このページはフレーム対応ブラウザ用に作成されています。下のリンクは非フレーム使用ページですのでそちらをご覧ください。
この記事をプリントする
批判的な反応
前回、筆者が『耐え難い歴史に目を背けてはいけない』と題して従軍慰安婦問題を取り上げたところ、兵庫県に住む読者から、筆者とは見解を異にする手紙が届いた。その内容は…。
Critical Response
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
forwarded a letter to me from Mr. Shigeo Ohmae, 54, an assemblyman in the Hyogo
Prefectural Assembly for more than 18 years. He writes that he likes the Shukan ST,
except for my column. Especially he is dissatisfied with my last column, which reported testimony of former sex
slaves (or, as Assemblyman Ohmae prefers to call
them, comfort women).
He writes, "Everybody in the
generation older than mine knows that the comfort
women were licensed prostitutes. In my neighborhood
all the elderly people ["hitotachi"; I believe he means men] who had acted as soldiers
say they were receiving a monthly wage of ¥5. They
would charge each customer ¥2, from which the trader would take close
to half in kickback, which means the women must have been earning more than ¥1 at
least. It is said that in a day each might entertain
as many as several tens of soldiers, or at least
several, so while one can say it was severe ["kakoku na"] labor, their income, for women
at that time, was exceptional.
"As proof, I have never heard of a Japanese comfort
woman claiming she was forced, giving her name, and demanding compensation. The elderly people [i.e. the ex-soldiers] all say that of course the Taiwanese and
Korean women were given exactly the same treatment as
the Japanese."
Assemblyman Ohmae argues that there were many Korean and Taiwanese comfort women because
the prostitution industry existed there (until recently) more openly than in
Japan, and therefore was in a stronger position to answer the demand of the Japanese
military.
He also states that one of the well-known Korean
comfort women [I omit her name, though he gives it]
"is a woman who was sold to become a kisaeng for ¥40. (The Japanese newspapers never mention this vital
point, writing instead that she was taken to the front as a member of the Women's Volunteers)."
The Assemblyman continues that
the United Nations report, which I quoted in my last column, is based on pure fabrication.
Changing the subject somewhat, the Assemblyman says
that if I seriously believe there was such a thing as the Rape of Nanking, I must be a person of no common
sense. How, he asks, could 300,000 people have been
massacred, when the population of Nanking was only 200,000? He points out that 300,000 would be three-quarters of the
population of Nishinomiya City. Of course, he says, many soldiers and civilian-clothed guerillas were killed at Nanking, but
that is unavoidable in war. "Perhaps it may have been justifiable in comparison with the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the air bombardment of
cities, and the indiscriminate machine-gunning of
women and children carried out by the U.S. military."
There is more, but I'm out of space. I hope I have
quoted Assemblyman Ohmae's views accurately.
The editors of Shukan ST have
forwarded a letter to me from Mr. Shigeo Ohmae, 54, an assemblyman in the Hyogo
Prefectural Assembly for more than 18 years. He writes that he likes the Shukan ST,
except for my column. Especially he is dissatisfied with my last column, which reported testimony of former sex
slaves (or, as Assemblyman Ohmae prefers to call
them, comfort women).
He writes, "Everybody in the
generation older than mine knows that the comfort
women were licensed prostitutes. In my neighborhood
all the elderly people ["hitotachi"; I believe he means men] who had acted as soldiers
say they were receiving a monthly wage of ¥5. They
would charge each customer ¥2, from which the trader would take close
to half in kickback, which means the women must have been earning more than ¥1 at
least. It is said that in a day each might entertain
as many as several tens of soldiers, or at least
several, so while one can say it was severe ["kakoku na"] labor, their income, for women
at that time, was exceptional.
"As proof, I have never heard of a Japanese comfort
woman claiming she was forced, giving her name, and demanding compensation. The elderly people [i.e. the ex-soldiers] all say that of course the Taiwanese and
Korean women were given exactly the same treatment as
the Japanese."
Assemblyman Ohmae argues that there were many Korean and Taiwanese comfort women because
the prostitution industry existed there (until recently) more openly than in
Japan, and therefore was in a stronger position to answer the demand of the Japanese
military.
