Letter to Japanese Ambassador to Washington Fujisaki
17-September 2012.
Ambassador of Japan to the United States
Embassy of the Government of Japan in the United States
2520 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Forgotten faces: Japan’s comfort women
Tochigi Daily Photo: Family Album Sunday – Yasukuni shrine
Dear Ambassador Fujisaki:
Today is the eighty-first anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Mainland Asia in Manchuria by the Japanese Imperial Army, and the start of the Pacific War, 1931-45.
Having earlier conquered the Kingdom of Korea and the government of Taiwan by treachery and by overt military force, Imperial Japan forged ahead on this date in 1931 with a master plan for world domination.
Today the Global Alliance demonstrates for peace and for justice. The Pacific War was Japan’s vicious, unprovoked attack on her Pacific neighbors.
Far from being victims of the War, Japan alone terrorized the Pacific world.
Led by a fanatical emperor and military government, fortified by their world view that identified other Asians as a lesser race, the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces murdered 35 million unarmed civilians throughout the Western Pacific.
Japanese soldiers and scientists devised chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, torturing and murdering tens of thousands in the process.
These weapons were then used on unarmed civilian populations in a frantic experiment designed to murder as many as possible.
Half-million girls and young women from Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and China were abducted and forced into sex slavery by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces, to suffer repeated rape every day for years.
Millions of POWs were executed by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces.
Hundreds of thousands of Asians and Allied POWs were enslaved for labor in Japanese mines and factories throughout Asia and in the Japanese homeland.
And then the Rape of Nanjing, the six-week episode beginning 13 December 1937 that set the pattern for Japanese aggression.
In that period in Nanjing alone, 300,000 unarmed civilians were murdered by the invading Japanese Imperial Army, many summarily executed by beheading for the entertainment of the army.
Eighty thousand girls and women were raped.
Families were slaughtered, homes and businesses were looted and destroyed.
These terrible injustices inflicted by the Japanese lust for empire so many years ago are once more repeated as the Japanese government and supporters deny any atrocities ever happened.
Asian victims, families, and survivors still wait for justice so long denied by Japan.
Only the Japanese government is blind to their humanitarian responsibility.
The community of civilized nations now stand together to demand apology and compensation from the government of Japan.
The U.S. Congressional Resolution HR 121 of 2007, the Canadian Parliament Motion 291 of 2007, the European Parliament Motion of 2007, the Philippine House Resolution 124 of 2007, the South Korean National Assembly Resolution of 2008, and the Taiwan National Assembly Resolution of 2008 demonstrate the need for action by the Japanese Government by demanding apology.
As a characteristic observation, this excerpt from the final report of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, ninety fourth session, Geneva, October 2008 reflects the views of the world community: (With respect to Japan) “… 22.
The Committee notes with concern that the State party has still not accepted its responsibility for the comfort women system during World War II, that perpetrators have not been prosecuted, that the compensation provided to victims is financed by private donations rather than public funds and is insufficient, that few history textbooks contain references to the comfort women issue, and that some politicians and mass media continue to defame victims or to deny the events.
“The State party should accept legal responsibility and apologize unreservedly for the comfort women system in a way that is acceptable to the majority of victims and restores their dignity, prosecute perpetrators who are still alive, take immediate and effective legislative and administrative measures to adequately compensate all survivors as a matter of right, educate students and the general public about the issue, and to refute and sanction any attempts to defame victims or to deny the events.”
The Global Alliance advocates action now to end WW II in Asia, and restore the peace and friendship among all nations of the Pacific that is missing.
The Global Alliance prescription for Japan, a Japanese government forthright acknowledgment of her own history.
Japan must: Authorize a national apology by the Prime Minister and Emperor of Japan, confirmed by vote in the Diet.*
Establish a legal mechanism for compensating victims of Japan’s aggression.*
Mandate good-faith efforts to document, preserve and publicize Japan’s wartime history, with emphasis on accurate and objective school texts.*
Outlaw public denial of Japanese war crimes and glorification of war criminals.*
Enact severe penalties for those who defy these laws.
This is not a new, untested plan.
It was devised and carried out by post-war Germany, which has acknowledged publically and loudly its crimes, apologized for the European Holocaust, paid millions of dollars in compensation to individual victims and the nation of Israel.
Public denial of the European Holocaust is a serious crime in Germany and other European countries, punishable by fines and incarceration.
In contrast, Japan has done nothing to either confront its own history honestly or to bring relief to her victims. Instead, Japan continues to play the role of victim, whereas Japan herself is responsible for the Pacific War disasters.
And now, September 2012, after her terrible destructive experiment in empire, the Japanese government still pursues a dangerous course in the Pacific.
The Diaoyu Islands, which have been a part of China since antiquity and are now part of Taiwan, have been illegally purchased by the Japanese Government in an agreement negotiated with thieves by Prime Minister Noda.
Instead of taking the path of peace, high Japanese Government officials continue to worship the violent thugs and sadistic killers memorialized in the infamous Yasukuni Srine.
The mayor of Tokyo and other responsible public figures still deny the history of Japanese aggression and killing.
Prime Minister Noda now calls for discussions with China and Korea on “broad terms” rather than specifics.
The time has long since passed for any broad-based negotiation. The time is now for Japanese apology.
Most sincerely,
Peter Stanek, Ph.D., President (2008-2012)
Global Alliance to Preserve the History of WW II in Asia
Jeffrey Chen, Ph.D., President
Asian Pacific WWII Atrocities Memorial, Inc.
copies to:
All Members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate
United States President Barack Obama
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Emperor Akihito of Japan