Comfort Women in Indonesia

Our father tried to conceal our existence, but to no avail. The (Japanese) soldiers searched from room to room and found us. They forced my parents to give us up: in return they would be paid. Failure to agree with these conditions would have meant instant death for them. Regretfully, with tears falling down from their eyes, they handed us over.

>Rika of Indonesia

There is something wrong with the Japanese psyche. There truly is. It’s not that they did bad things in the past – many other countries have a stained history as well – but refusal to even acknowledge past brutalities – let alone apologize – seems to be beyond them.

I’m talking about comfort women of course, a politically correct term for “sex slaves”. And the truly disgraceful comments by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that there was “no evidence” that Japan coerced Asian women into working as sex slaves during the Second World War.

But why do the Japanese refuse to acknowledge the truth? For sure Abe cannot actually believe what he says is true, so it must mean then that his lying is more about “saving face” of the most “honorable” nation on Earth.

But anyone can lie. It’s far more honorable to apologize. Like Ronald Reagan – not a great president admittedly – but at least he had the guts to formally apologize for the interment of Japanese Americans during World War Two. And then there’s the American government’s unreserved apology to black Americans for slavery and Germany’s apology to Jews for their extermination under fascism.

So come on Abe. Be a man and apologize!