Category: Japan

San Francisco Dedicates Comfort Women Statue in St. Mary’s Square

Here is the latest comfort woman statue to be erected:

A statue for victims of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement will be dedicated in San Francisco this week, South Korean officials here said Sunday.

The House of Sharing, a shelter for the former sex slaves, in Gwangju, east of Seoul, said that a monument will be unveiled at St. Mary’s Square in San Francisco on Thursday.

The ceremony will be attended by former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo, and former Congressman Mike Honda, who led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass House Resolution 121 that urges the Japanese government to apologize and compensate victims, it added.

The statue was established with funds raised by the nonprofit Comfort Women Justice Coalition led by Chinese-Americans and ethnic Korean civic groups in northern California, it said.

The sculpture depicts three girls holding hands on top of a cylindrical pedestal with a grandmother figure watching them from the ground.

A plaque is placed in front of it explaining that thousands of women from 13 Asian Pacific nations, including Korea and China, were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops between 1931 and 1945.

The monument also includes a message that urges the Japanese government to “acknowledge its responsibility and formally apologize.” It also shows testimony from a former comfort woman who expressed her fear that a painful history might be forgotten in the future.  [Yonhap]

My only problem with these statues being put up in the US is why should a public park be used to push a political agenda?  Especially a political agenda that is not true when its say the Japanese government has not apologized when the Prime Minister himself has apologized multiple times.

In Seoul on Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe “expresses anew sincere apologies and remorse from the bottom of his heart to all those who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds as ‘comfort women.’” Abe later called Park to apologize, and she called for a new era of trust between the countries. [Seattle Times]

Just because some people in Korea don’t accept the apology doesn’t mean it did not happen.

Report Claims President Trump Called ROK President a “Beggar” for His North Korea Stance

The Japanese media is claiming that President Trump has called ROK President Moon Jae-in a beggar due to his repeated calls for dialog with the Kim regime:

US President Donald Trump allegedly disparaged South Korean President Moon Jae-in as acting “like a beggar” with his calls for dialogue with North Korpea. The remarks were supposedly made in a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese network Fuji TV reported on Sept. 7.According to the network, Trump made the disparaging remarks about Moon to Abe in a telephone conversation on Aug. 29, after North Korea test-launched a missile that passed through Japanese airspace. Trump was also quoted as asking Abe “not to tell anyone” about the need for military pressure on North Korea.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

Okinawa Marine Arrested At Airport After Bullet Found In His Bag

Oops:

A Camp Hansen Marine was arrested last week after a bullet was found in his bag at Naha Airport, Japanese police said.

Cpl. Aaron Swicegood, 25, was taken into custody at a domestic terminal security checkpoint at approximately 9:20 a.m. Friday after a live pistol round was found in his rucksack, a Tamashiro police spokesman said. Swicegood was traveling to Tokyo on his way to Los Angeles.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but this is a good reminder to make sure to check every small pocket in your bags for contraband to avoid an incident like this.

Is It Time for Japan to Field a Pre-Emptive Strike Capability?

With the ever increasing threat from North Korea the Japanese government may be forced into pursuing some kind of pre-emptive strike capability:

Japan is debating whether to develop a limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles — ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat.

With revisions to Japan’s defense plans underway, ruling party hawks are accelerating the moves, and some defense experts say Japan should at least consider them.

After being on the backburner in the ruling party for decades, a possibility of pre-emptive strike was formally proposed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by his party’s missile defense panel in March, prompting parliamentary debate, though somewhat lost steam as Abe apparently avoided the divisive topic after seeing support ratings for his scandal-laden government plunge.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but the offensive strike capability they are considering is tomahawk cruise missiles fired from their Aegis destroyers to take out North Korean missiles before they are launched.

Japanese Military Deploys Patriot Missile Battery to Yokota Airbase

This exercise was unrelated to the recent North Korean missile launch over Japan, but I think it is pretty significant that the Japanese are willing to demonstrate that they can deploy their own Patriot batteries defend a US airbase:

Japan’s air force demonstrated a Patriot missile-defense system at Yokota in western Tokyo Tuesday, just hours after a North Korean missile flew over Hokkaido.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is deploying Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air systems to several U.S. bases in Japan to test their ability to quickly respond to Pyongyang’s missile threats, a U.S. Forces Japan statement said.

A convoy of trucks carrying PAC-3 components arrived at Yokota, headquarters of USFJ and the 5th Air Force, Tuesday morning. The planned deployment happened soon after North Korea test-fired a missile over Japanese territory, prompting alerts in a dozen prefectures before falling into the ocean east of Hokkaido. It was the latest in a string of missile tests this year, including one that appeared to simulate a nuclear attack on U.S. forces in Japan.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.