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Timeline of “Comfort Women” denialism during the First and Second Abe administrations (with a focus on U.S.-related incidents)

Part 1: 2006-2007 (The first Abe administration)

2006-09-26 Shinzo Abe becomes the 90th Prime Minister of Japan
2007-01-16 U.S. declassifies documents and releases expert essays on upcoming IWG report
2007-01-31 H.Res.121 introduced with six co-sponsors, led by Rep. Mike Honda
2007-03-01 PM Abe denies forced recruitment of CW by Japanese military
2007-03-02 Deputy Sec. of State Negroponte criticizes Abe’s statement
2007-03-05 PM Abe once again denies Japanese military responsibility
2007-03-09 Opponents of H.Res.121 change their position, number of co-sponsors grows
2007-03-16 Abe administration formally state that no evidence exists that points to forced recruitment of CW by Japanese military
2007-03-24 Washington Post criticizes Abe in editorial
2007-03-25 Abe’s Deputy Cabinet Minister states on radio that CW were sold by their parents, and that Japanese military was not involved
2007-03-26 Deputy Spokesman for Department of State urges Japan to continue to address CW issue
2007-04 IWG report finalized and made available to public
2007-04-03 U.S. Congressional Research Service releases the report “Japanese Military’s ‘Comfort Women’ System” by Larry Niksch
2007-04-03 PM Abe calls Pres. Bush to ask for “understanding”
2007-04-17 PM Abe justifies his statements in interviews with Newsweek and Wall Street Journal, promise to uphold Kono Statement
2007-04-20 Former Minister of Education and Science Nariaki Nakayama criticizes H.Res.121, arguing that prostitution was legal and profitable at the time
2007-04-27 PM Abe visits Pres. Bush, issues a vague apology for CW
2007-05-17 Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara denies Japanese military’s involvement in the recruitment of CW
2007-05-25 MP Jin Matsubara denies the CW issue
2007-06-14 Dozens of conservative politicians and prominent opinion leaders in Japan place a full-page ad (“The Facts”) on Washington Post
2007-06 Many members of U.S. House of Representatives join as co-sponsors of H.Res.121 including House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chair Rep. Tom Lantos
2007-07-30 U.S. House of Representatives passes H.Res.121
2007-09-12 PM Abe abruptly resigns
2007-11-08 Dutch parliament passes resolution urging Japan to confront CW denialism and make further efforts to address the issue
2007-11-28 Canada’s House of Commons passes resolution urging Japan to confront CW denialism and make further efforts to address the issue
2007-12-13 European Parliament passes resolution urging Japan to confront CW denialism and make further efforts to address the issue

Part 2: 2012-Ongoing (The second Abe administration)

