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Opinion

Critical Response

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

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Opinion Critical Response By DOUGLAS LUMMIS 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