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2. 強制とはなにか、「暴力的に連行する」ことだけが問題か

2. 強制とはなにか、「暴力的に連行する」ことだけが問題かWhat composes forced recruitment? Is the use of violence when recruiting is the only issue here?

1)Criminal Law 226
We have to deliberate on what constitute “enforcement”. PM Abe stated that military personal or police men themselves directly go into houses and abducted women is the only case of “enforcement” and other cases do not apply to this category. However, this is very peculiar and limited definition of enforcement which allows the Japanese Army and the Japanese Government to be left clear out of responsibility in most cases.
More than anything else, against their own will is already enforcement. That is, the women at the brothel are forced to have sexual intercourses with the Japanese soldiers against their will, that is the issue here.
Illegality does not only lie with the use of violence or threat, regarding how women are transferred. It is clear, but to make sure, let us check on the Criminal Law 226 of the time. It says like this.
With the purpose of transferring personal outside of the Empire, by kidnapping or by abduction would constitute crime of 2 years or more of imprisonment.
With the purpose of transferring personal outside of the Empire, trafficking personal and taking the women outside of the Empire, would constitute crime of 2 years or more of imprisonment.
Here four types of crime are mentioned. One is abduction of people outside of the country, taking people with violence or threat.
Second is kidnapping people. Kidnapping is different from abduction and it is deceiving with honeyed words and put people under control.
Third is trafficking. Before the war, trafficking within the country did not constitute crime within Japan. Trafficking became illegal in Japan as late as in 2005, to our surprise. It was US who pointed out that trafficking in Japan is an usual deed and the criminal law was amended, just so recently. But, trafficking beyond the country’s border was crime, even before this amendment.
Forth is the transferring people outside of the country. Transferring personal, who are being kidnapped or abducted is criminal.
This law applied also to the colonized areas such as Taiwan and Korea, and the charges are the same in these areas, too.

2)拉致 Abduction
Let us compare what the Japanese Government think of abduction by the North Korea. The following is the case of Minoru Tanaka and the National Police Agency explains why this case is abduction。
1)Victim: Minoru Tanaka, age 28 (at the time), address; Higashinada-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, job; worked at a restaurant
2)Outlines of the fact: The victim was working at the restaurant, which owner is a Korean resident in Japan, taken abroad with honeyed terms and then sent to North Korea.
3)Reasoning: 1. The Police acknowledges all the cases behind which the national will by the North Korea could be guessed, and taken to the North Korea against their will.
2. (omission) Testimonies from plural witnesses are acquired additionally which suggest that the victim was sent to the North Korea with honeyed terms.
This case suggest that Mr. Minoru Tanaka was first taken abroad in June, 1978 by the owner of the restaurant and then sent to North Korea. And the reason why they judged this case to be abduction is that there is the national will of the North Korea and it was against his will. Through the acquirement of testimonies of several witnesses, it was strongly suggested that he was lured with honeyed terms and sent to North Korea.
This is the case against Criminal Law 226, Kidnapping with the purpose of transferring outside the country, therefore abduction. If this is the case, then it should be judged so, in the cases of “comfort women” who are lured with honeyed terms and deceiving, for example that they can earn big money if they work at “comfort place”, the life there is easy, and such.

(3) Characteristics of the traders
Traders of “comfort” are most likely running prostituting business or human trafficking organization originally, and was chosen by the Army for that purpose. Another cases are the veterans from the Army became “comfort” business managers. These private businesses are not purely private, but they were selected by the Army, or in some cases by the Police or the Governor-general’s office. Therefore, they were given certain benefits. Also, they were issued certificates. The certificate said, after 1942, “Affiliate of the Army”, which showed that they were selected by the Army, given some benefits, and treated with the same way the Army were treated.

(4) Shanghai Navy’s designated Brothel Incident, Great Court’s Judge, 1937
The incident which I name it “Shanghai Navy’s designated Brothel Incident” is the case which was judged to be guilty of kidnapping for the purpose of taking abroad and traded abroad, was concluded at the Great Court in 1937, right before the Japan China War. I would suppose Mr. Hayashi will explain in more details, but it is clear the Army and the Police themselves raided a house and taken women with force is not the only point that we should consider.