2011-12 Yumiko Yamamoto of Zaitokukai forms CW denialist group Nadeshiko Action
2012-05 Japanese diplomats offer cherry blossom trees in return for removing Palisades Park, New Jersey CW memorial; the city rejects
2012-05-24 Nikon Corp. cancels photo exhibits about CW under right-wing pressure
2012-12-26 Shinzo Abe becomes the 96th Prime Minister of Japan
2013-01-10 PM Abe appoints Shiro Takahashi to the Council for Gender Equality
2013-05-13 Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto argues that organized prostitution was necessary at the time, and suggests that the U.S. military should utilize legal sexual services to reduce sexual violence committed by the U.S. servicemen in Okinawa
2013-05-16 U.S. Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki calls Hashimoto’s statement “outrageous and offensive”
2013-05-22 San Francisco asks Hashimoto to cancel sister city visit due to the furor caused by his remarks
2013-05-27 Hashimoto retracts his comment about the U.S. servicemen while insisting that the Japanese military was not involved in the trafficking of CW
2013-06-18 City and County of San Francisco passes resolution condemning CW system in response to Hashimoto’s statements
2013-07-09 Glendale, California approves the establishment of CW statue in its Central Park after heated discussions
2013-07-30 Glendale unveils the CW statue; Japanese American leaders from Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress and the San Fernando Valley chapter of Japanese American Citizens League attend in support
2013-09 Yumiko Yamamoto and others form Alliance for Truth about Comfort Women
2013-12-16 Koichi Mera, Tomoyuki Sumori (True Japan Network, Voluteer Group for Fight Against Comfort Women), and three Japanese MPs (Mio Sugita, Yuzuru Nishida, and Hiromu Nakamaru) meet with representatives of NCRR and JACL-SFV; Sugita dismisses Japanese American representatives as “left-wing”
2014-01-08 JACL-SFV chapter formally adopts a statement supporting CW statue in Glendale
2014-01-16 Members of (Japanese) National Association of Municipal Legislators Against Comfort Women Statue visit Glendale to protest the CW memorial; they hold a sign that reads “Children Need Heart-Warming Memorials”
2014-02-20 Koichi Mera founds Global Alliance for Historical Truth and files a lawsuit against the City of Glendale
2014-05-05 Japanese American Bar Association of California and Korean American Bar Association along with dozens of other law associations issue a statement supporting the CW memorial and opposing GAHT’s lawsuit
2014-06-06 Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization (FeND) formed
2014-06-20 Abe administration releases a report on the “process resulting in Kono Statement,” widely seen as a first step to retracting or trivializing it
2014-07-06 Mera and Nobukatsu Fujioka of GAHT hold an event in Los Angeles; read a letter from Yamamoto
2014-07-14 Yamamoto, Mera, Mitsuhiko Fujii, Shunichi Fujiki, Tony Marano, and other members of ATCW visit Geneva to lobby the U.N. Commission on Human Rights
2014-08-04 GAHT’s federal lawsuit against the City of Glendale is dismissed
2014-08-05 Asahi Shimbun retracts decades-old articles about forcible CW recruitment by the Japanese military in Jeju Island, Korea
2014-08-13 Fullerton, California passes resolution recognizing CW
2014-09-03 GAHT files a state suit against the City of Glendale
2014-09-04 GAHT appeals the decision of the federal case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
2014-10-15 The Historical Science Society of Japan issues a statement criticizing Abe administration’s denial of historical facts of CW
2014-10-30 Japanese MPs form the Special Committee to Restore Japan’s Honor and Trust in order to refute allegations on CW
2014-12-13 Yamamoto, Mitsuhiko Fujii, and other revisionists hold an event in Redwood City, California near SFO; coalition of peace and human rights activists holds a protest
2014-12-14 Yamamoto, Mera, Fujii, and other revisionists hold a panel in Torrance, California
2015-01 Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands American publisher and historian to alter the description of CW in college-level world history textbook
2015-02-18 Japanese residents in Los Angeles area join in a lawsuit in Japan against Asahi Shimbun
2015-03 20 U.S. historians publish a letter in support of Japanese historians in response to MOFA’s attempt to censor textbooks
2015-03-09 Yamamoto, Fujii, Shunichi Fujiki, Shiro Takahashi, and other revisionists hold an event in New York City; original venue, Japanese American Association of New York, cancels their reservation due to a protest by peace and women’s groups
2015-03-10 GAHT and ATCW members Mera, Takahashi, and others hold a press conference in NYC to counter the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women sessions
2015-03-17 Group of conservative scholars led by Ikuhiko Hata holds press conference to demand “corrections” to an American history textbook over CW
2015-03-27 PM Abe refers to CW as victims of human trafficking in an interview with Washington Post without admitting Japanese military’s role in it
2015-04-28 Mariko Okada-Collins organizes a screening of Yujiro Taniyama’s film, “Scottsboro Girls” at Central Washington University; Mera, Jason Morgan, and others join Taniyama
2015-04-29 PM Abe delivers a speech at the joint session of U.S. Congress without mentioning CW
2015-05-04 GAHT’s state lawsuit against the City of Glendale is dismissed; City files for attorney’s fees under anti-SLAPP statute
2015-05-07 “Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan” released with 187 signatures by historians, Japan scholars, and others (mostly in the U.S.); the number of signatories grows to 464 within a week
2015-05-25 16 associations of historians and history educators in Japan issue a joint statement criticizing CW revisionism
2015-07-21 City and County of San Francisco considers a resolution establishing CW memorial; Mera, Okada-Collins, Terumi Imamura, and others speak in opposition
2015-07-23 Osaka Mayor Hashimoto criticizes SF resolution as “unfair,” sends a letter
2015-07-27 Nadeshiko Action and ATCW members visit Geneva to lobby the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
2015-09-22 City of San Francisco unanimously passes a resolution establishing CW memorial
2015-10-02 MP Yoshiaki Harada, chairman of LDP’s Committee on International Communications, states “our country denies the existence of Nanking Massacre and comfort women”
2015-09 MP Kuniko Inoguchi of LDP mails revisionist books to scholars in the U.S., Australia etc., and foreign correspondents based in Japan
2015-11 LDP forms new group to review history, particularly war crimes verdicts and GHQ policies
2015-12-18 California Department of Education releases a draft of the Social Sciences framework that includes the teaching of CW issues at 10th grade level; historical revisionists start multiple petitions against it
2015-12-28 Foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan reach an agreement on CW issue; CW survivors denounce the agreement, while the right-wing is split between those who oppose the agreement and those who support Abe’s decision
2016-01-18 PM Abe states that CW were “not sex slaves” in the parliament
2016-02-16 Japanese official denies “forcible recruitment of CW by the Japanese military” and sexual slavery at the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in Geneva; about 30 right-wing activists including Yamamoto, Sugita, Fujiki, Fujii, Hosoya, and others also lobby the CEDAW
2016-03-16 Mera,Hosoya, and Sugita hold a panel titled “Misunderstood Comfort Women” at the NGO Parallel Event coinciding with the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.
2016-03-17 Mera, Hosoya, and Sugita hold a version of the above panel in Japanese for Japanese audience in New York City.
2016-03-23 Yamamoto, Fujiki, Fujii, and Norimasa Suzuki (Seiron-no-Kai) hold an event featuring Marano at an Armenian Church.
2016-03-24 Yamamoto, Mera, andothers hold another panel at the NGO Parallel Event titled “Women’s Rights Under Armed Conflict: Japan’s Approach to Respect Women.”

