"which shall not taste of death" - A Japanese Writer

The Imperial Palace, Tokyo

A Japanese Writer

There was a Japanese writer who helped American soldiers flee from US bases in Japan as they did not want to be sent to Vietnam during the era of the Vietnam War.

The writer, Makoto Oda (1932-2007), became famous in Japan in 1961 as he wrote a book on his experiences of learning in the US in 1959 as a Fulbright student and subsequent traveling in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoto_Oda

However after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it turned out that he and his organization to help Vietnamese received aid and money from KGB, a spy agency of the Soviet Union.

Oda recruited a young woman in a preparatory school in Tokyo, where he taught English, to an activity of guiding Japanese youths to the world using a special ship around 1980.  The woman later virtually married a member of a Japanese ultra leftist group.  Then she became a lawmaker of the Socialist Party of Japan in 1996.  As time went by, she suffered some money scandal and resign.  However, later she was reelected to come back to the parliament.  And, recently in 2010, she transferred to the Democratic Party of Japan, the incumbent ruling party of Japan.  At the time Mr. Naoto Kan, a leftist politician, was the head of the DPJ and the Prime Minister of Japan.

One common thing among Makoto Oda, the female lawmaker, and Mr. Naoto Kan, is that they are admirer, at least in one time, of North Korea.

Oda once taught in a university in New York.  Where he was taken in a picture with his young daughter.

http://odamakoto.jp/database/photos/photo_22.html

But it is said that his wife is a North Korean resident in Japan.  And it is suspected that she was highly recommended to marry a Japanese intellectual person who had compassion on North Korea.

Indeed, if some Japanese had learnt in Harvard University before the era of JFK, he might still have not forgotten the tragedy of WWII so as to be an anti-capitalism activist.

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Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

"suffer us to go away into the herd of swine" - American Religion and Politics

The Tokyo Tower...

American Religion and Politics

It is interesting to see how the US is divided into each religious group geographically.

It is also interesting to see how the US is divided into each political party.

So, the areas where Catholic churches have influences are also influenced by the Democratic Party.

It is a little confusing.  The Democrats are against the traditional value system, but the liberal party seems to have a strong base in each of those areas with strong presence of Catholic churches.

Religion in California: 

The religious affiliations of the people of California:

- Protestant – 36%
--- Evangelical Protestant – 18%
--- Mainline Protestant – 14%
--- Black Protestant – 4%
- Roman Catholic – 31%
- LDS – 2%
- Jewish – 2%
- Muslim – less than 0.5%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious/ Atheist/ Agnostic – 21%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_California#Religion

Religion in New York: 

As reported in 2001 the religious affiliations of the people of New York were: 

- Christian – 68%
--- Roman Catholic – 38%
--- Baptist – 7%
--- Methodist – 6%
--- Presbyterian – 2%
--- Episcopal – 2%
--- Lutheran – 2%
--- Pentecostal – 2%
--- Other Christian (including unspecified denomination) – 13%
- Jewish – 9%
- Muslim/Islamic – 3.5%
- Buddhist – 1%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious – 13%
- 6% of the people surveyed refused to answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_York

Religion in Georgia: 

Georgia Religion: 

Like most of the other Southern states of the United States, most of the citizens of Georgia are Protestant Christians. On the basis of religion, the inhabitants of Georgia can be classified as under: 

- 70% are Protestant Christians
--- 24% are Baptist
--- 12% are Methodist
--- 3% are Presbyterian
--- 3% are Pentecostal
- 12% are Catholic 
- 3% are Others
- 13% do not follow any religion

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Travel/georgia-demographics.php

Indeed, JFK was a Catholic.  But is Catholicism a right religion in the US?

If not, it might be a right decision to elect a Republican as US President, though.




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Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

"Thou art the Christ" - A Lie about Korean Women

A Lie about Korean Women

There is a Japanese man who falsely diffused the story of Korean women who were forced to work for Imperial soldiers by the Imperial Government of Japan.

Though the man actually admitted that he had lied after his book on this theme were widely read, strong influences of his false act for justice could be widely seen in South Korea and the U.S.  The book explained how Korean women had been taken forcibly by officials of the Imperial Government of Japan without consent into the special work for Imperial soldiers.  But it was later proved to be a fictitious story.  

The Japanese Government conducted research, several times since 1990s, on any official documents left indicating that the Imperial Government had been officially involved in collecting such Korean women.  But no evidence was found.

Yūto Yoshida (born 15 October 1913) is a Japanese writer and former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army. He has published under a variety of pen names, including Seiji Yoshida, Tōji Yoshida, and Eiji Yoshida. 

Originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, Yoshida was stationed in Korea, then a colony of Japan, during World War II; he claimed that he assisted police to kidnap over 2,000 women from various rural areas of the Korean peninsula to serve as comfort women.[3] After the war, he ran as a Japanese Communist Party candidate in the 1947 Shimonoseki city council elections, but was defeated. 

In 1977 and again in 1983, Yoshida published memoirs about his actions during the war.[3] His books and a subsequent 1991 media interview have been credited with bringing about an apology to Korea by Foreign Affairs minister Yōhei Kōno.[4] As Yoshida's memoirs became widely known, he began to attract suspicion. Ikuhiko Hata, a historian at Takushoku University and one of Yoshida's leading critics, pointed to inconsistencies between Yoshida's 1977 and 1983 memoirs, using these to assert that his claims are fabricated.[3] South Korean newspaper interviews with residents of Jeju Island, where the forced recruitment allegedly took place, found no one who admitted to remembering a sweep through a button factory there which Yoshida detailed in his 1983 memoirs.[2][3] In May 1996, weekly magazine Shūkan Shinchō published remarks by Yoshida made to them in an interview, admitting that portions of his work had been made up. He stated that "There is no profit in writing the truth in books. Hiding the facts and mixing them with your own assertions is something that newspapers do all the time too".[5][6][7] In June 2009, 李栄薫(이영훈), who is a professor of Seoul National University, argued that Yoshida's testimony has spread among Korean society after Yoshida published books.  

