zakzak 2014.07.09
国連を利用した「日本叩き」の流れを変える　テキサス親父＆山本優美子氏

Yumiko Yamamoto: Appeals to the UN, “Comfort Women were Not Sex Slaves”

Speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on July 9th, 2014
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Hello Everyone! I am very pleased to meet all of you here.

Before I begin my presentation on our plan to visit the United Nations, I would like to express our great appreciation to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan for accepting me to have a presentation here.

Secondly, by taking this opportunity, let me state some important points.

The notice of my presentation uploaded to the website of the FCCJ says,
“They are annoyed that the term is being used widely these days to depict sex slaves during Japan’s invasion of mainland Asia in 1930s and early 1940s.”

I strongly oppose this sentence.

“We are annoyed by the term “sex slaves” that is being used widely these days to mean comfort women during Japan’s advancement to mainland Asia in 1930s and early 1940s.”

It also says,
“Japanese conservatives and nationalist groups are also disturbed by the 1996 Coomaraswamy report of the UN Commission on Human Rights”.

I hope all of the people who are here today understand that we are not nationalists but patriots.
We don’t discriminate against any particular people.
We are the people who love Japan very much, period.

Now, let me start my presentation.

I am Yumiko Yamamoto, President of the Japanese Women for Justice and Peace also known as Nadeshiko Action.

Nadeshiko Action has many Japanese women members who have joined the group voluntarily in order to STOP THE PROPAGANDA LIES that Comfort Women are Sex Slaves.

Here I want all of you to understand that we never denied that comfort women existed.
What we don’t like is that comfort women are misunderstood as sex slaves.

We have been voicing our opinions to protest to the resolutions of condemning Japan on the comfort women issue and building the comfort women memorials outside Japan in addition to contacting those responsible in building the comfort women memorials.

I have received many e-mail messages from Japanese mother who live in the United States.
Let me read a part of one of the messages which I received from a Japanese mother who lives in Glendale California.

——————
The statue put up in Central Park in Glendale makes me feel very uneasy because I am Japanese.

I am married to a non-Japanese and we have a seven years old daughter.

My daughter said, ‘I cannot hate half of myself. Why am I hated?’”
This statue is alienating her from many friends for something she has nothing to do with.

The statue has no educational value at all.

It is rather promoting confusion and racism to discriminate against Japanese people living in the United States.

I believe that the United States of America is the country where a variety of peoples live, thus making the US a very diverse country.

We should not divide people into ethnical groups but bring people together as is the core virtue of the United States of America.”
——————-

The comfort women statue in Glendale says, “I was a sex slave of Japanese military”.

On the memorial statue at Palisades Park in New Jersey, the following words are written.
“In memory of the more than 200,000 women and girls who were abducted by the armed forces of the government of Imperial Japan 1930’s-1945 known as comfort women.”

This is how the lies about the comfort women are being spread to the world.
These lies not only ruin Japanese dignity but also threaten security of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States.

Nadeshiko Action never wants this issue to be inherited by our children generation after generation.

By the way, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights called UNCHR has regarded the comfort women challenge as an international issue.

Nadeshiko Action collaborates with the Alliance for Truth about Comfort Women called “ATCW”, which has formed the Japan’s Collaboration Team for UN Committee.
A delegation comprising key members of this alliance will visit UNCHR in Geneva from July 14th to 16th.
ATCW is an organization, in which many groups involved in the comfort women issue are members.
I am the leader of the Japan’s Collaboration Team for UN Committee and Kiyoshi Hosoya, who is a historian, is Secretary General.

The delegation has three purposes.

First of all, one of Japan’s conservative groups will visit the UNCHR for the first time.

Secondly, the delegation will study the organization of UNCHR and its activities in order for us to make appropriate steps to successively interact with the organization in the near future.

Finally, after returning to Japan, we will make a report on our findings, and will let many people know what is really happening at the United Nations, and will take action to let as many people in the world as possible know how the UN is using the comfort women issue is degrading Japan.

Let me state the views of the delegation on the comfort women issue.

1. What were Comfort Women?
Comfort Women were not sex slaves but were war-time prostitutes who enjoyed time spending freely, and who worked under contract in exchange for a highly paid monetary reward for that time.
Their wages were often 100 times more than the average Japanese soldiers.
As a proof for this, please see the document by United States Office of War Information.
The document, which was written in 1944, clearly states that the living conditions of these girls were “near-luxury,” “they had plenty of money with which to purchase desired articles,” and “they amused themselves by participating in sports events……attended picnics, entertainments, and social dinners.”
As this document indicates they were nothing but well-paid prostitutes.

2. Coomaraswamy Report
The Coomaraswamy Report was written based on fabricated stories, and no longer has any value being a Human Rights Report.
The report published in 1996 was often used as evidence that sex slaves did exist during the war.
However, the report does not at all refer to the US document.
The report listed two references as its source for the claim, which are “My War Crimes” by Seiji Yoshida and “Comfort Women” by G. Hicks.
Hicks wrote his book using information from Yoshida’s book, and Yoshida confessed that his book was a fabrication.
Based on these facts, it is right to conclude that the Coomaraswamy Report no longer has any value being a Human Rights Report.

3. Stories of Comfort Women
Stories told by the so-called comfort women are the last remaining basis of the argument on the sex slave.
The stories have not been verified yet.
The fact that the argument is based only on the stories without pursuing or proving the sex slave means that the sex slave is fabricated story.
The stories of the so-called comfort women lack any substantial evidence and cause doubts about their truth.
The Coomaraswamy Report quotes those unverified stories as evidence.
The issue appeared around 1991, however the fact that year after year for over twenty years no verification has been made for the stories means that the stories of sex slave either cannot be verified or are fabricated.

They are our official views.

In Geneva, we will have a press conference and a reception at the Hotel Bristol Geneva from 7 pm on July the14th.
I will welcome media people.
I hope that many European media people also come to the press conference and reception.

Thank you very much for listening.

************************
【訂正】文中にある「 United Nations Commission on Human Rights/UNCHR」の現在の正式名称は「United Nations Human Rights Council/UNHRC」です。ここに訂正いたします。

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan / FCCJ
Press Conference: Yumiko Yamamoto, President of Nadesiko Action
http://www.fccj.or.jp/events-calendar/press-events/icalrepeat.detail/2014/07/09/1711/30/press-conference-yumiko-yamamoto-president-of-nadesiko-action.html?filter_reset=1

Wednesday, July 09, 2014, 15:00 – 16:00

Nadeshiko Action Appeals to the UN Human Rights Committee, “Comfort Women were Not Sex Slaves”
Yumiko Yamamoto
President of Nadeshiko Action
Language: The speech will be in English and Q & A in Japanese with English interpretation

Conservative circles in Japan say they are not at all comfortable with the use of the term comfort women by various groups around the world, including the United Nations. They are annoyed that the term is being used widely these days to depict sex slaves during Japan’s invasion of mainland Asia in 1930s and early 1940s. Japanese conservatives and nationalist groups are also disturbed by the 1996 Coomaraswami report of the UN Commission on Human Rights, where widespread use of sexual slavery by Imperial Japanese Army has been cited.

Some in Japan claim that the conclusions of the report were based mostly on false stories and twisted evidences, and now they intend to correct what they say are the mistakes of the world body by presenting their own side of the story at the next session of the UN Human Rights Commission later this month.

Yumiko Yamamoto, President of Nadeshiko Action, the organization of Japanese Women for Justice and Peace, will lead a team of Japanese petitioners who will attend as observers of the proceedings of the Committee of Civil and Political Rights for three days from July 14.

Prior to her departure for Geneva, Yamamoto will hold a press conference at the FCCJ on July 9 to brief about the position of her group on the comfort women and how they intend to overturn the findings of the Coomaraswamy Report.

記者会見
山本 優美子、
なでしこアクション 代表

７月９日（水）１５：００－１６：００
（スピーチ：英語、Ｑ＆Ａ：逐次通訳つき英語）

バージニア在住なでしこ仲間からの報告です。

*************************************************　

慰安婦記念碑が建ったバージニア州フェアファックス郡のBulova郡議長に兼ねてから面会を申し入れてきましたが、なかなか会ってもらえず。やっと30分間の時間制限付きで議長のアシスタントに会うことが出来ました。

当日、私達はバージニア在住の日本人女性3名で訪問しました。最初は双方穏やかに話をはじめましたが、話を進めるにつれ、私たちにとって大変厳しい状況であることが分かりました。

私達の質問に対するアシスタントの答え・反応をご紹介します。

【質問1】カウンティ内に住んでいる、日本人の血を引く子供達(アメリカ国籍)が少なくない事を伝える。
【反応】子弟の状態を心配する様子は一切なし

【質問2】日本人だけでなく、碑の建立に関するカウンティと関係者のミーティングについて公にされないのはなぜか？
【回答】なぜしないといけないのか？

【質問３】カウンティ庁舎という公の建物の敷地内に建てるということは、カウンティがバックアップすることを意味し、公にする義務があるのでは？
【回答】特に必要はない。カウンティは、WCCW（Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues）側からオファーを受け、Human Traffic（人身売買）は、カウンティ内でも社会問題であるため、問題ないと判断し、了承した。公の場所に建てる事に、特に問題はない。