Diplomatic “resolution” does not lead to healing or dignity: Making sense of the Japan-ROK “agreement” on “comfort women”

This week, foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea announced a bilateral “agreement” to “finally and irreversibly” settle historical disputes arising from the WWII-era Japanese imperial military enforced prostitution/sexual slavery known as the “comfort women” system. The agreement was reportedly reached under heavy pressures from the United States government, which has military pacts with both Asian nations, for its own geopolitical needs. The agreement has been widely denounced by the “comfort women” survivors and their advocates in South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere as an act of further violence to silence the survivors.

In a statement read by Japan’s Foreign Minister, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged “the issue of comfort women” was “a grave affront to the honor and dignity of large numbers of women,” and expressed his “most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women.”

Abe’s apology is a reiteration of previous statements issued by the Japanese government, most notably the 1993 Kono Statement in that it accepted moral, but not legal, responsibilities for the suffering of women under the “comfort women” system. Japanese conservatives, including Abe himself, have long argued that Japanese military’s “involvement” in the atrocity was peripheral (e.g. performing medical checks at military brothels, etc.) and have rejected the notion that Japanese military itself was responsible for the trafficking and coercion of women and girls for sexual exploitation (see Dudden and Mizoguchi for a critique of Abe’s 2007 statement expressing this view, or our debunking of common revisionist talking points).

The new “agreement” does not go beyond Kono Statement in acknowledging Japanese military’s direct role in the coercion and trafficking of women under the “comfort women” system. Worse, the few remaining survivors of the “comfort women” system were cut off from the negotiation altogether, and their voices were systemically silenced. As a result, virtually none of the demands of the survivors are reflected in the final “agreement” that the Korean government accepted, supposedly, on their behalf.

Survivors and advocates continue to call on Japan to fully acknowledge Japanese imperial military’s direct culpability for the violence perpetrated against women from across Asia-Pacific, and to meet other demands of the survivors, which, according to Korean American Forum of California, include:

  1. Full acknowledgement of the military sexual slavery implemented by the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan between 1932 to 1945
  2. Thorough and complete investigation to fully chronicle the scope of the crime
  3. Formal apology from the National Assembly (Diet) of Japan
  4. Legal and full reparations to all victims
  5. Prosecution of the criminals responsible for the crime
  6. Full and ongoing education through proper recording and acknowledgement in textbooks and history books in Japan
  7. Building of memorials and museums to commemorate the victims and preserve the history of sexual slavery by the Japanese Military

For further information, please read the following:

Also: watch former “comfort woman” Lee Yong-Soo protest the Deputy Foreign Minister of Korea, with English translation, below:

San Francisco to Vote on “Comfort Women” Memorial

On Tuesday, July 21st, the Board of Supervisors (city council) of the City and County of San Francisco will vote on a resolution establishing a memorial for the victims and survivors of Japanese military’s WWII-era “comfort women” system. (Click for the text of the resolution.)

