The U.S. a “Major Battleground” for “Comfort Woman” Revisionism: Addressing the Surge of Japanese Historical Denial in Japan and the U.S.

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

The backlash against former “comfort women” and those who support them through research, activism, and journalism has intensified since the beginning of the second Abe administration in December 2012, and especially after Asahi Shimbun’s retraction of decades-old articles on the subject in August 2014. The revisionist discourse characterizing the “comfort woman” issue itself as a fabrication proliferated among conservatives in Japan, who now consider the United States to be a "major battlefield" in the "history war," assuming that they have already prevailed in the domestic debate. The right-wing revisionists are holding public events to mobilize first-generation Japanese residents in U.S. cities and challenging "comfort women" memorials in North America among other things in their effort to deny the historical facts about "comfort women."

This interdisciplinary roundtable features those who engage with the “comfort woman” issue as scholars, activists and educators at various locales in Japan and in the U.S. How can we, and should we respond to the ongoing controversy?

Each discussant will have 10 minutes to address their reflections, after which there will be a discussion among the panelists and audience. Hayashi, a leading Japanese historian of modern history and one of the most recognized scholars of the “comfort woman” issue, will share his view on the controversy in Japan. Anthropologist Yamaguchi will discuss the right-wing revisionism in Japan based on her fieldwork from the past year. Other three discussants share their perspectives based on the ongoing controversy over Japan’s historical revisionism in the U.S.: Activist Koyama reports about Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization she co-founded in response to the surge of Japanese right-wing in the U.S.; Feminist scholar Hanawa discusses the situation in New York City, grounding it in the history of both Asian American feminism from the late 60s and the idea of "Asian Women" and its mobilization by the history deniers; Focusing on Los Angeles, another location of the intense controversy on the “comfort woman” statue in Glendale, historian Hirano discusses how universities, as a place for the production and examination of knowledge, should respond to highly politicized, ongoing issues.

Area of Study

• Japan

Session Organizer

• Tomomi Yamaguchi, Montana State University

Chair

• Tomomi Yamaguchi, Montana State University

Discussants

• Yukiko Hanawa, New York University

• Hirofumi Hayashi, Kanto Gakuin University

• Katsuya Hirano, University of California, Los Angeles

• Emi Koyama, Independent Scholar

• Tomomi Yamaguchi, Montana State University