(5) Evidence to show the enforcement
It is often said that there is no evidence which show the enforcement, but actually there are.
I will list a few. One is the official document of the US Army. This is already a very famous one and it is translated and included in “Juugun Ianfu Shiryou Shu”, (Otsuki Shoten), which I have edited. It is Japanese Prisoner
of War Interrogation Report No. 49., in Oct., 1944, by UNITED STATES
OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION Psychological Warfare Team . This report is based on the information obtained from the interrogation of twenty Korean "comfort girls" and two Japanese civilians, they were a couple, it seems, captured around the tenth of August, 1944 in the mopping up operations after the fall of City of Myitkyin, Burma. In the report, there is a section titled “Recruiting”, which I quoted. The report described how these women were recruited, as follows.
Early in May of 1942 Japanese agents arrived in Korea for the purpose of enlisting Korean girls for "comfort service" in newly conquered Japanese territories in Southeast Asia. The nature of this "service" was not specified but it was assumed to be work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, and generally making the soldiers happy. The inducement used by these agents was plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, easy work, and the prospect of a new life in a new land, Singapore. On the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen.
What does this suggest? Women were not informed of the nature of brothel accurately. They were induced or deceived and taken abroad. This, by the criminal law’s definition, exactly fits with the kidnapping people for the purpose of transporting them to outside of country.
It also says that many women received a few hundred yen, and later in the same report, it says that they were restrained for “comfort service” for certain period. If this is true, it constitutes human trafficking. In summary, this case is guilty with human trafficking, kidnapping people for the purpose of transporting them to outside of the country and transporting outside of the country. How could anyone dare to say this is not enforcement?
Other materials which show enforcement are evidences given at the Tokyo Military Court and its judgment, and the judgment and corroborative data given at the B,C Grade’s War Criminals Court held is Netherland.  About these, Mr. Hayashi will report in more details. (War Responsibility Report, No. 56, July 2007)
Third is the records kept by officers and soldiers, or reminiscences written after the war. (Yoshimi, “juugun Ianfu”, Iwanami Shinsho) These are very important, too.
Those who say there were no enforcement often say that “There is no Japanese official paper which admit enforcement found,” but if there is no Japanese official paper, do you think that you can say that there is no enforcement? This is very difficult to prove. It is rather very likely that there are no official paper, since the order itself will constitute illegality. You can not order such illegal act officially in any paper, therefore you cannot find them.
Forth is testimonies from the victimized women. In a real court case, where there is limitation to submit written evidence, they gather data through presentation and inquiry to restructure facts. In the court, there is always Cross-examination given. Testimonies which had been screened through this cross-examination become reliable evidence.
From the view point of historical study, this cross-examination is the critique of the historical materials. Written materials, anything written at that time, or after the war, as well as testimony is also a good materials. If not using all these, we cannot write modern history, especially. It is our common sense.
The point here is, whether the evidence we base our judgment is in written form or not, we do critique them. Those which went through the critique could bear witness for the historical facts. We use these concrete evidence to decide the historical facts and restructure the historical reality of the time.
In that sense, debating on the value of the written or oral evidence is nonsense. Evidence which screened through academic critique and cross-examination are equal in their value as evidence for us to use. Further more, the severe reality of the victims at that time can only be clarified through the victims’ voices. We should listen sincerely to them to know what it was like. I cannot think of any better way to know the reality of the time.
There are many testimonies, precious and clear, I can give, but Ms. Nishino will further introduce them later.

3. 慰安所の状況はどのようなものだったかWhat was the situation like at brothels?

Third point is to clarify the situation at the comfort brothel. How the process was like for the women to be transferred to the brothel, if there is enforced labor or service to the Japanese military personal against their will, that will constitute enforced labor. In the criminal law’s term, “control in real” will be the point of debate. And it is very easy to prove that there were enforcement at brothels to the women against their will.

