The Asahi Shimbun announced in several lengthy articles run on August 5th and 6th that it has concluded that claims made in 1982 by a self-styled former “comfort women” recruiter, now deceased, were in fact false.
　　　　　Despite having committed among the most egregious errors in the history of Japanese journalism, what stands out in these pieces is the Asahi’s focus on somehow justifying its actions and the total lack of self-reflection. The liberal daily’s self-serving viewpoint is amply manifested by its editorial director Nobuyuki Sugiura in a front-page column on August 5th entitled: “Time to Squarely Face the Essence of the ‘Comfort women’ issue.”
　　　　　Sugiura writes that there have been “baseless accusations that our ‘reports on the comfort women issue are a gross fabrication of historical facts by the Asahi Shimbun.’” But the opposite is in fact the case, as it is Japan and its citizens who have had to deal with harsh criticism from around the world because of the Asahi’s irresponsible coverage. If this situation is allowed to prevail, future generations of Japanese will likely continue to be exposed to similar criticism. In point of fact, it is not the Asahi but the people and state of Japan that have been victimized.
　　　　　Sugiura denies any attempt on the part of the Asahi to fabricate the facts about the “comfort women” issue, but is that really the case? The very reason Japan began to be attacked over the “comfort women” issue is that the world was led to believe the wartime Japanese government and military had forcibly recruited young women for servitude at Japanese military brothels. It was the Asahi that kept writing about “coerced recruitment,” which became the grounds for continued criticism of Japan. It was also the Asahi that in 1982 first introduced testimony by Seiji Yoshida, a self-styled “comfort women” recruiter who claimed to have been under military orders to round up young female workers on Cheju Island (off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula). Over the years the Asahi carried a total of 16 articles relating to Yoshida, who became a celebrity in the Japanese mass media. Allow me to cite from the Asahi’s popular evening column “Mado” (“Window”) dated January 23, 1992. Kiyoyasu Kitabatake wrote:
　　　　　“Yoshida and 10 to 15 of his subordinates would be sent to Korea on a ‘recruiting trip.’ Encircling a village, with the help of some 50 to 100 policemen and officials from the colonial government, they would chase screaming young women out into the street. Brandishing wooden words, they would then hit and kick the women, and pack them into trucks… (Yoshida testifies that) the state authorities used the police, allowing abductions of the colony’s women under conditions absolutely impossible to escape. They would then be transported to battlefront brothels, where they would be incarcerated for a year or two—or longer. There, the women were gang-raped and abandoned when it came time for the Japanese armed forces to withdraw.”

