What is Digg?99 Comments
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+29Nothing could stop the Japanese army. Not even a pregnant woman.
Read the shocking story:
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/the_eurasian_story_rape?size=_original - Alex76, on 10/11/2007, -11/+34The Dutch woman's testimony says she had her clothes ripped off her by Japanese military police.
She says she was taken to a brothel and forced to work as a prostitute, despite her efforts to resist.
Yet another example of the overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that yes indeed, sex slaves did exist. The Japanese govt should acknowledge this fact, pay reparations, issue an apology and move on. - BadassCheese, on 10/11/2007, -4/+23Wierd. I just wrote a research paper about the Rape of Nanking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_nanjing - HabboX, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14The article says, "...the Japanese government has investigated its wartime activities in Indonesia thoroughly and acknowledges and apologises for the country's wartime use of sex slaves."
So what value is "New Proof?" - doctapeppa, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13Sorry, but those pictures don't look anything like prostitution to me.
- lieutenantmudd, on 10/11/2007, -4/+14How is this any different than the sex slavery that occurs today throughout the world?
Slavery is thriving in our world, and the most visible kind to a Western is sex slavery in brothels. Don't ever think this article represents something from the past. It exists in the here and now.
I was a Peace Corps volunteer, and a non-profit once took me on a tour. I visited a village where 90 percent of the families had sold a kid into slavery because they couldn't feed the kid. The institution isn't analgous to American's conceptions of slavery and that's why it flies under the radar. I usually paid village kids to do chores for me, and my friends would always criticize me for overpaying and suggested I buy a "domestique" for 8 bucks a month to do all my house work. You can literally buy a child at the market. - misfit410, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10they kind of paid for thier WW2 warcrimes and then some.. it was messed up, Japan has come a long way since then.. move on.
"How quickly we forget what WE are guilty of."
We took thousands of lives, and saved millions by doing so, we are guilty of nothing but using drastic measures to end a war.
It's a shame it had to go there, and all we can do is pray it never has to again. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Rccola
I don't think there is anyone in Japan who doesn't know about the Rape of Nanking (contrary to popular belief amongst non-historians outside Japan)
In fact, stories involving the Rape of Nanking is brought up often and makes front page headlines; including Japan's most popular paper Asahi Shimbun. If you care to do a search there are more books and researchers in Japan about the Rape of Nanking than even the Chinese, and almost all except for a fringe group say that it was bad. In fact their estimates on the death-count are in the higher end of the spectrum.
Also, if you did your research properly you'd have found that Japanese Junior High School and High School history textbooks say the Rape of Nanking happened and devote a portion to explaining it in detail. The ONLY exception is 1 Nationalist High School in the entire country that removes it from the textbook.
This is no different from how the Native American genocides is avoided in American history textbooks until Junior High School.
I personally think they should start in Gradeschool, but too many parents think its gory. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8They admitted they had brothels, but the point is whether women were forced to work, or volunteered to work. THATS the only point the Japanese and these women are not seeing eye to eye about.
http://www.leonjp.com/ - Urusai, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9So...because we nuked Japan, they get a pass on systematic rape? Where can I sign up for your ethics course?
- UObean, on 10/11/2007, -7/+13Everyone knows this happened. The fact that they won't just admit it after 60 years is just ridiculous.
- ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11@Digg
First, one of my close relatives was a victim, she is very old. There is no question what Imperialist Japan has done was wrong. But even she has forgiven Japan and has said that all the current people having a tiff about this are out for self or political gain and nothing else. Simply put, anyone responsible is mostly dead anyway and those on top paid with their lives. Furthermore even the Japanese Emperor has specifically admitted the use of sex slaves and has apologized in multiple occasions for his father's actions.
So I'm very disappointed to see most of you digging CptOfMySoul and others down when they speak the truth. Is Digg Anti-Japanese or taking a liking to revisionist history where Japan has somehow never apologized even though solid links and proof have been given?
Japan's government has not only paid the largest sum of reparations for WW2 (surpassing even Germany) to China alone...
(this happened in large part due to American involvement, when they occupied Japan, they forced it upon the new government after WW2)
...they've also admitted to having Women Sex Slaves (YES SPECIFICALLY COMFORT WOMEN IN THOSE TERMS)...
