US media ignores Japanese ambassador’s press conference

Yoshihisa Komori, the Washington correspondent of the Sankei Shimbun, blogs here in Japanese on the press conference held in Washington DC by Ryozo Kato, the Japanese ambassador to the US, regarding the comfort women brouhaha. Here is my quick and dirty translation of the highlights:

• Most recent reports in the US media and the Congressional resolution now being debated are not based on objective facts.
• The resolution ignores the formal apology of the Japanese government, the private sector funds offered in sincerity to the comfort women, and Japan’s classroom instruction on the comfort women, so is therefore not based on objective facts.
• The Japanese government has consistently upheld the Kono statement of 1993, and this consistency has included the distinction between coercion in the broad sense and the narrow sense. (Narrow sense: Forced abductions by the military. Broad sense: Women felt compelled by circumstances to accept the offer of recruiters.)
• Japan is obligated to point out the errors of objective fact in the Congressional resolution and media reports. It is natural that Japan does not have to apologize (again), even if the resolution is passed.
• The submission of this resolution itself is not good for the Japan-US relationship. This bilateral alliance fulfills an important role, not just for Japan and the US, but for most of the regions of the world. This resolution will not have a positive impact on that alliance.
• Kato cannot agree with the assertion that it would be better to remain silent. Resolutions of this type, not based on objective fact, should be rebutted from the perspective that they are not good for the bilateral relationship.
• Ambassador Kato also said American media reports claiming that Prime Minister Abe’s statement denied all Japanese responsibility for, and the military’s involvement with, the comfort women are “not based on objective facts”.

Komori’s opinion is that the Japanese position is a clear rejection of the suggestion made by the Mainichi Shimbun in an editorial that silence is the best policy.

In its Japanese edition, the Yomiuri Shimbun also reported that Ambassador Kato held a discussion with American congressman Tom Lantos to explain the circumstances of the Kono statement and the apology of the Japanese government.

Ampontan sez: I’m beginning to think that Mike Honda, his Korean-American supporters, and the New York Times have severely underestimated contemporary Japanese politicians in general, and Prime Minister Abe specifically. This is a new generation in charge, and they are not going to meekly bow, suck air, and say, “So sorry”.

It’s too bad they didn’t read Abe’s book first. They would have known better.

One final note: As I write this, I have not seen a single article about this press conference in English from the US media on the web. The only reference I saw was buried in another article from an English-language newspaper in South Korea. That does not mean they do not exist; it just means I haven’t seen one. Or is it that they’re not interested?

I’ll say it again: Japan is still not getting the baseline respect it deserves, and that other countries routinely get, from the Western media.

Update: A correspondent sends in the following:
“I am on the mailing list of the Japanese embassy press section in Washington and got no word (advance notice or transcript afterward) of this reported press conference.”