Since then, revisionist historians seeking to deny or downplay the existence of comfort women commonly mention Yoshida and his testimony; they cherry-pick his work as an example of low-credibility writing and attack his claims that specific women in certain locations were enslaved as comfort women, with the aim of denying that any women anywhere were victims of sexual violence by the Imperial Japanese Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Yoshida

Even today it is well known that South Korea sends many prostitutes to the world, many of whom are actually in Japan.  And, when Koreans were poorer than today, there must have been many women who were recruited by those in such business.  The traders must have had special connection with some units of the Imperial Army.

In addition, as Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan in 1910, Koreans were actually Japanese till 1945.

Anyway, what Japanese officials and experts on this issue point to is that the Imperial Government in Tokyo never issued an order to use Korean women for Imperial soldiers, though they admit that there were such women following Imperial troops. The Japanese authority today thinks those women were under private contracts.

So, South Koreans today lie that the Imperial Government was responsible for existence of those Korean women.  And, they lie also when claiming that 200,000 Korean women were abused for such a purpose.  It is a big lie.


### ###

In 1992, a professor of Seoul University and others made a survey on surviving 55 women who voluntarily submitted their names as the so-called comfort women.  An interview per person was conducted in five to six times taking long time.  But, it was judged that more than half of them gave garbled statements.  Finally, they could report testimonies of only 19 women.

Tsutomu Nishioka, a Japanese expert on the history of modern Korea, further checked contents of the reports on those 19 Korean women.  He found that only four of them were victims of "forced recruitment."  But, locations two of the four mentioned as their past work places were found to have not existed during WWII.  And, the remaining two of the four women identified themselves as professional prostitutes in written complaints they submitted to a court when the Japanese Government was set to sue by them.
 
So, finally, there are no Korean women identified so far as true victims of the Imperial Government of Japan that allegedly issued an order to abuse Korean women for Imperial soldiers.


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Mar 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
Mar 8:30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

"the Spirit said unto Philip" - Be a Local Hero

Be a Local Hero outside the US

Christ Jesus did not advance to Rome to conquer the world.

He could convert Romans into Judaism or Christianity but He didn't.

Rather, Christ told not to go to the way for foreigners.  He said that He came to directly rescue and save poor Israelites.

So, Christ positioned himself as a descendant of Abraham and one member of Israelites of the era 2000 years ago.

But from His work on poor Israelites, His power extended to the whole Roman Empire.  And along with time, it reached whole Europe and areas beyond it.  Now Christianity is the most influential religion in the world as it prevails in North America as well as Latin America.

So, from ancient Israel to the United States of today, the teaching of Christ Jesus took a long journey.  History looks meaningful only for this expansion of Christianity.

In this context, the American political and social involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan should be viewed though it is through the War on Terror.  This movement can be interpreted as that Christianity is moving from the US to the Islamic world if not simply superseding Islam.

Further, the unique relationship between the US and China can be also interpreted as symbolizing movement of Christianity from North America to the Asian Continent.

Indeed, even before WWII, more than 1,000 missions were dispatched from the US to China.  American Christian organizations have been eager to teach Christianity especially to Chinese.

But from the beginning, if Christ Jesus had converted all the ancient Romans to Judaism or Christianity and helped the Roman Empire conquer the whole Arabic region, Persia, India, and China, Christianity should have diffused and prevailed more easily to the today's Islamic world and the continental Asia without waiting for the foundation of the US.

Or, even by sacrificing this easier path, Christ Jesus decided to first save and cure poor and sick Israelites for his extraordinary love to Israelites.  

It also means that Christ Jesus teaches everybody outside the US to first save and help people where he or she lives but not to come to the US trying to save the world or anything else.

A great mission must start in a local place (but neither in the Roman Empire nor in the US), which must be a lesson we should learn from the great story of Christ Jesus.


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Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

"When he saw Jesus, he cried out" - History of Chinese Americans

The National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

History of Chinese Americans

In 1820, an arrival of the first Chinese at the US is reported by the immigration committee.

Between 1821 and 1840, more than 10 Chinese come to the US in the two decades.

In 1847, three Chinese students come to New York for study in Massachusetts as the first case.

1850: The total number of Chinese residents in California reaches 4,000.

1852: More than 20,000 Chinese arrives at San Francisco.

1857: A Chinese school is built in San Francisco.

1858: The Californian state legislature institutes a law to prohibit immigration of Chinese and Mongolian people.

1860: A national census reveals that there are 34,933 Chinese in the US.

1864: Chinese workers are employed for construction of the transcontinental railroad.

1865: The Central Pacific Railroad Company hires more than 10,000 Chinese.

1869: With completion of the transcontinental railroad, more than 15,000 Chinese have lost jobs.

1871: An anti-Chinese riot occurs in Los Angeles.

1972: The first Chinese who graduated from an American university, Yung Wing, organizes a Chinese educational mission to send Chinese youths to the US for study.

1878: The US Supreme Court rules that Chinese cannot obtain US citizenship.

In 1880s: Anti-Chinese riots occur in various cities in Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, etc.

1890: A national census indicates that there are 107,488 Chinese in the US.

1918: Asian residents in the US who joined the US Army during WWI is allowed to naturalize.

1943: The US Congress abolishes the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1960: The number of Chinese Americans gets to 433,000.

1965: President Johnson signed his name on the New Immigration Law to abolish the 1924 Immigration Law and allow for immigration from Asia.

1972: President Nixon visits China.

1980: A national census reports that there are 805,000 Chinese Americans in the US, who constitute the largest Asian ethnic group.