Japanese right-wing activists are waging a mass email campaign in opposition to the resolution. They are also seeking their supporters in the area to show up and voice their opposition at the meeting. Unfortunately for them, they forgot to include Mayor Lee’s contact information when they circulated a list of email addresses to email bomb.

Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization (FeND) applauds and supports San Francisco’s leadership in acknowledging and remembering the victims and survivors of “comfort women” system. We sent a letter to the Supervisors and the Mayor in support of the resolution, and are working with our friends in the Bay Area to spread the word about the meeting on Tuesday.

If you are planning to attend the Board meeting, please read Debunking the Japanese “Comfort Women” Denier Talking Points so you know how the right-wing protesters are going to lie… and play the denier bingo! (Seriously, we’d like to hear what happens at the meeting, so if you attend it, do let us know!)

Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan

The following statement was signed by 187 scholars of Japan studies and other areas, including some of the most influential thinkers in the field (John Dower, Ezra Vogel, Carol Gluck, Andrew Gordon, Norma Field, et al.). Several members and friends of FeND were also co-signers to the statement. The full list of signatories as well as the Japanese version are available on Japan Focus. Continue reading Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan

Play “Comfort Women” Denier Bingo!

Here’s the “comfort women” denier bingo! If for some reason you were to attend a Japanese far-right revisionist lecture (like the one at Central Washington University next week) or watch a revisionist video, use this bingo to track how frequently these thoroughly debunked right-wing denier arguments are made. Click on the image to download the PDF version for printing at home. Enjoy!

Comfort Women Denier Bingo

For more information, read Debunking the Japanese “Comfort Women” Denier Talking Points.

Debunked: Right-wing “evidences” that supposedly prove “ethical” recruitment of “comfort women”

Aside from the 1944 U.S. military report that we analyzed previously, there are a few more historical documents that the Japanese far-right historical revisionists use repeatedly as “evidences” that “comfort women” were not systematically trafficked by the Japanese military and its contractors, but were recruited legally and ethically. These documents come in three categories: 1) recruitment ads published in Korean newspapers seeking applicants for “comfort women”; 2) the 1938 directive by Japan’s Deputy Army Secretary requesting the military to carefully vet contractors recruiting and managing “comfort women” to ensure that their conduct would not “disgrace” the Japanese military; and 3) newspaper articles that “prove” that Japanese government prosecuted kidnapping and forced prostitution.

Let’s start with the recruitment ads. Right-wing nationalists argue that the existence of ads explicitly recruiting “comfort women” proves that the recruitment was done fair and square, and that their pay was quite high. But there is a problem with it: the literacy rate for Korean women of that generation was low. In other words, except for a small number of elites, who would probably not voluntarily choose to become “comfort women,” Korean women at the time would not have been able to read the ads.

Supposed recruitment ads for comfort women published in state-controlled newspaper in occupied Korea

Historians believe that these ads were not actually targeted toward potential “comfort women” applicants, but toward independent recruiters and subcontractors that would supply the contractor with the women that they could then ship to “comfort stations” across Asia. Thus, the only thing these ads prove is the existence of a market to buy and sell women, and they do not indicate how these women were recruited. Besides, only two such ads have been discovered so far, and cannot be responsible for the recruitment of all the women who became “comfort women.”

Which brings us to the next document: the 1938 directive by the Deputy Army Secretary that denounces recruiters that use deceptive or otherwise problematic tactics that “diminish the military’s dignity” and urges Japanese military to carefully vet contractors. This document was first publicized by Asahi Shimbun newspaper in 1992 as a proof that the Japanese military was directly involved in the operation of the “comfort women” system, but since then reclaimed by the right-wing nationalists as an evidence for what they call “good involvement”–that is, the argument that Japanese military’s only involvement with the “comfort women” system was to prevent trafficking and protect women.