A Major Daily Dangerously Unenlightened about History

　　　　　Encircling, beaten with wooden swords, gang-raped, death for all—Yoshida’s testimony is indeed blood-curdling. If factual, the actions of the Japanese government, military, police, and bureaucrats would be absolutely horrible and unpardonable.
　　　　　Some three years before Kitabatake’s article—on August 14, 1989 to be exact—a reporter from the Cheju Ilbo named Heo Yeong-sun, following an extensive investigation, had called Yoshida’s testimony a blatant fabrication. And yet, the Asahi went ahead with Kitahata’s column—in 1992.
　　　　　Three months later, Ikuhiko Hata, a recognized expert on the history of the war, wrote an article for the Sankei Shimbun, also calling the Yoshida testimony a lie. Despite this revelation by Dr. Hata, however, the Asahi nonchalantly reported the following month (May 24, 1992) on Yoshida’s visit to South Korea on a “pilgrimage of apology”:
　　　　　“In 1942, according to Mr. Yoshida, he was named head of the ‘Shimonoseki Branch, Yamaguchi Prefecture Association for Loyalty and Patriotism through Labor,’ assigned to sending Koreans to munitions works or mines under Japan’s wartime national mobilization plan. He would often visit Korea by ship, packing as many Korean laborers as possible into trucks. Over three years, Mr. Yoshida says he recruited some 6,000 Korean men and women, including 1,000 who were rounded up as ‘comfort women’ for the military. Mr. Yoshida claims half of the men and all of the women he recruited ended up dying.”
　　　　　This means that the Asahi dared continue reporting into the 1990s on the ‘comfort women’ issue based solelyu on Yoshida’s testimony—despite the fact that, in the 80’s, the Cheju Ilbo had declared his testimony false. There were others in the Japanese media who also detected Yoshida’s deception.
　　　　　In its combined May 2-9 issue in 1996, the popular Weekly Shincho magazine elicited a confession from Yoshida that his testimony was fabricated, quoting him as admitting:
　　　　　“Dr. Hata and others have made various comments about my book (based on his testimony). But you must understand that one gains nothing in terms of profits by writing the truth in a book…Don’t you think that even major dailies often run articles hiding the facts and allowing their writers to write what they want to write?
　　　　　One notices growing signs of ambiguity in the Asahi’s references to Yoshida after this admission in the Weekly Shincho. For instance, the daily ran an article in its March 31, 1997 edition, as regards Yoshida’s book in which he said he and his men forcibly recruited 205 young women in Cheju Island for military brothels. At the time, the daily chose to limit its coverage to the following comments: “There are those who question his testimony…whether or not it is true cannot be immediately ascertained…” One senses in these comments an earnest desire on the part of the daily to preserve the credibility of the one and only “living witness” of Japan’s forcible recruitment of “comfort women.”
　　　　　Even so, why do Asahi writers and editors appear to be so unenlightened about history? Under Japanese rule in Korea, many of the policemen in Yoshida’s story would have been Korean nationals. If 100 or so policemen had really been called out to assist Yoshida’s hunt for ‘comfort women,’ there appears absolutely no way that these Korean policemen would have allowed young compatriot women to be clubbed and forcibly packed into waiting trucks. How could the Asahi writers and editors have been unable to comprehend this?
　　　　　The Asahi must be blamed for permitting the spread of Yoshida’s lies by refusing to look seriously into the issue over the last 32 years, despite Dr. Hata’s characterization of Yoshida as “a professional con-man.” The growing criticism in Japan of the Asahi over its “comfort women” reporting is far from baseless. On the contrary, it is richly substantiated by facts.
　　　　　In his August 5th column, Sugiura took issue with the “(unwarranted) slander” which names a former Asahi reporter as the one responsible for the distorted coverage of matters pertaining to the “comfort women.” Sugiura is referring to an August 11, 1991 dispatch by Takashi Uemura, who wrongly linked the “comfort women” with members of the Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps. Here again, Sugiura’s assertions are absolutely unacceptable. The Asahi maintains that not enough research on this subject was available at the time, leading Uemura to unfortunately confound the “comfort women” with the volunteer workers, claiming: “Accordingly, there was absolutely no intentional twisting of the facts.” Again, a statement impossible to believe. For more details, please refer to the August 7th issue of this column.

Fallacy of Logic on Grandiose Scale

　　　　　Sugiura wrote that the real issue pertaining to the “comfort women” is that they were “deprived of freedom, with their dignity as women trampled on.” Certainly, what the “comfort women” had to experience was dreadful, and, most assuredly, Japanese today are determined to never let such a tragedy happen ever again. However, Japan has been—and still is—fiercely criticized because of a preconceived universal notion that the Japanese government and military forcibly recruited Korean women as military prostitutes. This contention originates from the fabricated testimony by Yoshida and the articles and commentaries in the Asahi over the past 32 years based on his testimony. That is how the trouble for Japan began. But now the Asahi is trying desperately to switch the focus of the argument from “coercive recruitment” by the military to the “dignity of women”—a fallacy of logic on a grand scale.
　　　　　It is time for the Asahi to stop glossing things over. The attempt to shift the focal point obvious in Sugiura’s remarks is but one example of the questionable character of this publication as a whole. In its August 13th editorial entitled “Responsibility of Later Generations to Remember the War,” the daily criticized the address Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered last year’s national memorial service for the wardead in Tokyo, pointing out that he failed to refer to the “damage inflicted on Asian nations by the Japanese military.” It accused Abe of “ducking inconvenient historical facts,” wondering whether or not “Abe’s first step toward rewriting history was adroitly hidden in his address.”
　　　　　No words are more appropriate for the Asahi itself than these. It is about time the daily sincerely faced up to the “inconvenient historical facts” it itself has concocted. The Yoshida testimony, which the Asahi avidly praised and promoted for so long, was used as proof in the 1996 United Nations report on the “comfort women” issue which described them as “sex slaves” (commonly called in Japan the “Coomaraswamy Report,” taking the author’s name), as well as in the 2007 US House Resolution 121, which urged the Japanese government to apologize to the “comfort women.” These two documents have constituted the foundation of the fierce criticism in the international community.
　　　　　I believe the Asahi Shimbun, which so seriously impaired the honor and reputation of Japan and the Japanese by twisting historical facts, must first do its utmost to convey to the international community the truth about the “comfort women.” It should then assume full responsibility for having spread erroneous reports over three decades by discontinuing publication for a period of time. I honestly do not think there will be any real chance of the Asahi ever recovering its reputation—unless it proves itself fully accountable by taking this action.

(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 619 in the August 28, 2014 issue of The Weekly Shincho)