1996: Gary Locke becomes the first Chinese American who is elected as governor of state in Washington.

In 1998, Chinese Americans managed 2001 firms, employing 41,684 workers, and ran up 13.2 billion in sales in the US.

2001: Elaine Chao became the first Chinese American cabinet member in American history to serve as Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush.

2011: Yan Huo, a co-founder of Capula Investment management and is one of Wall Street's highest earning hedge fund managers, garners an estimated net worth of $201 million.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1850	4,018	—
1860	34,933	+769.4%
1870	63,199	+80.9%
1880	105,465	+66.9%
1890	107,488	+1.9%
1900	89,863	−16.4%
1910	71,531	−20.4%
1920	61,639	−13.8%
1930	74,954	+21.6%
1940	77,504	+3.4%
1950	117,629	+51.8%
1960	237,292	+101.7%
1970	435,062	+83.3%
1980	806,040	+85.3%
1990	1,645,472	+104.1%
2000	2,432,585	+47.8%
2010	3,347,229	+37.6%

Rank	City	State	Chinese-Americans	Percentage
1	San Francisco	California	172,181	21.4
2	Honolulu	Hawaii	38,330	10.2
3	Oakland	California	34,083	8.7
4	San Jose	California	63,434	6.7
5	New York City	New York	486,463	6.0
6	Plano	Texas	13,592	5.2
7	Sacramento	California	20,307	4.4
8	Seattle	Washington	27,216	4.1
9	Boston	Massachusetts	24,910	4.0
10	San Diego	California	35,661	2.7
11	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	30,069	2.0
12	Stockton	California	5,188	1.8
13	Los Angeles	California	66,782	1.8
14	Portland	Oregon	9,113	1.7
15	Chicago	Illinois	43,228	1.6
16	Anaheim	California	4,738	1.4
17	Houston	Texas	29,429	1.3
18	Austin	Texas	8,886	1.2
19	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	3,402	1.1
20	Riverside	California	2,985	1.0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American

The number of Chinese Americans 3.6 million as of 2006 is however almost nil in comparison with 1.3 billion Chinese living in China.  And new Chinese leaders who will have decisive influences on the Chinese people might have nothing to do with Chinese Americans.  But, how will Chinese Americans living in the US will be affected by such future leaders in China?  Probably not much, as those living in the US are Americans and not Chinese.



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Luk 8:27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
Luk 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.

"even the winds and the sea obey him" - Annexation of Korea to Japan

Tokyo...

Truth of Annexation of Korea to Japan

The Empire of Japan did not occupy and colonize Korea by force before WWII.

The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, was made by representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire in 1910. Negotiations were concluded on August 20, 1910. The document was signed on August 22, 1910.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Korea_Treaty_of_1910

Today most of experts in the world agree that this treaty was valid as an international treaty.

Those who support legality of this Treaty mainly refer to the Elements of International Law, first published in 1836, worked out by by Henry Wheaton.

Most of experts think that it was a common practice around 1900 that a nation that could not sustain itself economically and diplomatically was absorbed by another nation near it that had more influences, national resources, and administrative capability.  But of course, most of politicians in South Korea and North Korea today deny validity of the Treaty.

So, there are only few experts and politicians in Europe, the US, and other regions who doubt validity of the Treaty based on which the Empire of Japan annexed Korea.

However, this annexation can be regarded as a starting point of the troubled history of the Empire of Japan toward the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.  

First of all, you have to understand that the Kingdom of Korea was a failed kingdom in East Asia while the Empire of Japan succeeded in its industrialization, modernization, and Westernization in the late 19th century.

The Kingdom of Korea of course tried to carry out some reformation of its old social system and economy, while the Empire of Japan financially supported the Kingdom.  However, the Korean elite just enriched themselves, while a majority of its people, namely farmers, could not even read and write.

The royal government of the Kingdom had been freed from the centuries-long control by China as a result of the Japanese-Sino War (1894-1895), but it came under a strong influence of the Russian Empire.  It promoted a tense standoff between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire, leading to the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905).

After the Japanese-Russo War, some Korean elites started to think about annexation to the Empire of Japan as they knew reformation of Korea became impossible due to internal conflicts among Koreans and a desperately wide gap between the elites and farmers in Korea.

Some Japanese elites were against the idea of taking Korea under direct control.  It was expected that Tokyo had to use a huge amount of money to improve social and industrial condition in Korea.

However, as the Russian Empire continued to extend its influence to Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, the Imperial Government finally decided to annex Korea to the Empire.  So, the largest motivation for Tokyo to integrate Korea into the Empire was the military reason of stopping the Russian influence from coming down to Japan over the Korean Peninsula and the Sea of Japan.   

But as the Empire advanced to Korea, Manchuria became its front line.  To secure Korea, the Empire of Japan needed to secure Manchuria.  So, the Imperial military forces stationed in Korea and Manchu carried out establishment of Manchukuo, a nominally independent empire of Manchus, while the government in Tokyo had no such a plan.  Eventually, the venturous act by the Imperial military was authorized by the Imperial Government of Japan.  Japanese generals and bureaucrats took leading positions in the Manchuria Government.    

However, to secure Manchukuo, the Imperial troops had to face military challenges by Chinese troops and warlords around Manchkuo.  As they were attacked so often and badly, finally Imperial troops launched a full-scale military campaign in the northern region of China, that is in the south of Manchukuo.

Then, Chiang Kaishek, then Chinese President, started to attack international super-rich city Shanghai some Japanese Marine battalion was defending with some Western troops.  This battle around Shanghai led to the battle in Nanjing, the then Chinese capital, as the Imperial forces destroyed hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops.  Chiang Kaishek and other Chinese leaders fled further inland but continued to fight Imperial troops and divisions being dispatched from Japan proper and coming down from the front line in northern China.

