Last year, China nominated the “Nanjing Massacre” and the “Comfort Women” for inscription at the UNESCO Memory of the World Program (MOW). Ms. Ryoko Shaku, the leader of the Happiness Realization Party (HRP), visited the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on May 26 to submit a report (downloadable PDF report) rebutting these nominations. She called on UNESCO to deny inscription of both nominations.

During her meeting with the UNESCO MOW staff, Ms. Shaku explained her views together with the general thrust of the report.

This was the second time such a report was submitted to UNESCO by HRP. The first submission was in response to the “Nanjing Massacre”, while the “Comfort Women” was the main issue in the current iteration. The report includes signatures by 45 Japanese and foreign intellectuals, including Professor Shoichi Watanabe from Sophia University, Economist Keitaro Hasegawa, Commentator Bunyu Ko, and Social Critic Tony Marano, to name a few.

When History Becomes a Political Weapon

The report presents a rebuttal for each document/material that China submitted to the UNESCO MOW as evidence of the “forced prostitution of comfort women”.

For example, one of the photographs submitted by China as evidence was in fact taken by a man by the name of Tetsuo Aso. His daughter, Kuni Amako, currently living in Fukuoka, insists that “the photograph taken by my father does not prove that the comfort women were sex slaves. I must object to the unsanctioned use of my father’s photograph”. In its nomination form submitted to UNESCO, China claims copyright to the photograph despite the fact that the original negatives and copyright resides with Ms. Amako.

In addition, the report points out that documents submitted by China, claiming to show Japanese soldiers abusing the comfort women were, in fact, examples of how the legal rights of the comfort women were being protected in the face of such abuse.

Furthermore, there are letters that Japanese soldiers wrote to their families at home that purport to prove that women were being coerced into prostitution. However, a careful perusal of the letters show that the Japanese soldier and the comfort woman in question had eloped, and that the woman followed the soldier when he was reassigned to a new location. The report points out that this clearly shows how the comfort women retained the freedom to leave and relocate according to their own will.

Ms. Shaku warned in an interview with the Liberty Magazine that “at a time when China is rapidly augmenting its defense budget while encroaching on the sovereign territories of surrounding nations in the East and South China Seas, allowing the inscription of the ‘Nanjing Massacre’ and the ‘Comfort Women’ will enable China to vilify Japan while legitimizing their own actions”.

In the July issue of The Liberty, we will continue to look at the Chinese nomination of both issues to the UNESCO MOW, while calling on Prime Minister Abe to recant the Kono and Murayama Statements such that a new statement can be issued based on a narrative of history that is more conducive to reality.

Prime Minister Abe seems to prefer remaining silent on historical issues in order to focus his energy on revising the Japanese Constitution. However, a revision to the Constitution that takes Japan beyond the post-war era will require a re-examination of history that brings about a narrative that reflects what truly happened during the War.

Report Signatories

Name

Description

SHAKU, Ryoko

Leader of the Happiness Realization Party

AMAKO, Kuni

Obstetrician and Author

ARA, Kenichi

Researcher of Modern History

BANDOU, Tadanobu

Lecturer for the Prevention of Crime by Foreign Nationals, Former Officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department

FUJII, Mitsuhiko

Spokesperson of Rom-Pa Project

FUJIKI, Shunichi

Social Critic, and Commentator on Modern History

FUJITA, Hiroyuki

Social Critic, and Commentator on Modern History

GYALPO, Pema

Professor at the Toin University of Yokohama

HANADA, Kazuyoshi

Editor in Chief of Monthly Magazine “WiLL”

HASEGAWA, Keitaro

Commentator on Economics, Director of the Japan Association for Individual Investors

HIRAMATSU, Shigeo

Expert on the Chinese Military

KASE, Hideaki

Foreign Policy Commentator

KATSUOKA, Kanji

Meisei University Center for the Study of the History of Post-War Education

KAWAMURA, Sumihiko

Former Vice Principle of the Japanese Self Defense Force Joint Staff College, Former Rear Admiral of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force

KAWASOE, Keiko

Journalist and Author

KITANO, Yoshinori

International Relations Analyst

KOBAYASHI, Tadashi

Education Commentator, Former member of the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament

KOHAMA, Itsuo

Critic and Author

KOU, Bunyu

Historical Commentator

MEGUMI, Ryunosuke

Former member of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force

MEI, Ka

Journalist, former member of the Chinese Communist Party

MINO, Masahiro

Author

MIYAWAKI, Junko

Historian

MIYAZAKI, Masahiro

Historical Commentator, Journalist, and Author

MIZUMA, Masanori

Researcher of Modern History

MARANO, Tony

Social Critic, and Commentator on Modern History

MORIGUCHI, Akira

Education Commentator

MORIYA, Hiroshi

Expert on Chinese Literature, and Professor at the SBI
Graduate School

MOTEKI, Hiromichi

Secretary General of the “Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact”

NAKAJIMA, Takashi

Author, Management Consultant

OH, Seon-hwa

Historical Commentator

OKADA, Hidehiro

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

OLOHNUUD, Daichin

Secretary General of the Mongolian Liberal Union Party

SASA, Atsuyuki

First Head of the Cabinet Office of Security Affairs

SOMA, Masaru

Journalist and Author

STOKES, Henry Scott

Former Tokyo Bureau Chief for The Financial Times

SUGIYAMA, Katsumi

Emeritus Professor of Meikai University

SUZUKI, Mamiya

Dean of Successful Management at the Happy Science University

TAKADA, Jun

Professor at Sapporo Medical Universtiy, Physicist

UDAGAWA, Keisuke

Journalist and Author

USHIO, Masato

Visiting Professor of Takushoku University

WATANABE, Shoichi

Professor Emeritus of Sophia University

WILLIAMS, David

Confucian Ethicist and Historian of International Law

YAMAGIWA, Sumio

Journalist and Author

YAMAGUCHI, Eiichi

Member of the Japan Society for International Development

*In Alphabetical Order by Family Name