with an out-of-court settlement of her sexual harassment suit.