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暴行し、支払は後で … ?
筆者は、2月28日号のこのコラムで従軍慰安婦問題を取り上げ、それに対する読者の反応を3月28日号のコラムで取り上げた。その読者の意見に関して、新たに別の読者から意見が寄せられて…。
I sent in both of these columns from abroad. When I returned recently and saw the articles in print for the first time, I learned that the titles had been changed. The original title of the first, "Denying the unbearable," was changed to "Japanese can't deny an unbearable history." This suggests (though it does not directly say) that I think Japanese history is more unbearable than the histories of other countries, which I don't. It also suggests that I think the problem of rape in the military is peculiarly Japanese, which I don't (see my column of Jan. 3, 10, 1997).
The original title of the second, "Denying the unbearable, part 2," was changed to "Critical response." Careful readers will understand why I regret the alteration.
Now I have a letter from Sayoko Yano of Nerima-ku, Tokyo, responding to Assemblyman Ohmae's letter. "I was too angry to sleep last night," she writes. She is especially angry at his idea that the "comfort women" should not complain, because they were paid. She writes, Assemblyman Ohmae seems to think that a man may rape women if he pays them later.
Assemblyman Ohmae, of course, wants to say that as they were paid, it wasn't rape. But there are deep problems with this idea. There is the testimony of the women that most were not paid. There is the testimony that many were abducted. There is the fact that many were children.
And there is the fact that most of the survivors are now refusing the money offered them by the Asian Women's Fund. This is not the behavior of prostitutes. If these women are, as Assemblyman Ohmae implies, opportunists making a big noise to get money, how do you explain their refusal to take the money offered them?
The women have demanded official state compensation. They are offered "consolation money" from a private fund. This they refuse. Many people can't understand why. Suppose you were convicted of a crime and fined. You refuse to pay the fine and offer a donation instead. But the government did not fine you because it needed money; the fine was a penalty. In paying it, you acknowledge, and seek atonement for, your guilt. In offering a donation instead, you are offering a bribe.
Official state compensation is like a fine. It would acknowledge guilt on the part of the government and redeem the reputations of the victims. Simply offering "money" instead is an insult and allows cynics to say, "See, they only wanted `money' after all."
(This is not meant as a criticism of those women who, pressed by need, have accepted money from the Asian Women's Fund. It is only an attempt to understand the position of those who haven't.)
Regular readers of this column will remember that my last two columns were about the sex slave question. The first was based on quotations from the United Nations report on the matter. The second was quotations from a letter from Hyogo Prefectural Assemblyman Shigeo Ohmae.
I sent in both of these columns from abroad. When I returned recently and saw the articles in print for the first time, I learned that the titles had been changed. The original title of the first, "Denying the unbearable," was changed to "Japanese can't deny an unbearable history." This suggests (though it does not directly say) that I think Japanese history is more unbearable than the histories of other countries, which I don't. It also suggests that I think the problem of rape in the military is peculiarly Japanese, which I don't (see my column of Jan. 3, 10, 1997).
The original title of the second, "Denying the unbearable, part 2," was changed to "Critical response." Careful readers will understand why I regret the alteration.
Now I have a letter from Sayoko Yano of Nerima-ku, Tokyo, responding to Assemblyman Ohmae's letter. "I was too angry to sleep last night," she writes. She is especially angry at his idea that the "comfort women" should not complain, because they were paid. She writes, Assemblyman Ohmae seems to think that a man may rape women if he pays them later.
Assemblyman Ohmae, of course, wants to say that as they were paid, it wasn't rape. But there are deep problems with this idea. There is the testimony of the women that most were not paid. There is the testimony that many were abducted. There is the fact that many were children.
And there is the fact that most of the survivors are now refusing the money offered them by the Asian Women's Fund. This is not the behavior of prostitutes. If these women are, as Assemblyman Ohmae implies, opportunists making a big noise to get money, how do you explain their refusal to take the money offered them?
The women have demanded official state compensation. They are offered "consolation money" from a private fund. This they refuse. Many people can't understand why. Suppose you were convicted of a crime and fined. You refuse to pay the fine and offer a donation instead. But the government did not fine you because it needed money; the fine was a penalty. In paying it, you acknowledge, and seek atonement for, your guilt. In offering a donation instead, you are offering a bribe.
Official state compensation is like a fine. It would acknowledge guilt on the part of the government and redeem the reputations of the victims. Simply offering "money" instead is an insult and allows cynics to say, "See, they only wanted `money' after all."
(This is not meant as a criticism of those women who, pressed by need, have accepted money from the Asian Women's Fund. It is only an attempt to understand the position of those who haven't.)
Shukan ST: April 25, 1997
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- sex slave question
- 性的奴隷の問題
- was based on 〜
- 〜 に基づいたものだった
- quotations from 〜 on the matter
- その件に関する 〜 からの引用
- United Nations report
- 国連の調査報告
- Hyogo Prefectural Assemblyman
- 兵庫県議会議員
- from abroad
- 海外から
- articles in print
- 印刷された記事
- Denying the unbearable
- 耐えがたいものを否定すること
- suggests
- ほのめかす
- peculiarly Japanese
- 特に日本だけの問題
- column of Jan 3,10
- 1月3・10日合併号に掲載の"A rape-free army?"(暴行のない軍隊とは?)のこと
- Critical response
- 批判的な反応
- regret
- 残念に思う
- alteration
- 変更されたこと
- responding to 〜
- 〜 に反応を示して
- comfort women
- 従軍慰安婦
- complain
- 不平を言う
- were paid
- 支払いを受けていた
- testimony
- 証言
- were abducted
- 誘拐された
- survivors
- 生存者
- (are)refusing 〜
- 〜 を拒否している
- money offered them by 〜
- 〜 から提供されたお金
- Asian Women's Fund
- 女性のためのアジア平和国民基金
- behavior of prostitutes
- 売春婦のふるまい
- implies
- ほのめかす
- opportunists making a big noise to 〜
- 〜 しようと騒ぎたてる日和見主義者
- have demanded
- 要求した
- official state compensation
- 正式な国家補償
- consolation money
- 賠償金
- private fund
- 民間基金
- This they refuse.
- こちら(民間基金からの賠償金)は拒否している
- Suppose you were convicted of a crime and fined
- 例えば、あなたが犯罪で有罪判決を下され、罰金を課せられたとしよう
- donation
- 寄付
- penalty
- 刑罰
- acknowledge, and seek atonement for, your guilt
- 罪を認め、償いをしようとする
- bribe
- わいろ
- guilt on the part of the government
- 政府側の罪
- redeem the reputations of the victims
- 被害者の名誉を回復する
- insult
- 侮辱
- cynics
- 皮肉屋
- See, 〜 after all
- ほら、結局 〜 だったじゃないか
- is not meant as a criticism of 〜
- 〜 の批判のつもりではない
- pressed by need
- 必要に迫られて
- attempt
- 試み