Chinese and Malaysian comfort women in 1945

Last week, Japan’s former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama visited South Korea and met with three former comfort women.

Comfort women, of course, were those 200,000 women (some of them very young teenagers) forced into prostitution for the Japanese military during World War II. They were Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Dutch and Indonesian. And they were grievously abused. 

When Murayama was prime minister in 1995, he gave a famous apology known as the Murayama Statement, acknowledging the human toll of Japanese aggression during the war. The whole thing is worth reading, but the key sentence for us at SorryWatch is this: “In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.” Murayama’s statement was rightly seen as a huge step for Japan in admitting its own guilt and responsibility and in helping improve Japanese relations with other Asian countries.

Today, though, relations are not so good. In December, the right-leaning current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited a shrine that commemorates a number of prominent war criminals. He’s hinted that the Murayama Statement should be revised. He’s said that there was “no evidence to prove there was coercion” of comfort women (maybe they just leapt merrily into sex slavery!) and “no testimony that was based on any proof.” (Sure, they said those things were done to them, but who can really know the truth? They’re like thousands of little Dylan Farrows!)

Murayama, on the other hand, was unequivocal about apologizing when he was prime minister. Under his leadership, Japan established the Asian Women’s Fund  to distribute compensation to women who were forced into sex slavery. When the fund was launched in 1995, Murayama made this statement:

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the War, an event that caused many people, both in Japan and abroad, great suffering and sorrow. During these past 50 years we have worked hard to cultivate, step by step, friendly relations with our neighbouring Asian countries and others. However, the scars of war still run deep in these countries to this day.

The problem of the so-called wartime comfort women is one such scar, which, with the involvement of the Japanese military forces of the time, seriously stained the honor and dignity of many women. This is entirely inexcusable. I offer my profound apology to all those who, as wartime comfort women, suffered emotional and physical wounds that can never be closed.

Established on this occasion and involving the cooperation of the Government and citizens of Japan, the “Asian Women’s Fund” is an expression of atonement on the part of the Japanese people toward these women and supports medical, welfare, and other projects. As articulated in the proponents’ Appeal, the Government will do its utmost to ensure that the goals of the Fund are achieved.

Furthermore, to ensure that this situation is never again repeated, the Government of Japan will collate historical documents concerning the former wartime comfort women, to serve as a lesson of history.

Turning from yesterday to today, we still see many women suffering violence and inhuman treatment in many parts of the world. The “Asian Women’s Fund,” as I understand it, will take steps to address these problems facing women today. The Government of Japan intends to play an active role in this regard.

I am convinced that a sincere effort on the part of Japan to implement these measures will further strengthen the true relationships of trust we share with our neighbours in Asia and other nations around the world.

The Government of Japan intends to cooperate, to the greatest extent possible, with the Asian Women’s Fund, in order that its aims are achieved. I call on each and every Japanese citizen, asking for your understanding and cooperation.

That is an excellent apology. It’s public as well as personal (each woman also received a signed personal apology from Murayama), it takes ownership, it names the offense, it shows understanding of the impact of the offense, it shows remorse, it attempts to make things right, it takes steps to insure that the offense will never be repeated.

(Murayama isn’t the only Japanese politician to have apologized to the comfort women. But in its completeness and mention of future steps, his apology is the best.)

Today, only 55 South Korean comfort women are still living. Many South Koreans feel that Japan’s gestures of apology toward them aren’t sufficient. Only part of the money in the fund came from the Japanese government – the rest was from private donors; some South Koreans felt that this meant that the fund didn’t officially constitute state redress. Most of the Korean women received around $16,700 each; there are questions about whether this was enough. And Seoul still wants Japan to provide direct compensation to the victims, in addition to fund payouts.

Surviving comfort women rally in Korea in 2011

It seems clear that the 89-year-old Murayama, who served as president of the Asian Women’s Fund after his term as prime minister ended, is determined to keep making amends. On his visit to Seoul last week, he attended an exhibition of comfort women’s art and met with the three comfort women in attendance. In a speech to the South Korean parliament, he said, “Indescribable wrongdoings were committed, in which these women’s dignity was forfeited. Japan must solve it.’ He added,  “This issue must be settled expeditiously.” And he criticized those Japanese who make “nonsensical remarks” about the comfort women.

Those “nonsensical remarks” probably came from Katsuto Momii, head of NHK, Japan’s national broadcasting company. During a news conference  last month, Momii basically shrugged off forced prostitution as just a thing everybody does. Hey, it’s war! Pass the babes! “Such women could be found in any nation that was at war, including France and Germany,” he said dismissively. (And he’s not entirely wrong.) According to the BBC,  Momii described international anger at Japan about this wee peccadillo as “puzzling.”

After his remarks were greeted with dismay in certain quarters, Momii issued a lousy apology. “It is my lack of discretion in that I didn’t understand the various rules,” he said. “I think it was very inappropriate that I made the comments at such places.”

So do I have this right? Sorry I said the thing at a news conference that it would be fine for me to say at other times? Sorry I don’t get how press conferences work? Sorry I was indiscreet? Sorry I was inappropriate? How about “sorry for the deeply offensive thing I said”? That’s the apology that matters.

Murayama, meanwhile, insists that the current prime minister cannot back away from his administration’s apology. “I am convinced that the statement has obtained a national consensus,” Murayama told South Korean politicians. “Abe cannot repeal it as a prime minister.” He continued, “All Cabinets that succeeded mine have inherited that statement. Anyone should resign as a Cabinet member if he denies the statement.”

Decency and eyebrows