My name is （自分の名前） and I live in Japan. It is my pleasure to have an opportunity to write you.
The reason that I am writing this e-mail to you is that I have learned that you are going to make a statue for a Comfort Women monument which is planned to be located in San Francisco.
The similar statues or memorials as yours have already erected in several cities in USA. These statues or memorials have been projected for women’s human rights or for world peace. But actually they have become anti-Japan propaganda monuments, with epitaphs aside stating that comfort women were sex slaves, to which Japanese government clearly object as the allegation is not a historical fact.
As you see, so called “Comfort Women Issue” has been internationally very controversial. Besides, the Issue concerns diplomacy, international security and such as rather than women’s human rights.
I, as an admirer of your art, am very sad if you take part in anti-Japan propaganda which is not based on the fact.
My name is （自分の名前） and I live in Japan. It is my pleasure to have an opportunity to write you.
The reason that I am writing this e-mail to you is that I have learned that you are going to make a statue for a Comfort Women monument which is planned to be located in San Francisco.
I would like to make clear that Japanese people have a different viewpoint regarding Comfort Women than Chinese and Korean people. Only the viewpoint of Chinese and Korean people is written on the Comfort Women Monument to be located in San Francisco. I want you to know that Japanese people are firmly against this.
Again, I would like to ask you to check the background of this project.
My name is （自分の名前）. It is my pleasure to write you.
The reason that I am writing this e-mail to you is that I have learned that you are going to make a statue for a Comfort Women monument which is planned to be located in San Francisco.
I know that you are also a historian. If so, you are also aware that how history is interpreted differs by country or by region, and such differences can lead to conflict. The issue of Comfort Women is one such issue which lies among Japan, China and Korea.
As far as I have checked, the epitaph on the monument in San Francisco is so written according to the assertion of China and Korea. Due to the complicated Comfort Women issue, Japan is protesting against Korea and has recalled its Ambassador to Korea. He is still in Japan and has not returned to Korea.
As I have mentioned, the Comfort Women issue is such a complicated issue in which diplomatic conflicts also exist. Some people say that the Consul General in San Francisco should also be recalled if this monument is built in San Francisco.
My name is （自分の名前） and I live in Japan. It is my pleasure to write you.
As I am sure you do too, I am a person who thinks women’s human rights are important and strongly hope that there will no longer be victims of human trafficking.
However, I am against the construction of a Comfort Women monument which is planned in San Francisco.
In particular, the monument only indicates an epitaph about Japan that is not based on correct evidence, what it says is not correct. Japanese are in anger because such a monument only defames Japan, under the guise of appealing for women’s human rights.
The “Comfort Women” Justice Coalition has a very close relationship with Communist Party of China and an alliance with the Korean American Forum of California which has some ties to North Korea.
I, as an admirer of your art, really hope you to have second thought.
My name is （自分の名前） and I live in Japan. It is my pleasure to write you.
The reason that I am writing this e-mail to you is that I have learned that you are going to make a statue for a Comfort Women monument which is planned to be located in San Francisco.
I am e-mailing you because I think you, and American people, may not be familiar with the so called “Comfort Women” issue. The Comfort Women issue is very complicated and controversial among Japan, China and Korea. I would say this is now a political and diplomatic issue.
Do you know that unreasonable and ugly anti-Japan demonstrations are taking place at a statue of Comfort Women in Korea? The statue of Comfort Women is no longer a statue representing women’s human rights and peace, but as a basis for anti-Japan activities.
Many Japanese people are afraid that the same thing could happen around a Comfort Women statue in San Francisco.
My name is （自分の名前） and I live in Japan. It is my pleasure to write you.
The reason that I am writing this e-mail to you is that I have learned that you are going to make a statue for a Comfort Women monument which is planned to be located in San Francisco.
There is a Comfort Women monument in Glendale, California. Japanese-Americans have appealed to the Supreme Court recently to have the statue removed. There is another Comfort Women statue within the premises of a church in Sydney, Australia. Both Japanese and Australians are working together for the approval of a human rights committee to dismantle this statue.
Although the designs of these statues differ from yours, the epitaph on these monuments is quite similar.
アトランタ公民権・人権センターは慰安婦像設置を許可しないと発表しました。
アトランタの日本領事館、現地の日本人の働きかけのお蔭です。
一方、慰安婦像推進団体 Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task Forceは、「像を設置する別の場所をアトランタで探している」としています。
安心せずに今後も注視していくことが必要です。
・２２０の反対意見メールが届いた（後日３００通との報道あり）
・そのメール文の一例を紹介
“I believe the monument will divide your multi-cultural good communities. And also it will drive a wedge among U.S., South Korea, and Japan alliance, and that will only make Communist China and North Korea happy.”
「碑は、多文化の良きコミュニティーを分断することになるでしょう。また米・韓・日の同盟を分断するもので、これを喜ぶのは中国共産党と北朝鮮だけです。」
・2年前の碑設置決議の際には当時の橋下大阪市長から9ページにわたる反対の手紙が届いた
・韓国の釜山の慰安婦像に日本政府が反対を示した
・碑文は予定したものから書き替えられた
・セントメアリー公園には有名な中華系アーテイストSarah Szeが作品を設置する予定だったが、慰安婦碑も同じ場所に設置されると知って撤退した
なども書かれています。
メールを送った何人かにメディアから問い合わせもあったようです。
なでしこアクションで米国の慰安婦碑に反対意見メールを送る運動を始めたのが5年前の2012年から。
当時は、どんな穏やかな内容であろうが反対意見を送っただけで、右翼、歴史修正主義者のレッテル張りをされました。
その頃から比べると、中華資本のSan Francisco Examinerでさえ反対意見を取り上げるようになりました。
“This monument bears witness to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of women and girls euphemistically called ‘Comfort Women,’ who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces in thirteen Asian-Pacific countries from 1931 to 1945.
