The new Comfort Memorial located in Fairfax near the Fairfax County Government Center has sparked a spate of protest from the Japanese Embassy. the Embassy accuses Fairfax of trying to ignite bad feelings between Koreans and Japanese residents. According to the Washington Post:
Anchored by butterfly-shaped benches, the new Comfort Women Memorial Peace Garden in Fairfax County honors women forced into prostitution by Japan during World War II — a chapter of the global conflict that has long fueled tensions between South Korea and Japan.
The memorial, which was dedicated Friday evening behind the Fairfax County Government Center, showcases the emerging voice and influence of Korean Americans in Northern Virginia, who want the story told.
But the memorial is sparking protests from the Japanese Embassy and activists in Japan, a reaction reminiscent of the embassy’s response to legislation requiring that the Sea of Japan also be identified as the East Sea in Virginia public school textbooks.
Koreans say the memorial is a reminder of one of the worst cases of human trafficking, a part of history they say is important to remember in a county with more than 42,000 Korean American residents.
“It was a war crime that happened a long time ago that not many people know about, yet it happened, much like the Holocaust happened,” said Herndon Town Council member Grace Han Wolf, who helped organize the privately funded effort to create the memorial.
But after decades of wrangling over how much Japan should atone for the forced prostitution of women from Korea and other Asian countries, Japanese activists are pushing back against such memorials — buoyed by statements from Japan’s prime minister that question whether the women were coerced into becoming sex slaves.
In the days leading up to Friday’s dedication ceremony, a group based in Japan and some local Japanese residents peppered Fairfax supervisors with e-mails, arguing that many comfort women were willing prostitutes and that memorials honoring them are an insult to Japan.
Boo Hoo. The Japanese don’t have a leg to stand on. It would be similar to Germany asking for no one to mention the Holocaust because people might have bad feelings against Germany. Ya think? Overrunning another county and abducting its women to be used as sex slaves is one of the worst forms of human trafficking imaginable. I expect the Koreans are probably still a little pissed off over it, to say the least.
An example of some of the email received by the Fairfax Board of Supervisors:
“We wish you will stop revealing such a stupid memorial on 30 May,” read an e-mail that suggested that Fairfax commemorate the devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Japanese government does not deny that forced prostitution occurred. But it believes that memorials like the one in Fairfax can spark unnecessary friction between Japanese and Korean immigrants in the United States, said Masato Otaka, minister of affairs for the Japanese.
Embassy officials shared their concerns over the memorial with Sharon Bulova, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.
It sounds like some want to reinvent history or at best excuse history. Sharon Bulova stood her ground. Good for her and the other supervisors. The Japanese need to stand down on this one. They do not own the high ground. What was done to Korean women by the Japanese government was a human rights atrocity. It should not and will not be brushed under the historical rug of political correctness.
What I find amazing is that it has taken nearly 70 years to officially recognize these atrocities. Some of these women are girls. Shame on the Japanese government for whining about this memorial. They need to say nothing and at least look embarrassed.
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Moon said: “The Japanese need to stand down on this one. They do not own the high ground.” I absolutely agree. Many years ago (1972), I participated in an exchange program with Marine Aviation and Ground personnel. I was sent to the Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan. While there, several us took the opportunity to visit the Hiroshima Memorial. It is a very humbling experience to see the devastation that one very primitive nuclear weapon wrought and it is impossible to even begin to imagine what the current weapons can do. While we were the, a group of Japanese college students were touring the memorial. One of the students came up to a young Marine lieutenant and said something along the line, “Aren’t you sorry for what you did here?” The young lieutenant very calmly replied, “We didn’t ask you to bomb Pearl Harbor.” End of discussion.
The Japanese really would like to, and periodically attempt to, rewrite history. It is the job of all who remember to not allow this to happen.
Great story, George, and great response from the young lt.
I guess I got indoctrinated enough by my parents to keep the real history alive, even though I am a baby boomer and missed the War. Slap me down but I think they should be thanking us still for rebuilding their country. You are right. We didn’t ask them to bomb Pearl Harbor.
I asked my mother sometime after 9-11 if she had any idea the impact of what had happened when she first heard about Pearl harbor on that fateful Dec. 7. She said none of them had any idea how much that event was going to tear up the very fabric of their lives and for how long.
I hope the comfort women stay pissed off. Now and forever. That was horrible. (and the history books don’t tell us about it. I found out from Annabel and Eric)
If you’ll excuse me /
I’m getting fed up with all these memorials being put up for all kinds
of reasons. This area is full of them and more to come. Enough already!!!
Nothing against present day Japanese or Koreans, and I feel for the
women who were used and abused.
But why a memorial in Fairfax county?
There is a large Korean population in Fairfax County. Some of those women are the survivors. I don’t have a problem with memorials.
Me neither. That space would otherwise be used for what, another Starbucks or GameStop or cell phone provider?
Eff the Japanese.
While they ARE valuable allies, they’ve only apologized once…and then that was taken back when the party that is USUALLY in power got back into office.
When asked if they confirmed the apology about the war…they replied that yes…they were very sorry that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked and weren’t those terrible events……
I don’t lose any sleep over them. However, I was indoctrinated as a child.
Many decades ago, 5+, when I was in Korea, one of our Corpsmen negotiated a deal with his church to send some sewing machines to a Korean church to be distributed. When the sewing machines arrived, the Koreans refused to accept them. Why? They were made in Japan. The enmity that exists between Korea and Japan is bone deep.
Are you sure my mother wasn’t in Korea, guiding the ladies who refused the machines? As I have said on here before, n o one held more of a grudge at the Japanese, that I have personally known than my mother. She worked for the Department of the Army during the War. Not sure if she saw more than the average bear or not but she carried an absolute hatred of the Japanese until the day she died. Maybe it was just Pearl Harbor or the Battaan death march. She never gave a single reason but she sure heaped it on higher and deeper if the subject came up. We kids learned not to bring it up.
She went on and on about different life standards and doing evil things to other human beings. If you were a kid, you didn’t dare bring up Germans. They ended up being treated, in her mind, like a normal enemy. If you reminded her of the Holocaust, she said indignantly, that she was talking about regular military people. She didn’t know about those other people. I wouldn’t say she was a Holocaust denier. She wasn’t. She just didn’t know a lot about it or understand it as perhaps my generation does.
I think I just figured it all out. She knew about war atrocities while they were going on and knew people involved, and probably being tortured. She also knew that my father might be shipped into the Pacific Theater at any time the Army took a notion. She didn’t know about the Holocaust until after the War.
It probably didn’t settle in with her after the war was over. But man, she hated “Japs.”
Why in Fairfax, why on public property and was any public funding included in the construction of the memorial?
Good grief. Why do you care about a small memorial to women who were victims of a horrible, dehumanizing practice?
Again, there is a large Korean population in Centreville. Ever been to the shopping center where Copeland’s used to be? About 2 stores aren’t Korean owned.
You will have to ask Fairfax about the funding. It is my understanding that private funds were involved.
I do business in Japan and have great admiration for the country, its people and the better parts of its culture. But, during WWII, the conduct of their occupying forces towards civilians and POWs was unspeakably brutal. They just have to wear that. The Dutch, the British, the Filipinos and the Chinese all could reasonably say that monuments should be built to their victims of Japanese military occupation. It was none too cheery for American POWs either.
Why in Fairfax, I don’t particularly know. But why not? These are things that shock the conscience of humanity generally, and that should not be forgotten.