1938 Japanese government directive

The impetus for this directive came from early stages of the “comfort women” deployment, when most “comfort women” were still Japanese women. The military tried to recruit “comfort women” from women who were already working at brothels (most likely under debt bondage), luring them with a way to repay their debt more quickly. But some contractors began luring other, “pure” Japanese women by deceiving them about the nature of the “good job” they were offering, and it led to criticisms from within Japan. The 1938 directive specifically mentions instances of kidnapping and deceptive recruitment in Japan, and it only applies to recruitment in Japan. No comparable directives have been issued that applied to Japan’s colonies (Korea and Taiwan) or its occupied territories.

To counter this criticism, the right-wing nationalists often produce newspaper articles about arrests and prosecution of individuals who kidnapped or sold women into prostitution in Korea. But these are cases of simple kidnapping or forced prostitution by criminal elements, and do not show that Japanese government properly regulated its licensed contractors who recruited Korean women for Japanese enforced military prostitution, or that it protected Korean women from such recruitment.

Newspaper articles showing prosecution of non-military sex trafficking

Japan was a signatory to the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children of 1921, which prohibited the recruitment of women under the age 21 for prostitution even with her consent, as well as the use of force, fraud, or coercion (including debt bondage) in the recruitment of adult women for prostitution. However, when Japan signed the treaty, it declared that new treaty would not apply to its colonies (Korea and Taiwan) or occupied territories, clearly indicating the Japanese government’s conscious policy choice to permit and sanction the trafficking of Korean and Taiwanese women and girls, which helped to further its imperial war of aggression in Asia and the Pacific.

Central Washington University community responds to “comfort women” denier event on campus

Members of Central Washington University community are outraged about the upcoming film screening and lecture later this month on campus by a professional Japanese “comfort women” denier and a failed 2011 candidate for the governorship of Tokyo receiving 0.2% of the votes, Mr. Yujiro Taniyama. At the invitation of Japanese language instructor Ms. Mariko Okada-Collins, Mr. Taniyama will show his fauxcumentary “Scottsboro Girls” on April 28th and 29th at CWU, located in Ellensburg, Washington.

While Taniyama claims to introduce a new perspective that “challenges the conventional wisdom” regarding the “comfort women,” his film seems, based on the trailer posted on YouTube, to recycle the same old revisionist talking points that have been thoroughly debunked, including the oft-misrepresented 1944 U.S. military report.

In response to the upcoming events, anthropologist Dr. Mark Auslander and others have organized an academic panel to discuss the true history of “comfort women,” featuring specialists from CWU community as well as from other universities. In addition, performance arts students are putting on a public reading of the testimonies of former “comfort women” on campus to raise awareness of the issue. (Download the PDF flier of the event here.)

Mr. Taniyama and Ms. Okada-Collins insist that they are simply trying to uncover truth or to present an alternative perspective on the topic, but their reliance on misrepresentations of historical documents and contemporary scholarly works (mainly those of Korean scholars Ahn Byong Jik and Park Yuha, neither of whom actually agree with Mr. Taniyama’s or Ms. Okada-Collins’ views) prove the fundamental dishonesty of their historical revisionist project.

In recent years, Japanese far-right nationalists have declared the U.S. to be the “shusenjo,” or the main battleground, in their “history war” on “comfort women.” Their goal is to recruit as many politicians, journalists, opinion leaders, and scholars as possible to question the orthodox narrative of “comfort women” as the victims of a system of enforced military prostitution. The CWU events are a significant development in their campaign because it is the first time that a U.S. college or university allowed itself to play host to the Japanese equivalent of neo-Nazis on its campus.

The problem with giving an academic platform to historical deniers, whether they are denying crimes of the Holocaust or those of “comfort women,” is that they do not have to prove their points or convince us of their propaganda in order for them to win. They can claim victory simply by introducing enough doubt in the legitimate history; they can win simply by projecting an impression that legitimate historians might be on both sides of controversy regarding the historical crime they are denying, or by making others accept their premise that they are seeking the truth. Anything short of recognizing them as fundamentally dishonest and unscholarly political campaign is a victory for them.