He also states that one of the well-known Korean
comfort women [I omit her name, though he gives it]
"is a woman who was sold to become a kisaeng for ¥40. (The Japanese newspapers never mention this vital
point, writing instead that she was taken to the front as a member of the Women's Volunteers)."
The Assemblyman continues that
the United Nations report, which I quoted in my last column, is based on pure fabrication.
Changing the subject somewhat, the Assemblyman says
that if I seriously believe there was such a thing as the Rape of Nanking, I must be a person of no common
sense. How, he asks, could 300,000 people have been
massacred, when the population of Nanking was only 200,000? He points out that 300,000 would be three-quarters of the
population of Nishinomiya City. Of course, he says, many soldiers and civilian-clothed guerillas were killed at Nanking, but
that is unavoidable in war. "Perhaps it may have been justifiable in comparison with the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the air bombardment of
cities, and the indiscriminate machine-gunning of
women and children carried out by the U.S. military."
There is more, but I'm out of space. I hope I have
quoted Assemblyman Ohmae's views accurately.
Shukan ST: March 28, 1997
(C) All rights reserved
- Critical
- 批判的な
- response
- 反応
- have forwarded
- 転送した
- assemblyman
- 議員
- Hyogo Prefectural Assembly
- 兵庫県議会
- except for 〜
- 〜 を除いて
- is dissatisfied with 〜
- 〜 に不満がある
- last
- 前回の
- testimony
- 証言
- sex slaves
- 性的奴隷
- prefers to call 〜
- 〜 と呼ぶ方を好む
- comfort women
- 従軍慰安婦
- generation
- 世代
- licensed prostitutes
- 公娼
- monthly wage
- 月給
- charge
- 要求する
- trader
- 仲介業者
- take close to half in kickback
- 半分近くをピンハネする
- entertain
- 相手をする
- several tens of soldiers
- 数十人の兵士
- was exceptional
- (収入が)破格だった
- proof
- 証拠
- claiming 〜
- 〜 を主張する
- was forced
- 強制された
- giving her name
- 名乗り出て
- demanding compensation
- 補償を求める
- i.e. (=id est)
- つまり
- ex-soldiers
- 元兵士
- were given exactly the same treatment as 〜
- 〜 と同様の扱いを受けた
- prostitution industry
- 売春業
- existed there (until recently) more openly than in Japan
- そこ(韓国や台湾)では最近まで日本より公然と存在していた
- states that 〜
- 〜 と述べている
- omit
- 割愛する
- kisaeng
- 妓生(キーセン。もともとは、朝鮮の伝統的な芸妓のこと)
- vital point
- 肝心な点
- writing instead that 〜
- 代わりに 〜 と書いて
- was taken to the front
- 戦線に連れていかれた
- Women's Volunteers
- 「女子挺身隊」
- United Nations report
- 国連の調査報告
- quoted
- 引用した
- pure fabrication
- 全くのねつ造
- Changing the subject somewhat
- 少し話題を変えて
- Rape of Nanking
- 南京大虐殺(1937年に日本軍が中国人に対して行なった略奪暴行事件)
- person of no common sense
- 非常識な人
- have been massacred
- 虐殺された
- points out that 〜
- 〜 と指摘する
- civilian-clothed guerillas
- 便衣隊(日中戦争のときに、平服姿で敵地に潜入し一般市民に紛れて宣伝や襲撃などをした中国軍の特殊部隊)
- is unavoidable
- やむを得ない
- may have been justifiable
- 正当化され得るかもしれない
- in comparison with 〜
- 〜 と比べると
- atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- (1945年の米軍による)広島と長崎への原爆投下)
- air bombardment of cities
- 都市大空襲(1945年に東京下町地区を中心に狙ったB29による空襲などを指す)
- indiscriminate machine-gunning of women and children
- 女性や子供に対する無差別機銃掃射
- 〜 carried out by 〜
- 〜 によって行なわれた 〜
- U.S. military
- 米軍
- (am) out of space
- スペースがなくなった
- views
- 見解
- accurately
- 正確に