Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Japan must admit its guilt

By Noel Wauchope - posted Friday, 18 July 2014


While in Canberra, Australia's Senate was in turmoil over Tony Abbott's second attempt to carry out his central policy of "axing the carbon tax" – where was Tony Abbott?

Why, Tony was at an iron ore mine in the Pilbara, Western Australia, fawning over visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "You can indeed see that Japan and Australia is in a mutually idealistic, complementary relationship," fawned Tony.

I had already been feeling more than a little nauseated by the reception given by the Abbott government, with Abe starring at a joint sitting of Parliament, being feted by both sides of politics. That couldn't have happened in America, nor in South Korea. Nor,of course, in China, or in several Asian nations.

Advertisement

Tony Abbott and the Australian parliament seem to be oblivious to this. Is there some kind of collective amnesia in Australia? Though it is a long time ago, the facts remain about Japanese atrocities in World War 2, and of Japan's inadequate or non-existent apologies for these, as well as lack of reparations. What has made this situation worse, has been the record of Shinzo Abe's attempts to minimise or deny these atrocities.

America and Korea are still very much aware of the issue of Japan's wartime sex slaves - the "comfort women" They are still waiting for the actions demanded by the USA government in 2007 - United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 which demands that the Japanese government apologise to former comfort women and include curriculum about them in Japanese schools, citing 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children.

Japan has never properly acknowledged its abduction, rape and sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of women during World War II. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has gone further than just not acknowledging this. Abe led moves to keep this out of history books, in the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. On Abe;s homepage, he questioned that the Comfort Women were coerced (this page was subsequently removed) Japan did make a partial apology in 1993, but Abe is re-examining the study that was the basis of the apology. He is continuing his efforts to deny that Japan's wartime government and military established and ran the brothel system, and that the women were forced into the system against their will. All this at the same time as newly revealed hundreds of official documents provide clear evidence.

From 1932 to 1945 up to 200,000 women, from Korea, Japan and the Dutch East Indies, were enslaved by the The Japanese Imperial Army. These women and girls, some only 12 years old, were abducted, in some cases, bought from their impoverished parents, and taken to 'comfort stations' throughout the Pacific, and kept for months on end as sex slaves.

The war crimes of the Japanese Imperial army occurred in many Asian countries during the 1930s and 1940s but predominantly in China. The Japanese slaughtered as many as 30 million Filipinos, Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Indonesians and Burmese, at least 23 million of them ethnic Chinese. Confessions of war criminals set out a grim picture: "The crimes include killing, arresting, enslaving and poisoning the Chinese people, raping Chinese women, manufacturing biological weapons, releasing poison gas, destroying towns and villages and expelling peaceful inhabitants".

Since the 1950s the Japanese government has made a number of apologies. However, Prime Minister Abe has been criticised recently in a report Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress , for downplaying the seriousness of this history. The report pointed out "comments and actions on controversial historical issues by Prime Minister Abe and his Cabinet have raised concern that Tokyo could upset regional relations in ways that hurt U.S. interests."

Advertisement

Shinzo Abe recently and very publicly visited the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan's war dead soldiers, and includes the graves of several A class war criminals. The U.S. State Department was not pleased - "the United States is disappointed that Japan's leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan's neighbours". Of course, China, Korea and several Asian neighbouring countries were not pleased either.

Japan's treatment of prisoners of war was barbaric. The largest and worst treated group was the Chinese - their soldiers were killed literally by many thousands - by shooting, buried alive baynoetting, beheading, medical experimentation, and other methods. .Chinese civilians were murdered in even greater numbers. Chinese. American, Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, Indian and Filipino POWs were starved, brutalized, and used for forced labour.

For decades, U.S. soldiers who were held captive by Imperial Japan during World War 2 have sought official apologies and compensation from the Japanese government for their treatment.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

24 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Noel Wauchope taught science before switching to nursing. She has several post-graduate qualifications, in health informatics, medical terminology and clinical coding. She is a long time anti-nuclear activist.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Noel Wauchope

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 24 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy