Comfort Women System

I don't want to talk much about, what is called, the comfort women system under the Imperial Japanese Army during the WWⅡ. But today I'll post a little comment on it.

In conclusion it is a sad history. But I don't know whether the military prostitution was forced by the Imperial Japanese Army or not. First of all it should be clear whether it is a fact or not. And it's a historian's task, not a lawmaker's task, I think.

'Comfort women' vote passes
Aya Igarashi Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
....The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution Monday calling for a formal apology from Japan over the "comfort women system of forced military prostitution" by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II, dealing a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The resolution over the issue is the first to be passed during a regular House session. Though the resolution is not legally binding, its passage is a setback for the Abe administration, after his ruling coalition suffered a crushing defeat in Sunday's House of Councillors election.

Describing the "comfort women system of forced military prostitution by the Government of Japan" from the 1930s to the end of World War II as "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century," the resolution demands a formal, unambiguous apology from Japan and a thorough review of the nation's history education.

The resolution was submitted in January by Japanese-American lawmaker Mike Honda, D-Calif., who led lawmakers denouncing Japan over the issue. On June 26, it was overwhelmingly approved by a 39-2 vote of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress. On Monday, the resolution was cosponsored by 167 lawmakers, out of a total of 435 in the House.
During his first visit to the United States as prime minister in April, Abe offered an apology to former comfort women at a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other congressional leaders. (Aug. 1, 2007)

I won't want to say such a thing, but if you want to say the comfort system as "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century", you have to say the dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and especially the air raids in Tokyo and Osaka are also "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century".

I do not think that the Japanese lawmakers should submit the resolutions in the same manner over the indiscriminate bombing by the US Army during WWⅡ, but in some case they might have to do it. Who thinks of it as the best way to solve the problems lying behind our history?

Does a formal apology comfort the victims of the comfort system? In fact the Japanese government and ex-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murakama（村山富市）have officially expressed an apology to the victims of the attacks and invasion of the past Japanese Army.

What I want to say is that other nation's lawmakers should not talk about foreign country's way of the history education and the revision of it. Hearing the news, I began to wonder what the real aim of the resolution they submitted over the past comfort system was. I'm doubtful whether they really want the Japanese government to offer a apology. They might have another aim of the resolution, I guess. However, I don't want to know the truth and feel like leaving it well enough alone because it is submitted in the US Congress.