【質問４】20万人を強制連行したという物的証拠もなく、Korean側の言い分しか聞いていない。日本人を一方的に責めるもので、日本人やその子弟がイジメなどで影響を受ける。
【回答】日本軍が悪い事をしたのは事実であり、問題ない。違う側面から考える必要もない。イジメが起きているのは各学校の問題。

【質問５】この碑がカウンティ庁舎内に出来ることで、イジメられる子供達が増える。その対処や予算、責任者は明確にしているのか？
【回答】そういった問題は、カウンティ中でも教育長の管轄になるので、教育長に問い合わせて下さい。

【質問６】この碑が継続的な平和教育、人権教育の一環であるという証拠として、その予算、プログラムを示して下さい。
【回答】特にこれといったプログラムはない。詳細は教育長に問い合わせて下さい。

【質問７】慰安婦の記念碑を建てる活動をしている人の中には北朝鮮出身者、北朝鮮関係者もおり、韓国内でも問題になっているが。
【回答】どこの国出身であろうが関係ない。訴えは差別なく聞かなくてはならない。

【質問８】それは逆に、日本人への差別にならないのか？
【回答】ならない。北朝鮮だから聞かないというのは、日本人の差別なのではないか？

【質問９】アメリカと北朝鮮は国交がない上、日本と北朝鮮は拉致問題で外交問題として解決に歩み寄ろうとしているさなかなのに、これでは一地方自治が国の外交権を犯していることになるが、そういった意識はないのか？
【回答】特にない。

【質問１０】日本軍の強制性については証拠が見つかっておらず、日本人としてはあったかなかったかも分からない事象について罰されているようなものなのだが、その点については、どうか。
【回答】軍部による強制性云々ではなく、としはもいかない少女が、金銭の授与があったかなかったか関係なく、売春をさせられていたという事実に注目している。その啓蒙として、記念碑は建立に値する

【質問１１】韓国軍、アメリカ軍も朝鮮戦争、ベトナム戦争で、同等のことをしているがどうして、日本軍だけなのか？　それこそ、差別そのものではないか？
【回答】（怒りを露にして）　ＷＣＣＷの要請だったため、関係ない。

【質問１2】「慰安婦２０万人」という数は、日本軍の数を想定して５０人に１人の割合で勝手に想定した人数だともあり、確証がない。実際には、１万人などという説もある。今後起こらないように史実を正しく伝えるには、日本軍だけでなく、米軍、朝鮮軍も入れなければおかしい。どうして犠牲者に日本人女性が含まれていないのか、それも文章として正しくない。日本人に対する差別だと思わないのか？
【回答なし】

【質問１3】誰がこの文章を決めたのか？カウンティーのスタッフは、この碑文の内容を、あらかじめ検証したのか？
【回答】カウンティは、まったく関与していない。ＷＣＣＷが碑を建てたいと要請してきたので、承認しただけであり、碑の内容はすべてＷＣＣＷ側が作成した。抗議するならＷＣＣＷにして下さい。カウンティは関係ない。

全くの満足いかない状態で面会を終え、当方3人のメアド、住所、名前を記して、Bulova氏からの回答を要望しました。その結果、後日仲間の1人のメアド宛に回答がありました。

内容は、
１．WCCWにアプローチされたのは2013年はじめ

２．WCCWが工費、管理費全てを出すということで承認した

３．質問がある場合は、直接WCCWに問い合わせ下さい。

４．イジメ予防に関する質問は教育長に問い合わせして下さい。
※関係者でもないのに、カウンティ内の韓国系議員にCCされていた

振り返って
今回の経験で分かったことは、Koreanに話を持ち込まれたからというだけでなく、元々日本人蔑視の空気や素地がBulova氏やそのスタッフ周辺にあること。それぞれが公に仕えるという職位にある意識がかなり低く、公平性、公正性といった考えの欠如、偏りが顕著であるということ。
今後は、日本人子弟へのイジメ防止を最優先するため多方面にアプローチし、日本人への逆差別、人権侵害問題として訴えていくことを考えています。

船橋市議会は平成２１年に「従軍慰安婦問題解決に関する意見書」を採択しましたが、今回（２０１４年６月２４日）は「河野談話の見直しを求める意見書」を否決しました。

なでしこアクション代表山本が５月３０日船橋で講演させたいただきましたが、その際に船橋市議や市民の皆様が熱心に聴いてくださいました。新聞記事はこちら

河野談話見直しを支持する流れと、市議市民の皆様の意識の高さが今回の否決に繋がったのではないでしょうか。