...and apologized for it over 30 times...
...and wrote over two declarations of apology from Japan to all the other countries about the comfort women...
...Japanese organizations (non governmental) have also paid reparations to the tune of well over 100 million USD directly to victims when they found out that victim nations would not pay the victims directly.
Remember, the outcry stems from the fact that none of the victim nation's governments have used the reparations to give to the victims. Instead they were used in infrastructure and public projects. In fact, from 1992-1998, Japan paid for 1/4 of all of China's infrastructure in the entire nation. They still pay reparations today, including the fancy new recently completed airport in Shenzhen. - neuropsychguy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7They have admitted it. I read a news article about it a few weeks ago. Here's one of the articles talking about it:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/abe-sorry-for-wwii-sex-slaves/2007/04/22/1177180482802.html - spencewah, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8@ki1022
Just because you altered it doesn't give you copyright to the original photo, and even if it did, this is digg. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7@Comatose51
Did you even read the links provided or the article? It specifically says they apologized and acknowledge it.
Not only that read how many times Comfort Women are brought up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan
Most of the apologies that involve comfort women specifically refers to them as comfort women and apologizes for forcing them. Every time China has a major holiday they go on a media frenzy to bring this up again. Rightfully so but they don't acknowledge any of the 20+ Japanese state apologies involving comfort women, the half trillion paid in reparations even today, nor do they admit that their own government paid out 0 to the victims even though Japan has paid. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4They've admitted it and were forced to admit it, especially with American involvement after WW2.
MacArthur basically made them do it. They had no choice. Since then many groups, even private groups have specifically sought out these "comfort women"/sex slaves to pay them directly (since almost none of the victim nations paid the victims, used the money on infrastructure instead). Japan's government has been paying reparations for over half a century, in amounts far outdoing Germany, even today.
Why some victim nations and groups refuse to admit the truth is all for political gain. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5@Comatose:
The Japanese HAVE done everything Germany has. Keep in mind, Japan's new government was brought forward with American involvement. Paying sentiment beyond what Germany ever did was part of the equation that General MacArthur himself oversaw.
Here's the total amount in compensation to the Koreans and other Asian countries.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Peace_with_Japan#Compensation_to_Allied_POWs
Japanese War Reparations in US Dollars:
Korea 4,683,700,000
Taiwan 2,846,100,000
North East China 9,768,800,000
North China 3,695,800,000
Central South China 2,447,900,000
Others 1,867,600,000
Total $25,300,000,000
(Others also include)
Burma 200,000,000
Philippines 550,000,000
Indonesia 223,080,000
Vietnam 38,000,000 - vonskippy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Shocked I tell you, just shocked.
You mean bad things happen in a war? Go Figure.
Will the next dead horse please step forward for it's beating. - RCcola159, on 10/11/2007, -5/+9Same, wrote it for national history day. Shame most of the general population don't even know the rape of nanjing existed.
- Wargalas, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Because the story is about Japanese sex slaves. Why does every story, regardless of subject, have to be anti-American/anti-Bush with you people? moron.
- origclubsoda, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6This is common knowledge.
- CptofMySoul, on 10/11/2007, -8/+11The Japanese government has done all of those things: admitted it, apologized, and paid reparations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women#History_of_the_controversy look under the Kono Statement. It keeps being brought up because it is an easy way for other Asian countries to use the West to irritate Japan.
What Japan should do is point out the responisiblity they have taken and the apologies they've made, and tell everyone to get bent. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Comatose 51
Actually, Japans war reparations were not refused by China what-so-ever. They've gladly taken every dime. This comes up often as Japan also reduces yearly reparations whenever China has a large increase in spending for its military.
Also, read carefully, even the JAPANESE THEMSELVES have problems with the Yakusuni Shrine! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasukuni_Shrine
However it is hardly "Hitler's Grave" as Yakusuni Shrine honors 2,500,000 soldiers not just 14 A-class war criminals! Blaming the entire Japanese or the government when they themselves are against it is fallacy.
Not to mention, there are Vietnam veterans buried at Arlington Memorial in the US that have suspicious records. You don't see Vietnam using it for political gain everytime Bush visits the cemetary. - eezzzz, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6I thought they merely admitted to being the "cafeteria" and claimed they didn't provide the "food stuffs"...?
- ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Heres your proof that Japan paid war reparations more than Germany:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_reparations#Post-World_War_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Peace_with_Japan#Compensation_to_Allied_POWs
"Germany was supposed to pay the Allies 20 billion US dollars mainly in machinery, manufacturing plants. Reparations to the Soviet Union stopped in 1953."
"Japan agreed to pay around 1 trillion dollars and 30 billion yen. For countries that renounced any reparations from Japan, she agreed to pay indemnity and/or grants in accordance with bilateral agreements."
"Total: Total ¥364,348,800,000 US$1,012,080,000" - kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4the japanese government cant force the shrine to do that due to seperation of church and state.
there have been talks of several ways to "remove" the souls from the shrines but it goes against one of the ideas of shintoism. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Crimsonalucard:
Don't believe me? Don't take my word for it, here's proof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_textbook_controversy#New_History_Textbook_.282000.29
"Despite the scale of the controversies, the New History Textbook was adopted by only 0.039% of junior high schools in Japan as of August 15, 2001. According to the Society, there are currently eight private junior high schools, one public school for the disabled in Tokyo, three public junior high schools and four public schools for the disabled in Ehime that use their textbook (Mainichi Shimbun, September 27, 2004)."
That was 2004. As of now, most of the schools have revoked the New History Textbook, that was printed by radicals.
REMEMBER: This is out of THOUSANDS of schools in Japan!
So your Chinese friends were probably mad because they were deceived by Chinese government propaganda, or they were out to deceive others on the actual history and situation. - kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2sorry, my wording must've caused a misunderstanding.
good number of koreans and taiwanese fought for the imperial army during WWII. because they fought for the country, they were enshrined at yasukuni jinja. - Boing, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why new proof? Are there people actually arguing that this didn't happen?
- kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6jesus christ, just how many more times does japan have to apologize?
shinzo abe recently apologized, maybe a couple of weeks ago. what, wouldnt that make it the 33rd time or something?
is the old japanese government the only one to blame? seems like the U.S. troops also used the "comfort women" after WWII...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/25/comfort.women.ap/index.html
there is also proof that some of the korean "slaves" were recruited, and were paid well, more than a japanese imperial soldier.
http://www.occidentalism.org/?p=527 - Comatose51, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6@ShrimpCracker: The figures you listed are assets seized by those countries on their own territory. China has never signed a treaty nor accepted reparations from Japan but that's not even what's important. It is in their apologies that the victims find lacking. Having the 14 class A war criminals at Yasukuni is like having a shrine for Hilter and Himmler. Germany doesn't have any of that. Germany has Holocaust memorials. Holding the current generation of Japaneses responsible is obviously wrong. However, former Prime Minister Koizumi[sp?]'s visit to Yasukuni shrine is unnecessary and simply inflammatory. Imagine if Angela Merkel[sp?] visited Hitler, Himmler, or Goering's graves every year. Japan has offered vast amounts of reparation and most of it has been refused because that's not what the victims wanted. What they want is a sincere apology.
Kazuhima did point out that the government removing those 14 war criminals would be a violation of church and state, which is a new angle I didn't even consider. However, at the same time it was unnecessary for the Japanese Prime Minister to go visit it either. Abe has refrained so that's a start. Keep it up and there's not even a need for reparation. The problem is that Japan has alternated between apologies and recanting it or visiting the shrine. Just apologize, admit it, and don't turn back and let's just move on. - emjaymj, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Whats possibly a bit ironic is that the only reparations the US has ever paid to any group is to their Japanese citizens for their systematic imprisonment during WW2.
- dgh1973, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5"""
They don't need to apologize at all for the genocide of 10,000,000+ Chinese.
"""
Right, just like the Chinese don't need to apologize for killing millions of pacifistic Buddhists.
Are you starting to get it now? The scale of suffering the world has? This is a drop in a bucket and is not even newsworthy compared to various atrocities various countries are guilty of.