This great and hot movement in the Chinese Continent alarmed the US Government.  They decided to support the government led by Chiang Kaishek in various ways, including sending voluntary air squadrons to fight Japanese planes in the Chinese continent.

And as Hitler attacked Britain, President Roosevelt wanted to join the war in Europe to help the UK.  So, Roosevelt decided to drive the Imperial Government into corner and have it start war against the US, since the Empire of Japan and Germany had built an alliance. The US Government stopped export of crude oil to the Empire whose major source of navy fuel was crude oil from the US.  Finally, the Imperial Government launched an attack at the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941.

So, the annexation of Korea resulted in the Japan-US war as part of WWII.


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Mat 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

"rebuked the wind and the raging of the water" - A Foreign Doctor in Hiroshima

A Foreign Doctor in Hiroshima

There is one foreign doctor who helped victims and the wounded in Hiroshima after the US atomic bomb attack on August 6, 1945.

Marcel Junod (May 14, 1904 – June 16, 1961) was a Swiss doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)... 

After the American dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) and the subsequent Japanese surrender, Junod organized the evacuation of POW camps and the Allied rescue of the often severely injured inmates. On August 30, he received photographic evidence and a telegraph description of the conditions in Hiroshima. He quickly organized an assistance mission and on September 8 became the first foreign doctor to reach the site. He was accompanied by an American investigation task force, two Japanese doctors, and 15 tons of medical supplies. He stayed there for five days, during which he visited all of the major hospitals, administered the distribution of supplies, and personally gave medical care. The photographs from Hiroshima, which he gave to the ICRC, were some of the first pictures of the city after the explosion to reach Europe. 

...On what remained of the station facade the hands of the clock had been stopped by the fire at 8.15. 

It was perhaps the first time in the history of humanity that the birth of a new era was recorded on the face of a clock...  

(Dr. Marcel Junod: Warrior without Weapons ICRC, Geneva, 1982, p. 300)

The Japanese public TV station NHK broadcast  this August 6 an animation film featuring Marcel Junod helping victims in Hiroshima, though the work was completed two years ago by a non-profit organization (NPO) of Hiroshima.

On September 1, the Japanese Foreign Ministry first showed Dr. Junod photographs of Hiroshima depicting the hell on earth that had been created when the city was consumed by a hot wind of 6,000 degrees. The next day a telegram arrived from an investigator who had been sent to Hiroshima. "Situation horrifying... Ninety percent of town razed... All hospitals destroyed or severely damaged... Have visited two provisional hospitals: conditions indescribable... Grave shortage of material, bandages, medicaments... Appeal allied high command asking supplies be parachuted immediately into center of town...Immediate action necessary..." More than 100,000 people had vanished in an instant, and another 100,000 were suffering and could not get proper treatment.

Dr. Junod raced to GHQ with the photographs and the telegram and negotiated a relief effort. The negotiations were difficult, but five days later he received a reply from Gen. Douglas MacArthur stating that the U.S. Army would not provide aid directly but that 15 tons of medicine and other medical supplies would be provided. There is no doubt that MacArthur's gratitude to Dr. Junod as benefactor of the Allied Forces in China lay behind his decision. On the morning of September 8, six U.S. Army planes took off from Atsugi Air Field carrying 15 tons of medical supplies. As they entered the skies over the city, Dr. Junod saw below him "the chalky desert looking almost like ivory in the sun."

While looking into the extent of the destruction, Dr. Junod also treated victims. Among the 15 tons of medical supplies that he had succeeded in getting to Hiroshima was penicillin, which had not yet been introduced to Japan. The Japanese doctors were astonished by its effectiveness. Many more victims would have died had Dr. Junod not provided medical supplies. He was without a doubt the right man to serve as Hiroshima's benefactor. Dr. Junod was unable to go to Nagasaki, but he spearheaded the effort to get medicine and other relief supplies to the city, and records show that the lives of many people were saved as a result.

http://junod.biz/

The leader of the NPO that produced this animation is a wife of a medical doctor in Hiroshima.  She was engaged in an international medical aid project.  In 2004, she visited Iran where she met many citizens who were still suffering an aftereffect of gas shells Iraqi troops had used in the Iran-Iraq War.  Those war victims asked her to tell the world this tragedy in Iran in a similar manner Japanese appeal to the world for the tragedy of Hiroshima.

After her trip to Iran, she started to think about a new way for her activities.  Then she came to wonder who helped Hiroshima victims after the atomic bomb attack in 1945.  And finally she focused on Dr. Junod to produce an animation film about his heroic work in Hiroshima.

In addition, the US occupation forces that controlled Japan after WWII tried to hide the real state of Hiroshima.  They thought the horrible effect of the atomic bomb should be hidden from the world.  If people in the world had been shocked too much at the degree of damage on human bodies, the US might have been criticized.  The tragic states of Japanese survivors should not be known by the American public.  So, it is said that the General Head Quarters of the occupation forces of the US and the Allies made some effort to cover and conceal the heroic work of Marcel Junod in Hiroshima in September 1945.

Actually, the GHQ soon forbade Dr. Junod to access Hiroshima for the nominal purpose of guarding military secret. Without this cruel measure, it is believed that lives of more Hiroshima victims should have been saved.

So, it took some time for the medical association of Hiroshima to rediscover the great contribution by the Swiss doctor.  Yet finally, they raised a monument for him in 1979.

  http://hiroshimaboyschoir.blogspot.jp/2011/06/blog-post.html


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Luk 8:24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.
Luk 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

"as they sailed he fell asleep" - Civilian Casualties in Asia in WWII

A North Pacific Ocean Coast, Japan

Civilian Casualties in Asia in WWII

There is an opinion among some American journalists that the Emperor of Japan should officially apologize to Asian peoples for the atrocity the Imperial Army and Navy inflicted to them during WWII.