There can certainly be legitimate disagreements about the exact number of “comfort women” (i.e. whether there were tens or hundreds of thousands) or the extent to which Japanese military was directly involved in the trafficking and exploitation of women in the system, but there is no disagreement among the academic community that Japanese military established, maintained, and managed a system of enforced military prostitution that relied on force, fraud, or coercion against women of its colonies and occupied territories.

We are also concerned that in a letter published on Mr. Taniyama’s website, Ms. Okada-Collins admits to teaching her version of “truth” of modern East Asian history in her classes, which includes denial of Nanjing massacre (the “Rape of Nanjing”) and “comfort women.” In the letter, she explains her belief that teaching of language must include “instructions” on culture and history, and states that she uses every opportunity in her classroom to discuss “China-centrism, colonial policy, and recent history between Japan and China/Korea.”

“Some of my students are not Americans, but Koreans, Chinese, or Taiwanese who may reject my views at first, but most of them eventually agree with me,” Ms. Okada-Collins writes. She further explains that some students have complained in the student evaluations that she is unfit as an instructor and should be fired by the university for denying historical atrocities such as the Nanjing massacre and the sexual enslavement of Korean “comfort women.”

We may or may not agree about whether or not the academic freedom protects the rights of historical revisionists to air their views on campus, but we don’t think that there is any doubt that language instructors should not be forcing her repulsive racist, sexist, revisionist views on their students, especially those who are Korean, Chinese, or Taiwanese. In fact, it may constitute a violation of students’ civil right to be free from racist and sexist practices in classrooms.

We are further alarmed that Ms. Okada-Collins have persisted in this practice despite the fact that students have formally complained about her abuse of the position. Is it a stretch to suggest that the university’s earlier failure to act on that knowledge resulted in the full-fledged historical denier event being planned on campus? We are not suggesting that Ms. Okada-Collins should be immediately fired, but we believe that she needs to be instructed to change her behavior in her classroom. Students deserve better, especially Asian and Asian American students who are directly harmed by her unprofessional behavior.

(P.S. – Can we also comment how offensive that Taniyama’s denier film’s title appropriates the case of Scottsboro Boys, the nine young Black men who were unjustly charged with raping white women in 1931 by the racist police/prosecutors and an all-white jury?)

Watch Full Documentary: Testimonies from the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery

“Breaking the History of Silence” is a documentary film from the historic 2000 Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery that was convened by non-governmental organizations and international team of legal experts to hear the testimonies of victims of Japan’s “comfort women” system during the WWII and to try those responsible for the crime.

The full documentary (68 minutes) in English is now available for viewing online.

You can also watch the digest version of the film, as well as each testimony by itself on Fight for Justice.

“Comfort women” denier Michael Yon attacks facts without providing any counter-arguments or evidences

“Journalist” and “Comfort women” denier Michael Yon posted a link to our article, “Debunking the Japanese ‘Comfort Women’ Denier Talking Points” on his blog and on his Facebook page, suggesting that “feminists” are now forced to respond to specific “facts,” presumably because of Mr. Yon’s work exposing the “lies” of “comfort women.”

Mr. Yon writes:

The sex slavery revisionists are now reacting to facts, rather than conducting their blind assaults against Japan and our alliance. The feminists know that the sex slavery narrative is a grand fabrication. The feminists are getting cornered up. Their arguments are collapsing and they know it.

It is curious that Mr. Yon thinks that our article represents a new development in the decades-old debate over “comfort women.” In reality, we merely summarized what actual historians have been saying for many years, and is common knowledge among people who are working toward redress for the victims and survivors of Japanese military “comfort women” system.

If our article seemed like a new development, it is because Mr. Yon is ignorant about the work of Japanese historians and the hundreds of historical documents that they have studied and analyzed. It is understandable that Mr. Yon is completely clueless about the topic because he does not speak or read Japanese, but perhaps he needs to realize that and get out of the business of propagating historical revisionism.

It is telling that while Mr. Yon claims that feminists’ “arguments are collapsing,” he does not dispute or refute any of the facts we presented. Come on, Mr. Yon, give us concrete rebuttal on any and all of the facts we raise! You can’t, can you?