Sex slaves.... oooh shocker. - Comatose51, on 10/11/2007, -5/+7@CptofMySoul: *****. Prime Minister Abe recently recanted past admissions of guilt. Japan has never been very specific nor thorough in their apologies or admissions. You don't see any victims memorial in Japan like they do in Germany do you? Instead they have a shrine where they still honor their war criminal generals. You call that an apology??? If Germany built a shrine to Hitler, what do you think the world would say?
Yes Japan has offered cash payments before but no real apology. Do you know how ***** insulting that is??? Japan is basically saying that they can buy the lives of other Asians, treat them as slaves, kill them, and never feel guilty about it. Ever wonder why practically none of the victims have accepted the money. They don't want money. They just want a real apology and a show of remorse.
In China alone 6 million Chinese were wiped out by the Japanese. They nearly killed my grandmother when they decided to randomly drop a bomb in her neighborhood in rural China that was already occupied. My grandmother saw, as a child, Japanese soldiers randomly entering a house and bayonneting the entire family to death. This was already conquered and occupied territory.
Irritate Japan? Thanks for insulting the victims *****. I guess Israel and the Jews are quite a nuisances to the Germans too. - Wargalas, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4He's talking about ground forces with a full scale invasion of Japan. If you read books, they tend to tell you things like thousands of people were dying left and right and the consensus was a full scale invasion could have hundreds of thousands of dead on OUR SIDE ALONE. So take your holier then thou attitude and shove it up your ass.
- JoshChan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3are you plain stupid or what. Do you have the faintest of the estimated casualty figures on both sizes if a full scale land assault happened in Japanese homeland? Are you trying to tell me with the atomic bomb in the US arsenal, the military should still hold it to save the hundreds of thousands of US soldiers and perhaps millions of Japanese civilians' lives and perhaps billions of war budget just because it may kill many enemies' civilian but no way as much as how much would have died with the abomb?
- concertina, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2It's truly not a dead horse, because prominent conservative Japanese politicians, including the prime minister, have been stirring up the pot, trying to set aside past official government apologies and claiming that all of the comfort women were paid prostitutes. And they have been getting louder. All for the sake of politics.
It's amazing - and disgusting - to see depths to which people can descend. This behavior is every bit as bad as holocaust denial, and needs to be addressed appropriately. - emjaymj, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Why isn't this about what the USA is guilty of? Just because you say so? Plugging your ears and shouting LALALALALA doesn't change the facts. As bad as the rapes were, throughout history this has more often been common practice than not. I'm not trying to excuse it, but the nuclear bombing was overall much worse. It's beyond hypocritical to be vehemently angry at the attrocities commited by a nation while at the same time turning a blind eye to your own country's attrocities which were even worse. If you fundamentally care about the value of a human life, both events should anger you, regardless of whose side you're supposed to be on.
- aceg1357, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2What Japan did was horrible but half the blame goes to the countries' people that sold their women into prostitution to the Japanese. In most cases they were sold to Japan as slave prostitutes. The same countries that complain about Japan, China and Korea, are the very ones that sold their women to them. More than hypocritical.
- kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2i'm not too sure how and why the PM is allowed to visit the shrine even though he is part of the government. im not too sure how the whole seperation of church and state works with people in japan..
i don't know much about the other PM's visiting the shrine in the past. at first, i was against koizumi visiting the shrine. when koizumi visited the shrine in 2006, i heard him say on tv in japan that he prayed at the shrine to pay respects for all the dead that served the country in the past. when the media said that he was emotionally tied to the shrine because his father owned an airstrip in kyuushuu, which was used for the pilots that flew down to okinawa, i felt that his reasoning for visitng the shrine was alright.
if abe shinzo visits the shrine, i will be totally against it. i believe that his reason for visiting the shrine would be for a nationalistic cause. i also heard that his father fought in manchuria against the chinese... - poornbroken, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4see, it is different because in your case, there was SOME sort of remorse, some sort of need. in the case of the rape of nanjing, there really was no need. was there really a need to brutally rape a pregnant woman, then kill her? how about an elderly woman?
in your experiences, those people made a CHOICE. (even though it was between 2 bad choices.) in a rape, choice is taken away from you. - viviwanu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Mild-mannered on the outside, cruel and violent on the inside. For the war crimes they committed during WII to the entire Asia, two atomic bombs were not enough!