But there are still doubts about the estimated number of civilian deaths in each Asian country for which the Empire of Japan was responsible:

Included with total war dead are victims of Japanese war crimes. 

R. J. Rummel estimates the civilian victims at 5,424,000. Detailed by country: China 3,695,000; Indochina 457,000; Korea 378,000; Indonesia 375,000; Malaya-Singapore 283,000; Philippines 119,000, Burma 60,000 and Pacific Islands 57,000. Rummel estimates POW deaths in Japanese custody at 539,000 Detailed by country: China 400,000; French Indochina 30,000; Philippines 27,300; Netherlands 25,000; France 14,000; UK 13,000; UK-Colonies 11,000; US 10,700; Australia 8,000.[8][63]

Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian victims at 20,365,000. Detailed by country: China 12,392,000; Indochina 1,500,000; Korea 500,000; Dutch East Indies 3,000,000; Malaya and Singapore 100,000; Philippines 500,000; Burma 170,000; Forced laborers in Southeast Asia 70,000, 30,000 interned non-Asian civilians; Timor 60,000; Thailand and Pacific Islands 60,000.[64] Gruhl estimates POW deaths in Japanese captivity at 331,584. Detailed by country: China 270,000; Netherlands 8,500; U.K. 12,433; Canada 273; Philippines 20,000; Australia 7,412; New Zealand 31; and the United States 12,935[64]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

The above described numbers are all very dubious and groundless.

Especially Korea was at the time part of Japan as the peninsula region had been annexed to the Empire in 1910.  Since there were no large-scale insurgences in Korea during WWII, there could not be such big casualties in Korea as 500,000.  It is a lie.

There were no major conflicts between the Imperial troops stationed in Indonesia and the Indonesian people.  It is thought the number of civilian casualties of Indonesian people was just thousands.

As Imperial troops could not well invade and occupy the eastern part of India, though they tried hard, there could not be such a large number of Indian civilian casualties as 3,000,000.  According to other American data, the number of deaths and missing persons in India during WWII was 48,674.

In Vietnam, there were no uprisings of Vietnamese people against Imperial troops, there could not be 1,500,000 deaths in Indochina.

These numbers cannot be all trusted.  It is thought as they wanted big compensation from Japan they overstated the number of casualties after WWII.

How could 100,000 Japanese troops stationed in Vietnam for three and half years kill 1,500,000 Vietnamese?

How could  300,000 Japanese troops stationed in Indonesia for three and half years kill 3,000,000 Indonesians?

Those numbers are all exaggerated.  How could 800,000 soldiers of the Imperial Army and Navy kill 20,000,000 Asians in three and a half years during WWII.

Even in the Nanjing Battle in late 1937 and early 1938, it is estimated that the number of deaths of Chinese civilians was about 10,000 in addition to 30,000 Chinese soldiers executed after having been taken prisoner.

From the beginning, Imperial troops and fleets advanced to Southeast Asia for natural resources as the US stopped exporting crude oil, iron, etc. to the Empire of Japan months before the Pearl Harbor attack.  Japanese troops were not a band of gangsters.  They did fight Western colonial rulers in Asia, including British troops, Dutch troops, American troops, etc.  Imperial Japanese soldiers did not fought in WWII to kill civilian Asians so groundlessly.  The world is so wrong and foolish to believe that the Imperial military of Japan killed 20,000,000 Asian civilians in 3.5 years during WWII.  It is a big lie.

The most embarrassing thing is that even some professors of Harvard University trust these groundless figures overstated.

Anyway, in this situation, we cannot simply ask the Emperor of Japan to handle the case.

In addition, after WWII, 3,000 ex-Japanese soldiers joined Indonesians who fought for independence against their old colonial ruler Netherlanders.  If Imperial soldiers had killed millions of Indonesian civilians, they should not have been asked to join the independence war after the Imperial military left Indonesia in 1945.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution)

Remember that those numbers about the Asian civilian deaths killed by the Imperial troops of Japan during WWII are all false.


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Luk 8:22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.
Luk 8:23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.
Luk 8:24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.
Luk 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

"Let us go over unto the other side of the lake" - Japan in the Four Seasons

Sagami Bay, Japan

Japan in the Four Seasons

This summer is also hot in Japan.

The ice capped area in the Arctic Ocean gets reportedly smaller and smaller.  Indeed, the global warming is going on, though not much argument has been made in these days on CO2.

Japan has traditionally four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  There is also a rainy season called Tsuyu before the summer.  The season changes gradually in Japan.

When you come to Japan in August, you would suspect that Japan is just on the equator.  But when you visit Japan, you will find you can ski in almost half part of Japan.  But the best season in Japan is said to be the autumn.  You can enjoy autumn color of leaves for weeks.  This change of the environment proceeds from the south to the north of the Japanese Archipelago.

In a sense, a year of Japan starts with  blossoming of cherry blossoms (called Sakura) in the early spring, following efflorescence of Japanese apricots called Ume in February.

In opposition, the season changes abruptly in most part of North America.  One day, it can be like the late summer but in the night it turns to be the late autumn, and the early winter in the next morning.

The point at issue is that Japanese people have been living in this natural environment generation after generation for tens of thousands of years.

Unlike most of nations in Europe and Asia, Japan has not experienced a large scale change of residents and inhabitants through its long history.  People who lived in Japan 10,000 years ago are part of direct descendants of today's Japanese.

Though various people, tribes, and clans came to Japan from the Asian Continent through Siberia, the Sea of Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea and even Southeast Asia, they did not come to Japan to conquer it to replace old inhabitants.  New comers mingled with earlier inhabitants.  So, with the very original inhabitants, various tribes from overseas constituted the present Japanese race in the very special natural environment featuring the four distinct seasons.

This condition has created the unique characteristics of the Japanese people.  And the sense of religion and spiritualism of the Japanese people have been formed through their long and disturbed history in the Japanese Archipelago, since Japan has never been conquered by foreign forces and never been colonized.

