Honda’s 15 minutes of fame not enough

A WEEK AGO, I suggested that American congressman Mike Honda would be content with his 15 minutes of fame once he finished boosting his non-binding resolution about Japanese comfort women during World War II.

Now it looks as though I may have been mistaken. From the AP:

A U.S. lawmaker said Thursday he wants a closer look at reports that American authorities allowed the operation of an official brothel system for GIs occupying Japan in the aftermath of World War II.

Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, sponsor of a resolution urging Japan to apologize formally for coercing thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery as the Imperial Japanese during the war, said he has asked the Congressional Research Service to look into allegations of brothels set up for American soldiers after Japan’s surrender in 1945.

One can understand the powerful allure of public attention, even if one is not a politician. After all, every weekend, scores of one-hit wonders warble in dingy nightclubs throughout the world to try and recapture their day in the Hit Parade sun a generation ago.

And we all know it’s common practice for those in the music business with a Top 40 hit to shoot for another one by creating a new tune, reworking the old chartbuster into something that sounds both similar and just a little bit different.

But Mike Honda’s a member of the United States Congress. Doesn’t he have real work to do involving today’s issues?

For example, the Congressman seems to think it is important to get to the bottom of things that happened during and immediately after a war 60 years ago, involving his own country and one of its strongest allies.

But over the past few years, there have been more than a few instances in which UN workers and troops have been getting to the bottom of some other things in highly sordid circumstances. The UN does not seem to be interested in solving the problem at all. In fact, they’re covering it up, according to this article titled, “UN Child Sex Slave Scandals Continue”. The subhead reads, “Wave after wave of child abuse reports pour forward from all over the globe.”

If Mr. Honda is so concerned about the military coercing women–and children–into prostitution, why isn’t he addressing the UN’s behavior today instead of American and Japanese behavior more than a half-century ago?

I’m sure he has his reasons. After all, Mr. Honda–like Brutus–is an honorable man.