Most of these women died during their wartime captivity. This dark history was largely hidden for decades until the 1990s, when the survivors courageously broke their silence. They helped move the world to declare that sexual violence as a strategy of war is a crime against humanity for which governments must be held accountable.
This memorial is dedicated to the memory of these women and to eradicating sexual violence and sex trafficking throughout the world.
—Gift to the city from the Comfort Women Justice Coalition”
City Hall,
Room 200,
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org
＜原文・英語＞ “Our worst fear is that our painful history during World War II will be forgotten”
––former “Comfort Woman”
This monument bears witness to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of women and girls, euphemistically called “Comfort Women,” who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces in thirteen Asian-Pacific countries from 1931 to 1945. Most of these women died during their wartime captivity. This dark history was hidden for decades until the 1990s, when the survivors courageously broke their silence.
They helped move the world to declare that sexual violence as a strategy of war is a crime against humanity for which governments must be held accountable.
This memorial is dedicated to the memory of these women, and to the crusade to eradicate sexual violence and sex trafficking throughout the world.
I strongly protest against the “Comfort Women” monument in San Francisco.
Before you approve to build the proposed comfort women memorial, you must know about the comfort women for American GIs after the WW2.
In Japan, soon after WW2 in 1945, the brothels, or RAA (Recreation and Amusement Association), were set up for U.S. servicemen pouring into Japan and hired more than 50,000 Japanese prostitutes. South Korea had a similar comfort station system for U.S.-led U.N. troops during the 1950-1953 Korean War and promoted sex businesses for American troops after the war.
Please understand that Japanese are very upset about the approved inscription of “comfort women” monument, because you single out only Japanese military. That is unfair and is nothing but an insult to Japanese.
If you stick to the falsely alleged Comfort Women Memorial, despite our protests, we, as advocator for Women’s Human Rights and for suppression of prostitution, we promote all over the USA, the erection of statue of Comfort Women in a true term, with an inscription extracted from the US Army Official Report in 1944 saying that Comfort women are nothing more than prostitutes with high remuneration.
http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_4/8_S1.pdf
I am against the comfort women monument in San Francisco.
The Arts Commission must understand that the comfort women issue is politically and diplomatically controversial issue.
The Japanese government recalled her ambassador and Council General to Pusan to home, and terminated or postponed negotiations with the government of South Korea. This decision took place in response to Korea’s decision to install a Comfort Women statue in Public place in Pusan, the second largest city in S. Korea.
Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary /January 6, 2017
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/tyoukanpress/201701/6_a.html
The peaceful city of San Francisco should not be involved in such issue by erecting memorial of one-sided allegations.
I am against the comfort women monument in San Francisco.
I have visited SF, and loved friendly people and beautiful town.
So for me, it is very upsetting to know that you plan to erect the comfort women monument in the public park.
The approved inscription of the memorial depicts “Comfort Women” as “sexually enslaved”, “hundreds of thousands of women and girls” and “Most of these women died during their wartime captivity.” What are the evidence or primary source to proof these allegations? Or name the historians.
The government of Japan officially denies above at UN human rights committees, stating “the figure ‘200,000 persons’ as the number of comfort women also lacks concrete evidence”, “the expression ‘sex slaves’ contradicts the facts” and “there are one-sided claims which lack any corroborative evidence in the reports by the United Nations Special Rapporteurs as well as in the criticisms and recommendations from treaty bodies”.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/000140100.pdf
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/000087944.pdf (page11 Paragraph 19)
I believe the monument will divide your multi-cultural good communities. And also it will drive a wedge among US, South Korea, and Japan alliance, and that will only make Communist China and North Korea happy.
I am writing to you concerning a discussion building a memorial for “comfort women” in San Francisco Park. I would ask that you turn down the proposal.
The proposer has been insisting that this is a human rights issue. It may be true. But, instead of blaming only Japan, it is more appropriate to address all major human rights issues in the world and learn from the cases to solve them and prevent from happening again.
I am strongly against the installation of memorial of Comfort women in a park in San Francisco.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
I am writing to you concerning a discussion building a memorial for “comfort women” in San Francisco Park. I would ask that you turn down the proposal.
Chinese and Korean interest has been waging a concerted anti-Japan/Japanese movements all over the United States. The “hate Japan” education in their homeland has been promoting the atmosphere even in the U.S. more than 70 years after the last war. We should work toward the future for the benefits of the younger generations in a more constructive way rather than destructively.
I am strongly against the installation of memorial of Comfort women in a park in San Francisco.
Thank you very much.
I am writing to you concerning a discussion building a memorial for “comfort women” in San Francisco Park. I would ask that you turn down the proposal.
Japanese people are strongly opposed to the comfort woman memorial because it will create a conflict among people, leading to hate crime and children bullying not only in your city but also elsewhere. I hear there is such a case in Glendale, New York, New Jersey and even in Australia.
I am strongly against the installation of memorial of Comfort women in a park in San Francisco.
Thank you very much.
