2013年9月6日金曜日

A letter to the Mayor and the Council Members of Milpitas regarding comfort women statue


 email to: 
jesteves@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
apolanski@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
dgiordano@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
agomez@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
cmontano@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
twilliams@ci.milpitas.ca.gov, 
mogaz@ci.milpitas.ca.gov,  
mlavelle@ci.milpitas.ca.gov
Dear Mayor and Council Members of Milpitas:
I hope this email finds you in excellent health.
I learned that the Milpitas City Council adopted Resolution No. 8285 on August 6, 2013 requesting investigation by U.S. Officials into claims of sexual slavery system directed by Japan Imperial Army according to the allegation by Koreans (the fact is mere private sex business) during World War II.
I also learned from South Korean news that a Korean organization in Silicon Valley is negotiating with Milpitas City to set up a comfort woman statue which is the same design as the one set up in front of Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
The Milpitas City’s resolution mentions the statement by Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto, where I found misunderstandings about his statement. He has never justified the comfort woman system and never described the system of sex slavery as war time “necessity.”
I would very much like to review the open letter to the Board of Supervisors of the city and the County of San Francisco from Mr. Toru Hashimoto, the Mayor of the City of Osaka:


Truth about comfort women
I also believe that many of American people do believe in statements from Koreans blindly.  I really hope American people stop it and try to listen Japanese statements that are the truth. 
Below I listed some URL links that I really would like you to watch.



 ‬



Issues between Japan and Korea happened in 1910-1945 were completely solved by Japan-Korea treaty in 1965

Japan paid compensation to South Korea, by which all national and personal issues between Japan and South Korea were solved.

In addition, Japanese government handled amicably about comfort women issue regardless the former comfort women were prostitutes.   Despite Japan paid compensation to South Korea by the treaty, Japanese government established Asian Women's fund in 1994 and sent a letter of apology signed by Japan prime minister and distributed 2,000,000 yen per person for compensation to ‬the former comfort women in South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Indonesia.


However, The story did not end.  This project was not finished satisfactorily, because majority of the former comfort women "only" in South Korea did NOT accepted a letter of apology from Japan Prime Minister and benefits from the Fund's atonement projects.   Why?  The Koreans did not want to lose their powerful card in diplomatic negotiations.


What we Japanese hope to fair American People is:

Around the comfort woman statue built in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul regardless of the illegality, Koreans give harsh anti-Japan demonstrations every day, which threatens the safety of Japanese residents in the city. With due consideration of the current tense in the South Korean community, it would be inappropriate for the City of Milpitas to build the same statue as that in Seoul, as there are many Japanese companies.

The nature of the comfort woman issue is determined as a bilateral matter. In light, I do not think it appropriate for any third parties to be involved in this matter, if such third parties do not spare time to have independent and thorough studies about the grounds of comfort women and the historic facts based on trustful and objective evidences in writing including Japanese, Korean, and non-Japanese/Korean news reports, articles and letters at that time. 
For an example, the number of passports applied through pimps, and issued to these women will reveal the real number of them because Taiwanese and Koreans used to have the Japanese nationality as the amalgamated country citizens. Please note that this is mere an immigration/emigration process, which had nothing to do with involvement by the Japan Imperial Army. If such studies were to be skipped, or the results thereof were not to be disclosed to public, I am afraid that the statue would constitute the ex-facto accusation of defeated countries regardless of the as well as harassment thereto. If it is simply intended to build as a historical monument, I wonder if it is necessary for South Korean organizations and groups to work on building the statues in public parks across the U.S.A., which have historically nothing to do with South Korean comfort women.
The City of Glendale, CA permanently put up the comfort woman statue on July 30, 2013. Innumerable Japanese people feel very strong resentment toward the outrageous decision by the City. Japanese media have strongly condemned Glendale. Please note that some U.S. news media find out that the comfort women issue is a foreign politics fight.  As some of you may know, Japan and Korea have a big conflict about Takeshima Islands located in Japan Sea.  South Korean utilizes the comfort women issue take an advantageous position in the diplomatic negotiations with Japan. The following link is for your information:
There are many Japanese companies in Milpitas and in Silicon Valley region. I hope that the relationship between Japan and the State of California will not deteriorate because of the City’s resolution.



Comfort women were/are post-WWII and present-day issues in military of many countries such as South Korea and USA. 
Please visit the following links.  Comfort women issue is even present-day issue.

SouthKorea's Vietnamese Comfort Women (Korean Soldiers raped Vietnamese women during Vietnamese war)


We human beings should solve these issue and protect rights of women. After watching all supporting videos, articles, and documents that I provide here, please review whether the Resolutions adopted by the US House of the Representative, the City of Glendale, the City of Milpitas are right and fair.  The following paragraph is cited from Mayor Hashimoto's statement. 

"I have no intention to trivialize the problem of “comfort women” by the former Imperial Japanese Army. Still, attempts to single out and to criticize only Japan will make us blind to other past atrocities and also to contemporary problems of the same kind. This issue should not be treated as an issue specific solely to the Japanese military. As long as widespread sexual problems on the battlefields continue to be trivialized, past offenses, which the whole world must face, will go uncorrected, and those violations that have not been eradicated even until today will not be resolved. "

I believe American people who love fairness and justice would agree with Hashimoto's statement.  As the best I know, a majority of Japanese are always sympathetic to girls who were sold by their parents due to their poverty, and who were discriminated in their hometown after the war.  Please do not make misunderstanding about Japanese.
I would like the City of Milpitas to discuss this matter objectively and diligently, and make a sensible decision.
Sincerely,

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