- vertinox, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@Rccola159
Most people don't know about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
More info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_war_crimes
It is under neutrality dispute right now but in general things like that happened.
Of course the Soviets were pretty bad in general...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_atrocities_%28WWII%29 - kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3uhh, where did you get the idea that the yasukuni jinja was specifically made for the A-rank war criminals?
there are 14 war criminals enshrined there. BUT
thats out of the 2,466,532 other people that are enshrined there. that number includes 27,863 taiwanese and 21,181 koreans who fought for the country.. and its not just people that fought in WWII but in wars that happened in japan, BEFORE WWII. - Comatose51, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5@ShrimpCracker: I'm answering to CptofMySoul's post and talking about the wider scope of all the Japanese has done and should apologize for. I'm always wary when the Chinese government makes a gesture about Japanese war guilt. There's definitely a certain amount of political play there. They like to fan that nationalist spirit in China. However, there are also non-governmental groups asking for apologies and justice. The Koreans and other Asian countries were also victims. Yes I know the Japanese has apologized before but the apologies have always been very general, which really isn't a problem except for their shrine to their war dead that include war criminals. The current Japanese emperor has also been very remorseful and reconciliatory about WWII. However, to say that they have already done enough isn't true. They have done some but they still need to go further. Offering large sums of money really isn't the answer. People don't want money. Most of their victims are old or are already dead. They just want sincerity in the apologies and to follow through with action on a level that's comparable to Germany's.
- Dohko_Xar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So I guess the theory about Digg and sex related articles is right...
- aceg1357, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3 Comatose51
"OK remove those 14. Simple enough. No one has a problem with the rest."
Good solution but impossible. The "spirits" of the people are there and priests have no ritual to get the "spirits" out. The Japanese who go there to visit don't go there to pay respect to those 14 class A war criminals. They go there for their own family ancestors or for general appreciation of the soldiers that have given their lives to Japan over the ages. There is nothing sinister about their intent. Let them pay respect to their war dead the way they seem fit.
Anyways no matter how many times Japan apologizes, and they have apologized countless times, for something over 60 years ago, China and Korea will never accept it due to their own internal nationalistic reasons. They have too much invested in hating Japan and creating nationalistic sentiment. - kazuhima, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3@crimsonalucard
its not one government official, but MANY.
its not censored, the rape is written in the textbooks. they just dont go into much details.
just like how textbooks here in america dont necessarily go into the specific details about how the government practically killed the american indian tribes.
another factor about why some might blame it on the ancestors is because it didnt happen in the homeland but in china. im sure that a lot of the civilians living in japan during those times didnt know it even happened..
oh, and dont generalize that all japanese people don't regret what happened in the past. - peterinjapan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I live in Japan and obviously am influenced by this fact. While I abhor the Japanese tendency to say "it was a long time ago, forget about it" to the things that they did in Asia yet vow never to forget Hiroshima, the fact remains that institutionalized education about the "horrors" the Japanese reigned down on China and Korea is part of their respective cultures, like UFOs and zany ideas about guns being a god-given right is part of ours.
I am sure that there was sex slavery. I am also sure that this isn't the whole story. For example, how many of these prostitutes was sold or given to the army by parents who disliked having a female daughter, or who were in some way collaborating with the Japanese? (Many, many Koreans worked with the Japanese army, and it's forbidden to talk of this today, their version of P.C.)
One theory I have is that the Japanese, being a "young" nation like Germany, was filled with great respect with the nations of Europe, especially England, which they have always felt a special affinity for, being an island nation of similar size. They wanted an empire, just like every other country in the world had, even the U.S. thanks to Spain being such a pansy in the Spanish-American War. That they got way, way carried away with their own superiority and treated the other Asians in terrible ways is very bad. But did the British, the French, the Russians, the Americans, the Prussians, never do anything like this?
Another theory I have is that part of the reason there's so much hatred of Japan today (other than the "hey, I can get votes by saying this stuff, wow" factor) is, Japan tried to eradicate the languags of the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria. Note to future generations, if you really want to make an enemy, try eliminating their language. Ask the Irish how they feel about having Gaelic replaced violently with English.
http://www.peterpayne.net -
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