Dear Mr. Hashimoto

This writing below is a letter to Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka, in response to Hashimoto's denial of comfort women being enforced into sexual slavery. This not only applies for Korea, but all the nations that suffered Japan's brutality and I hope this will notify the international community of the problems of comfort women. Let's not forget that without self-reflection of the past, there is no future.

 

I send this letter to Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka, a large city of 2.6 million people.

I read an article about your remarks on comfort women. You claimed that there is no evidence that comfort women were assaulted and threatened by the Japanese military to saceerve as sex slaves. You also noted that Korea must present proof that they were taken away by force. So I present to you the evidence to educate you to have a discerning eye.

First, somebody with common sense would not volunteer to become a comfort women in war. Or maybe you have somebody in your family that lacks this common sense, which led you to think that the comfort women volunteered under no duress.

Second, when Japan realized that nobody would volunteer for comfort women, Japan tried to trick the innocent women into sexual slavery by saying that the women would be find an employment opportunity at the war material factories. But when this failed, Japan coerced women into sexual slavery by assigning quota deliveries by regions.

Third, if you indeed recruited the women by volunteers, why are you trying to conceal the exact number of comfort women, and try to kill the comfort women to cover your filthy tracks when the war ended?

Fourth, there are testimonies from the women who suffered from sexual slavery, not only from Koreans, but from other countires, including even the Netherlands. What more proof do you need?

If you are ashamed of your crimes being revealed to the world, and deny your past, Japan's reputation will hit the bottom, no matter how powerful your economy is. You may claim to be an advanced country, but to the international community, your nations is a nation without conscience and human dignity.

 

Mr. Hashimoto,

I hear that you are very promising future leader of Japan.

A true leader should be able to admit his faults and ask for forgiveness when necessary. Lies, denials, and hypocrisy is will only lead to a vain bubble of popularity that will bust any time soon.

 

Japan should learn from what Germany, Japan's old ally back in the days, did after their defeat in the World War II.

The reason other European countries are not making a problem out of Germany's shameful past is not because the European countries forgave Germany, but it is because Germany reflected, repented, and apologized for the crimes they committed. Moreover, Germany legally and institutionally promised to and convinced the European nation not to start a war again.

 

As long as humanity exists, and Japan coexists with its surrounding nations, Japan's invasion and past crimes will continue to be of issue. If you do not work to solve this issue in your generation, your descendents would have to bear this burden.

 

If you are a wise leader, I think it is advisable that you take the responsibility and clear out your past reputation as a war criminal nation. What do you think?