{"id":13103,"date":"2015-03-03T14:14:03","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T00:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13103"},"modified":"2015-03-13T11:37:48","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:37:48","slug":"preview-japan-times-jbc-85-mar-5-2015-interview-with-dr-herbert-ziegler-on-goj-pressure-to-censure-his-world-history-textbooks-mention-of-comfort-women-targeted-full-text-here-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13103","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC 85, Mar 5 2015: “US author recounts ‘lecture’ he got about ‘comfort women’ from uninvited Japanese guests”, with targeted textbook text on Debito.org for the record"},"content":{"rendered":"

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JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
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US author recounts ‘lecture’ he got about ‘comfort women’ from uninvited Japanese guests”
\nBy Dr. ARUDOU, Debito
\nThe Japan Times, Just Be Cause column 85, Mar 5 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

The debate on Japan\u2019s history of wartime sexual slavery (aka the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue) has heated up again, with the Japanese government extending its efforts to revise school textbooks overseas.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In November, McGraw-Hill, publisher of the world history textbook \u201cTraditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past\u201d Vol. 2, by history professors Herbert Ziegler and Jerry Bentley, was contacted by Japan\u2019s Consulate General in New York. The request: that two paragraphs (i.e., the entire entry) on the comfort women be deleted.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On Jan. 15, McGraw-Hill representatives met with Japanese diplomats and refused the request, stating that the scholars had properly established the historical facts. Later that month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe directly targeted the textbook in a parliamentary session, stating that he was \u201cshocked\u201d to learn that his government had \u201cfailed to correct the things it should have.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the March issue of the American Historical Association\u2019s newsmagazine \u201cPerspectives on History,\u201d 20 prominent historians, including professor Ziegler, signed a letter to the editor titled \u201cStanding with the historians of Japan.\u201d<\/a> They stated that they \u201cagree with Herbert Ziegler that no government should have the right to censor history,\u201d and \u201coppose the efforts of states or special interests to pressure publishers or historians to alter the results of their research for political purposes.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Ziegler met with JBC on Feb. 17<\/em><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Read the interview at The Japan Times at\u00a0http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/03\/04\/issues\/u-s-author-recounts-lecture-got-comfort-women-uninvited-japanese-guests\/<\/a>. \u00a0A fuller version will be up at The Asia-Pacific Journal: \u00a0Japan Focus (www.japanfocus.org) <\/a>in a few days, with more information on how the GOJ pressured Dr. Ziegler and how Japan’s neighbors responded.<\/p>\n

For the record, what\u00a0follows is the full\u00a0text of the textbook entry on the “Comfort Women” issue being targeted by the Japanese Government, courtesy of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa’s Libraries:<\/p>\n

From “Traditions and Encounters: \u00a0A Global Perspective on the Past”, by Jerry H. Bentley, Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets-Salter, Third Edition<\/strong> (the most recent version in the UH Library), pp. 624-5.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Comfort Women<\/strong>: \u00a0Women’s experiences in war were not always ennobling or empowering. \u00a0The Japanese army forcibly recruited, conscripted, and dragooned as many as two hundred thousand women age fourteen to twenty to serve in military brothels, called “comfort houses” or “consolation centers.” \u00a0The army presented the women as a gift from the emperor, and the women came from Japanese colonies such as Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria and from occupied territories in the Philippines and elsewhere in southeast Asia. \u00a0The majority of the women came from Korea and China.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Once forced into this imperial prostitution service, the “comfort women” catered to between twenty and thirty men each day. \u00a0Stationed in war zones, the women often confronted the same risks as soldiers, and many became casualties of war. \u00a0Others were killed by Japanese soldiers, especially if they tried to escape or contracted venereal diseases. \u00a0At the end of the war, soldiers massacred large numbers of comfort women to cover up the operation. \u00a0The impetus behind the establishment of comfort houses for Japanese soldiers came from the horrors of Nanjing, where the mass rape of Chinese women had taken place. \u00a0In trying to avoid such atrocities, the Japanese army created another horror of war. \u00a0Comfort women who survived the war experienced deep shame and hid their past or faced shunning by their families. \u00a0They found little comfort or peace after the war.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Also, additional information on the issue found in the\u00a0“Student Study Guide and Map Exercise Workbook to accompany TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS, VOLUME II”<\/strong> (2000), by Lynda S. Bell, Gary E. Scudder, Jr., and Guangyuan Zhou, pg. 176:<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

D. Women and War<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1. Women’s roles in the war<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

a) Half a million British women and 350,000 U.S. women joined military services<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

b) Both countries barred women engaging in combat or carrying weapons<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

c) Soviet and Chinese women took up arms and joined resistance groups<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

d) By taking jobs or heading families, women gained independence and confidence<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2. Comfort women<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

a) Japanese armies forcibly recruited 300,000 women to serve in military brothels<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

b) 80% of comfort women came from Korea<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

c) A comfort woman had to cater to between 20 and 30 men each day<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

d) Many were massacred by Japanese soldiers, survivors experienced deep shame<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0 Fuller interview with Dr. Ziegler now up at the Asia-Pacific Journal:\u00a0 Japan Focus.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JBC: The debate on Japan\u2019s history of wartime sexual slavery (aka the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue) has heated up again, with the Japanese government extending its efforts to revise school textbooks overseas.<\/p>\n

In November, McGraw-Hill, publisher of the world history textbook \u201cTraditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past\u201d Vol. 2, by history professors Herbert Ziegler and Jerry Bentley, was contacted by Japan\u2019s Consulate General in New York. The request: that two paragraphs (i.e., the entire entry) on the comfort women be deleted.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 15, McGraw-Hill representatives met with Japanese diplomats and refused the request, stating that the scholars had properly established the historical facts. Later that month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe directly targeted the textbook in a parliamentary session, stating that he was \u201cshocked\u201d to learn that his government had \u201cfailed to correct the things it should have.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the March issue of the American Historical Association\u2019s newsmagazine \u201cPerspectives on History,\u201d 20 prominent historians, including professor Ziegler, signed a letter to the editor titled \u201cStanding with the historians of Japan.\u201d They stated that they \u201cagree with Herbert Ziegler that no government should have the right to censor history,\u201d and \u201coppose the efforts of states or special interests to pressure publishers or historians to alter the results of their research for political purposes.\u201d Professor Ziegler met with JBC on Feb. 17…<\/p>\n

Excerpt ends. For the record, what follows is the full text of the textbook entry on the “Comfort Women” issue being targeted by the Japanese Government:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,36,19,50,20,4,14,13,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-education","category-gaiatsu","category-history","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-media","category-nj-legacies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}