(1)They were not liberated even when they were brought by kidnapping and trafficking.
The Japanese Army did not release and send the women back to Korea or Taiwan, even when they come to know that they were taken by kidnapping or trafficking. Let us see an evidence here. Please look at this one.
This is from a book written by ex-officer, Ken-ichi Nagasawa, “Kankou Iansho”(Tosho Shuppansha, 1983). Ken-ichi Nagasawa, Army surgeon captain, describes his experience of first venereal disease inspection for a young woman who had been brought from Japan. This woman was rejecting the inspection strongly.
“Second floor” man of the Senshou Pension is pulling the arm of a young woman new to me. Young woman drew her hips backwards as much as her body become like a jack knife and was trying to pull herself away from him. When she saw me, she looked very much frightened, like a dog chased into a dead-end, where there is no escape.
I told “Second Floor” to let her go and asked him what’s the matter behind the curtain. He said she had just arrived yesterday afternoon, from mainland Japan. Today, she will have to go through inspection and start servicing from tomorrow, but she refuses to take the inspection, and that was the cause of this hustle, he told me.
I also asked the woman to come in. Red brown hair, black skin, right out of the field, she looked. She spoke in very strong dialect and said that she was to comfort soldiers at a comfort place, and that she had never expected to do anything like this at any place like this. She said she want to go back home and pleaded to let her go and cried. “Second Floor” was totally in a mess. (omission)
The next day, yesterday’s woman came once again with the “Second Floor” and the trader. …. Yesterday after they went back, she was persuaded, got spanked a few on her cheeks, or cried herself out all night, her eyes were swollen so much that her eyes were hid.
Today, she’d already given in, it seemed, and crawled on to the inspection bed. She covered her face with her sleeves and her legs were tightly closed and shivered. (omission)
(The next day) I heard a woman’s cry. Looking out of the window, I could see through the window inside the washing room of the Senshou Palace. Yesterday’s woman was leaning out from the window, vomiting….Cry and vomit, after vomiting again cry like a child….With heavy debt, it is impossible to go back to home. Parents, brothers, relatives and friends, all are away and nobody is here to save her. What she could do is to cry out at her might, I guessed. After a while, another comfort woman came and took her in her arms around the shoulders and went.
“Senshou Palace” is the name of a brothel and “Second Floor” is the manager of the place. The woman crying was brought from Japan, but she is resisting that “I heard that I comfort soldiers at comfort place and did not know that I have to do such service at such place.” She was told that she is to work at a comfort place but was not told that it means sexual service. This case is deceiving. So, it is clearly criminal against the Kidnapping with the purpose of taking outside the country. And she was with heavy debt. Kidnapping and trafficking, double criminal.
If this is the case, the Army in charge of the brothel had to abandon the contract for the illegality of confining her and let her free and send her back home. But, obviously, there is no such recognition. In the end, they force her to take the inspection and put her into the brothel. She could not escape from that however she resisted.
Being taken by trafficking or kidnapping, women were never released and sent back home to mainland Japan, Korea or Taiwan, even after these backgrounds were revealed. If this is the case, women are under the forced labor at the brothel, we should conclude.
(2)“freedom of habitation”, “freedom of going out”, “freedom of refusal” and “Freedom of quitting” were not there.
When we look at the situation of women at the brothel, we should recognize that there is no freedom of habitation. They had to live in the brothel.
And if you look at the regulation for brothels made by the Army, there is no freedom of going out. There are many regulation which said to go outside, you need permission. One example is Iroiro Outreach, Bisaya Quarter, Management Philippines. (please refer to the chart in p.24) This is the regulation for the brothel in Iroiro City, and it states that the outing of comfort women should be strictly managed and can be allowed for going out for walk only in the morning, in a small section with a little park inside. To take a comfort woman out needed permission. It was not free.
Basically, there was no right to refuse the intercourse with the soldiers. They will be beaten up, if they did.
One more thing is, what is merely a formality under the mainland Japan’s public prostitution system, freedom of closing the business was admitted, but in the case of these brothel’s comfort women, there was no freedom of closing the business.
Even before the war, public prostitution system was actually slavery with trafficking and confinement, then the comfort women system could be called slavery as well.
(3)Juvenile labor
I have to mention one thing about juvenile labor at the brothel. There were many juvenile. Under the international law prohibiting women and children’s trafficking, when you transfer those under 21 years old outside the country for the purpose of prostitution, it is illegal, even with agreement from them. But in reality, at least more than half of them are under 20 is obvious from some materials. Among the 20 Korean comfort women who are rescued in Burma, 12 of them were under 20 when they’d been transferred. This is just one example. That is the majority.
by eric-blog | 2012-11-26 23:22
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