That is why you find Japanese are unique unlike Koreans and Chinese when you know Japan more.

And, most of Koreans and Chinese find that Japanese are unique unlike them, too, when they know Japan more.

That is why even most of Western economist of the Nobel Prize class failed to understand the Japanese economy in 1990s when Japan was suffering the lost decade and in 2000s when Japan was undergoing difficult deflation.

And now, the EU and the US look like Japan of 1990s and 2000s.

You had better respect Japan more, as Japan is the only non-European country that modernized, industrialized, and Westernized the nation to be a major power before WWII.

By the way, there is a theory that a mini ice age is to come soon.  It might be a North American type of phenomenon or a Japanese type.  It might come soon after the summit of the global warming or gradually eroding the atmosphere.  Anyway, everything changes.  Even Japanese change along with history.

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Luk 8:22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

"first to go and bury my father" - The Takeshima Islands

The Sagami Bay, Southwest of Tokyo

The Takeshima Islands

The Korean Peninsula was annexed to the Empire of Japan between 1910 and 1945.

Thus, Koreans are trying to  revenge this past.

In this movement, Korea today claims to the world that the Sea of Japan should be called the East Sea.  However, the East Sea is just part of the Sea of Japan (where Takeshima Island is situated).  Traditionally Koreans called the sea area off the Korean Peninsula the East Sea.  So, the East Sea is just part of the Sea of Japan facing Russia and Japan.

In this irrational manner, South Koreans today also claim that Takeshima Island belongs to South Korea, which is denied by historical facts.

Now, the Japanese Government has a Web site to explain how the Takeshima Islands in the Sea of Japan belong to Japan.

Outline of Takeshima Issue 

1. Recognition of Takeshima 

In Japan, a group of islands currently known as Takeshima were once called "Matsushima" and the island now known as Utsuryo, located approximately 92 km west-northwest of Takeshima, used to be called "Takeshima" or "Isotakeshima." Although there has been a period of temporary confusion concerning the names of Takeshima and Utsuryo Island due to an error in the charting of Utsuryo Island by European explorers and others, it is obvious from a variety of written documents that Japan has long recognized the existence of "Matsushima" and "Takeshima". For example, on many maps, including the Kaisei Nippon Yochi Rotei Zenzu (Revised Complete Map of Japanese Land and Roads - first published in 1779) by Sekisui Nagakubo, which is the most prominent published cartographic projection of Japan, the locations of Utsuryo Island and Takeshima are accurately recorded at their current position between the Korean Peninsula and the Oki Islands. On the other hand, there is no evidence showing that the republic of Korea(ROK) has long recognized the existence of Takeshima.

2. Sovereignty of Takeshima 

In Japan, since Jinkichi Ohya and Ichibei Murakawa, who were both merchants of Yonago in the Houki-no-kuni region in the Tottori clan, received permission for passage to Utsuryo Island (then "Takeshima") from the Shogunate via the feudal lord of Tottori at the beginning of the Edo Period in the early 17th century, the two families took turns in traveling to Utsuryo Island once every year and engaging in activities such as harvesting abalone, hunting sea lions and the felling bamboo and other trees. Takeshima that was in the route to Utsuryo Island was used as a docking point for ships and a fishing ground. Japan established the sovereignty of Takeshima by the beginning of the Edo Period, in the mid 17th century at the very latest. 

3. Prohibition of Passage to Utsuryo Island 

The business activities on Utsuryo Island conducted by the Ohya and Murakawa families continued peacefully for about 70 years. However, when the Murakawa family traveled to the island in 1692, and when the Ohya family traveled there in 1693, they encountered many Koreans on the island engaged in fishing. This led to the initiation of negotiations between the governments of Japan and Korea as to the sovereignty of Utsuryo Island. Eventually the Shogunate issued a ban on the passage of ships to Utsuryo Island in January 1696 (So called "Takeshima Ikken - The Affair of Takeshima"). On the other hand, passage to Takeshima was not banned. This clearly shows that Japan has regarded Takeshima as its territory since then.

4. Incorporation of Takeshima into Shimane Prefecture 

Around Takeshima, full-scale sea lion hunting started at the beginning of the 1900s. However, because sea lion hunting soon became excessively competitive, Yozaburo Nakai, a resident of the Oki Islands in Shimane Prefecture, to stabilize his sea lion hunting business, submitted a request in September 1904 to three government ministers (Home Minister, Foreign Minister, and Agriculture and Commerce Minister) for the incorporation of the Lyanko Islands (note) into the territory, as well as for a 10-year lease. Upon this request, the government, in consideration of the opinions of the Shimane Prefectural government, issued a cabinet decision that the government reaffirmed its intention to incorporate Takeshima into Shimane Prefecture and claim sovereignty over the island.
(Note) "Lyanko Islands" was a Japanese colloquial term for Takeshima derived from "Liancourt Islands," the Western name given to Takeshima. At that time, Utsuryo Island was called "Matsushima" in addition to "Takeshima" and the current Takeshima called "Lyanko Islands" in addition to "Matsushima" because of charting errors by European explorers.

5. Takeshima Immediately After World War II 

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Instruction Note (SCAPIN) No. 677 issued by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) in 1946 classified Takeshima as one of the specified areas where Japan should cease exerting political or administrative power. In addition, SCAPIN No. 1033 designated Takeshima as an area outside the zone within which Japanese fishing boats were permitted to operate. However, both SCAPIN documents contained a statement that they should not be regarded as an ultimate determination in the policy of the Allies concerning the assignment of Japanese sovereign territory. It is also clear that the treatment of Takeshima before the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which established the territory of Japan, became effective does not influence the issue of the sovereignty of Takeshima.

