Reposted in The Raw Story
May 27, 2013.
The combative mayor of Osaka took on Japan’s foreign press corps Monday in a nearly three-hour defence of his comments on wartime sex slaves.Read the rest of this article here.
Toru Hashimoto again insisted Japan’s soldiers were not uniquely guilty in their widely-condemned “comfort women” system, claiming systemic trafficking for sexual purposes by armies around the world.
Hashimoto drew ire earlier this month after suggesting the approximately 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere who were forcibly drafted into brothels during World War II played a “necessary” role in maintaining discipline.
Under questioning from journalists at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo, he stepped back from that assertion, but pressed his point that Japan was not alone.
“(Sexual violation) existed in the armed forces of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the former Soviet Union among others during World War II,” Hashimoto said.
The abrasive mayor said many militaries worldwide relied on businessmen to operate wartime brothels where trafficked women were often forced to provide sex for their soldiers.
“I believe there were some forms of human trafficking at such local facilities operated by the private sector and used by the US and British militaries during World War II,” Hashimoto said.
Hashimoto offered no proof of his assertions and there is no mainstream evidence that other modern militaries have employed a formal sex slavery system.
Like many on the right of Japanese politics, Hashimoto has questioned whether there was direct state or military involvement in the running of “comfort stations”.
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Comment: This man is an embarrassment to Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should really find a way to shut him up before he damages Japan's image even further.
See my previous post on his views of "comfort women" here. He is simply a despicable right-wing nut.
Onward!
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