6. Treatment of Takeshima in the Process of Drafting the San Francisco Peace Treaty 

The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed in September 1951, stipulates that Japan, recognizing the independence of Korea, renounces all right title and claim to Korea, including the islands of Quelpart, Port Hamilton and Dagelet". Upon learning of the content of this part of the Treaty drafted by the United States and the United Kingdom, the ROK requested the United States to add Takeshima as one of the regions for which Japan would renounce all right, title and claim. The United States rejected the request by responding that Takeshima had never been treated as part of Korea and does not appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea. Such correspondence clearly shows that Takeshima was affirmed as part of the territory of Japan.

7. Takeshima as a Bombing Range for U.S. Forces 

The U.S. Forces used Takeshima as a bombing range for the U.S. Forces from July 1951 based on Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Instruction Note (SCAPIN) No. 2160. In July 1952, as the U.S. Forces expressed its desire to continue to use Takeshima, the Joint Committee established for the purpose of the implementing of the Japan-U.S. Administrative Agreement, designated Takeshima as a bombing range for the U.S. Forces. The Agreement stipulated that the Joint Committee shall serve as the means for consultation in determining the facilities and areas in Japan. Therefore, the fact that Takeshima was discussed by the Committee and the fact that the island was designated as an area for use by the U.S. Forces stationed in Japan clearly indicate that Takeshima is part of the territory of Japan.

8. Installation of "Syngman Rhee Line" and Illegal Occupation of Takeshima by the Republic of Korea 

In January 1952, the President of the ROK, Syngman Rhee, issued a declaration concerning maritime sovereignty, with which he installed the so-called "Syngman Rhee Line". Installation of this line encompassing the Takeshima islands was a unilateral act in contravention of international law. In July 1953, a Japanese patrol vessel of the Maritime Safety Agency (now the Japan Coast Guard) was fired on by Korean officers supporting and protecting Korean fishermen. In June 1954, the ROK Ministry of Home Affairs announced that the ROK Coast Guard had dispatched a permanent battalion to Takeshima. Since then, the ROK has kept security personnel stationed on Takeshima and constructed lodgings, a monitoring facility, lighthouse, port and docking facilities.
The occupation of Takeshima by the ROK is illegal, with no basis in international law. No measure taken by the ROK concerning Takeshima during its illegal occupation has any legal justification. Such acts are not acceptable in any way, given Japan'position on its sovereignty over Takeshima. Japan has been consistently making strong protests against each and every measure taken by the ROK with respect to Takeshima and demanding the withdrawal of the measure.

9. Proposal of Submission to the International Court of Justice 

Since the installation of the "Syngman Rhee Line" by the ROK, Japan has repeatedly protested against the ROK's actions, such as claims of sovereignty over Takeshima, fishing activities around Takeshima, firing at patrol vessels and the construction of structures on the island. With the intention to peacefully resolve the dispute, Japan proposed, with a note verbal, in September 1954 to the ROK the submission of the dispute to the International Court of Justice; the ROK rejected the proposal in October of the same year. In addition, on the occasion of Foreign Ministerial talks in March 1962, Zentaro Kosaka, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, made a proposal to Choi Duk-Shin, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ROK, to refer the issue to the Court, and again this proposal was not accepted by the ROK. This situation has remained the same until now.

 http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/takeshima/position.html

As Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan from 1910 to 1945, South Koreans are trying to avenge the past history on the current Japanese.  South Koreans are trying to get the part of the Japanese territory Takeshima no matter how it is clear and self-evident that the islands in the Sea of Japan belong to Japan.

Truth of Japan's Annexation of the Korean Peninsula

For another instance, the UK colonized various African and Asian regions, nations, and kingdoms. The British took natural resources from those colonies to Great Britain to manufacture various products.  Then it sold them to people in colonies.  Of course, for example, some Indians earned money through trade with the UK, but the UK Government forced them to deposit money they earned in banks in London.  The rule of the UK in colonies was essentially complete exploitation.

But, the rule of the Empire of Japan in Korea was utterly different while the Empire annexed and governed the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.  The Empire tried to pull up the social and industrial level of Korea as much as possible.  Tokyo wanted to make Korea eventually an integral part of the Empire with equal status.  Japanese leaders at the time wanted to make Korea true extension of the empire but not a simple colony.

The Empire of Japan started modernization and westernization since the middle of the 19th century over the fall of the last samurai regime the Tokugawa shogun presided over.  While the Empire succeeded in tackling this difficult task, it observed the Korean Kingdom.  The Korean Kingdom had also closed the country like Japan of the samurai era.  So, Japanese politicians forced Korea to open the door, though Tokyo used some military powers to do so.  It was partly because the Russian Empire was aiming at colonizing East Asia; the military pressure from the Russian Empire on the Empire of Japan was so huge.  Japanese needed a big buffer zone in the Korean Peninsula as Russians got big interest in Manchuria, north of the Peninsula, through imperialistic negotiation with the Qing dynasty.

But after decades, Japanese leaders found that the Korean Kingdom did not show progress enough to stand with the Empire against Russians invading East Asia.  So, Tokyo decided to annex Korea to the Empire.

At the time, starvation was prevailing in the Korean Peninsula as the skill level of Korean agriculture was far behind the Japanese one.  So, Tokyo offered to the Korean Government two thirds of funds needed to save starving Koreans.

After integration of Korea, the Japanese Government allocated 10% of the Japanese national budget to Korea so as to develop and improve social infrastructure, educational and medical systems, railroad systems, etc. As a result, the population of Korea increased to 22.5 million in 1940, though it was only 13.3 million before 1910 when Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan.

Before the political integration of Korea into the Empire, the Korean society was split into two: the noble class and farmers, etc.  The Korean noble class respected Confucius and the Chinese traditional culture.  They used mainly Chinese letters in reading and writing, while the literacy rate among all the Koreans was less than 10% before the annexation.  But under the Japanese rule, it was recommended that Korean schools taught Hangul letters which were unique Korean letters and which were easy for ordinary Koreans to learn.  Of curse, the Japanese language was also taught in schools in Korea as Koreans were now of Japanese nationality, and the literacy rate among Koreans went up to 65% by 1936.  In this way, Japanese liberated poor Koreans from an oppressive environment they were forced to live in by the Korean noble class.

So, the Korean society could undergo modernization and westernization with huge support and help from the Empire of Japan.  Similar condition was observed in development of Taiwan that had been under the Japanese administration since 1895.  Indeed, the Empire of Japan invested funds into those areas annexed to the Empire more than it could get from them.  

However, after WWII, Koreans got independent, though they were split into two nations: one under the strong influence of the Soviet Union and another of the US.

The Korean Peninsula also unfortunately underwent a war from 1950 to 1953 between the South and the North.  Behind the South there was the US and behind the North there were two communist countries: the USSR and China.

And, today, Koreans never cease to blame Japan for the past Japanese rule on the Korean Peninsula, as if a prosperous and highly-civilized kingdom had been conquered, controlled, and colonized by militarist Japanese.  They never cease to blame Japan even in the US.  But the story on the Japanese side is very different as you now know.

Seoul Before and After the Annexation to the Empire of Japan
http://azplanning.cocolog-nifty.com/neko/2011/07/post-47ee.html 

The Empire of Japan founded the Seul Imperial University to educate Koreans.
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/nikkanrekisi.html

The Empire of Japan built in Korea the second largest hydro power generation plant in Asia to supply electricity for Korea and Manchuria.
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/nikkanrekisi.html

A Lie about Korean Women

There is a Japanese man who falsely diffused the story of Korean women who were forced to work for Imperial soldiers by the Imperial Government of Japan.

Though the man actually admitted that he had lied after his book on this theme were widely read, strong influences of his false act for justice could be widely seen in South Korea and the U.S.  The book explained how Korean women had been taken forcibly by officials of the Imperial Government of Japan without consent into the special work for Imperial soldiers.  But it was later proved to be a fictitious story.   

The Japanese Government conducted research, several times since 1990s, on any official documents left indicating that the Imperial Government had been officially involved in collecting such Korean women.  But no evidence was found.

Yūto Yoshida (born 15 October 1913) is a Japanese writer and former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army. He has published under a variety of pen names, including Seiji Yoshida, Tōji Yoshida, and Eiji Yoshida. 

Originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, Yoshida was stationed in Korea, then a colony of Japan, during World War II; he claimed that he assisted police to kidnap over 2,000 women from various rural areas of the Korean peninsula to serve as comfort women.[3] After the war, he ran as a Japanese Communist Party candidate in the 1947 Shimonoseki city council elections, but was defeated. 

In 1977 and again in 1983, Yoshida published memoirs about his actions during the war.[3] His books and a subsequent 1991 media interview have been credited with bringing about an apology to Korea by Foreign Affairs minister Yōhei Kōno.[4] As Yoshida's memoirs became widely known, he began to attract suspicion. Ikuhiko Hata, a historian at Takushoku University and one of Yoshida's leading critics, pointed to inconsistencies between Yoshida's 1977 and 1983 memoirs, using these to assert that his claims are fabricated.[3] South Korean newspaper interviews with residents of Jeju Island, where the forced recruitment allegedly took place, found no one who admitted to remembering a sweep through a button factory there which Yoshida detailed in his 1983 memoirs.[2][3] In May 1996, weekly magazine Shūkan Shinchō published remarks by Yoshida made to them in an interview, admitting that portions of his work had been made up. He stated that "There is no profit in writing the truth in books. Hiding the facts and mixing them with your own assertions is something that newspapers do all the time too".[5][6][7] In June 2009, 李栄薫(이영훈), who is a professor of Seoul National University, argued that Yoshida's testimony has spread among Korean society after Yoshida published books.  

Since then, revisionist historians seeking to deny or downplay the existence of comfort women commonly mention Yoshida and his testimony; they cherry-pick his work as an example of low-credibility writing and attack his claims that specific women in certain locations were enslaved as comfort women, with the aim of denying that any women anywhere were victims of sexual violence by the Imperial Japanese Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Yoshida 

Even today it is well known that South Korea sends many prostitutes to the world, many of whom are actually in Japan.  And, when Koreans were poorer than today, there must have been many women who were recruited by those in such business.  The traders must have had special connection with some units of the Imperial Army. 

In addition, as Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan in 1910, Koreans were actually Japanese till 1945.

Anyway, what Japanese officials and experts on this issue point to is that the Imperial Government in Tokyo never issued an order to use Korean women for Imperial soldiers, though they admit that there were such women following Imperial troops. The Japanese authority today thinks those women were under private contracts. 

So, South Koreans today lie that the Imperial Government was responsible for existence of those Korean women.  And, they lie also when claiming that 200,000 Korean women were abused for such a purpose.  It is a big lie. 


### ###

In 1992, a professor of Seoul University and others made a survey on surviving 55 women who voluntarily submitted their names as the so-called comfort women.  An interview per person was conducted in five to six times taking long time.  But, it was judged that more than half of them gave garbled statements.  Finally, they could report testimonies of only 19 women.

Tsutomu Nishioka, a Japanese expert on the history of modern Korea, further checked contents of the reports on those 19 Korean women.  He found that only four of them were victims of "forced recruitment."  But, locations two of the four mentioned as their past work places were found to have not existed during WWII.  And, the remaining two of the four women identified themselves as professional prostitutes in written complaints they submitted to a court when the Japanese Government was set to sue by them.
  
So, finally, there are no Korean women identified so far as true victims of the Imperial Government of Japan that allegedly issued an order to abuse Korean women for Imperial soldiers.


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Mat 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.