The lunar calendar dates in the Kojiki were ‘confirmed’ by the Emperor Kammu in the 8th Century C.E. and after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the Japanese government switched calendars, scholars fussed about and decided on the gregorian calendar date of February 11.

During the Meiji era, the day was proclaimed “Empire Day” in 1872, as a celebration of national unity and homage to the imperial line.  Notably, the Japanese government also chose this date in 1889 to promulgate the Meiji Constitution. The annual celebration of empire (with not so subtle overtones of imperialism at key moments in history) was scuttled after World ]]> Couple of quick notes from across the sea…today is National Foundation Day in Japan.  Calculations derived from the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki date the beginning of the Japanese imperial line and the founding of the Japanese nation to February 13, 661 B.C.E., with the Emperor Jimmu getting the credit for both occasions.  While the early chapters of these two texts are generally considered mythological…what the heck, I’m in no position to argue.  It’s like dating 5000 years of Chinese history back to the Yellow Emperor, if people believe it, that’s great, more power to ‘em.

The lunar calendar dates in the Kojiki were ‘confirmed’ by the Emperor Kammu in the 8th Century C.E. and after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the Japanese government switched calendars, scholars fussed about and decided on the gregorian calendar date of February 11.

During the Meiji era, the day was proclaimed “Empire Day” in 1872, as a celebration of national unity and homage to the imperial line.  Notably, the Japanese government also chose this date in 1889 to promulgate the Meiji Constitution. The annual celebration of empire (with not so subtle overtones of imperialism at key moments in history) was scuttled after World War II.  The current holiday dates from 1966.

So, anyway, I’m thinking sushi sometime this week…

China and the recently crowned installed anointed sworn in (x2) Obama administration are already in a currency tiff.  I get paid in US dollars, so steady as she goes if you please…

At The China Beat, Eric Sezekorn reviews Yasheng Huang’s Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State.

Interesting counterpoint to Huang’s economic analysis of 1980s rural China: The Paris Review has anther excerpt from The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up, a collection of Liao Yiwu’s encounters with people on the margins of Chinese society. In this episode, Liao talks with a peasant named Zeng Yinglong, who in 1985 declared his hometown in Sichuan Province an independent kingdom and proclaimed himself emperor. (h/t Reflections in a Chinese Eye)

Finally, via FT Passport, Obamamania has reached the big time: ESL textbooks for Japanese learners of English.  “His speeches are so moving, and he also uses words such as ‘yes, we can,’ ‘change’ and ‘hope’ that even Japanese people can memorize!”

On happier note, January 7 is the “Festival of Seven Herbs” (七草の節句 nanakusa no sekku) in Japan.  The Japanese eat a porridge made of seven herbs called, 七草粥, nanakusa-gayu for longevity, luck, and health.

Today is also the birthday of Sammo Hung 洪金宝.  The stocky (but smooth) Hong Kong action star turns 57.

The court acknowledged that both the women and the workers had been forced by Japanese military and industry but that neither could sue for monetary damages, claiming that Chinese citizens forfeited their rights to compensation in a 1972 joint statement between China and Japan in which “Beijing renounced war reparations from Japan, a decision supporting the government’s position that postwar agreements cleared Japan of responsibility for future individual claims.”

The landmark ruling effectively puts the kibosh on a host of similar lawsuits brought against Japan’s government and some of its leading companies by Koreans, Chinese and others forced into prostitution or slave labor. The Chinese foreign ministry–quite rightly–denounced the verdict, describing the rulings as “’illegal and invalid’ and calling the court’s interpretation of the 1972 statement as ‘arbitrary.’”

Estimates of the number ]]> Following up on yesterday’s post about the Japanese Supreme Court hearing two cases involving forced labor and forced prostitution. In a ruling early yesterday, the court overturned a lower court ruling awarding five laborers compensation for forced labor on Japanese construction sites. Late Friday afternoon, the court denied two Chinese women compensation despite their claims of being kidnapped and coerced to work as prostitutes by the Japanese army.*

The court acknowledged that both the women and the workers had been forced by Japanese military and industry but that neither could sue for monetary damages, claiming that Chinese citizens forfeited their rights to compensation in a 1972 joint statement between China and Japan in which “Beijing renounced war reparations from Japan, a decision supporting the government’s position that postwar agreements cleared Japan of responsibility for future individual claims.”

The landmark ruling effectively puts the kibosh on a host of similar lawsuits brought against Japan’s government and some of its leading companies by Koreans, Chinese and others forced into prostitution or slave labor. The Chinese foreign ministry–quite rightly–denounced the verdict, describing the rulings as “’illegal and invalid’ and calling the court’s interpretation of the 1972 statement as ‘arbitrary.’”

Estimates of the number of women forced to work as prostitutes by the Japanese army range from 50,000 to as high as 200,000. The stories told by the women in the NYT article are simply horrifying. Perhaps only slightly less so are the stories of the men forced to work as slaves for Japanese companies during the war, often suffering long-term effects from the physical and emotional stress.

Following on the heels of the news out of Japan comes a shocking story that US servicemen might have also patronized brothels established by the same official administrative bureau that had originally brought the comfort women to Japan.

Via HNN and AP:

Japan’s practice of enslaving women to provide sex for its troops during World War II has a little-known sequel: After its surrender — with tacit approval from the U.S. occupation authorities — Japan set up a similar system for U.S. troops.

An Associated Press review of historical documents shows that U.S. authorities permitted the official brothel system to operate, despite internal reports that women were being coerced into prostitution.

Tens of thousands of women were employed to provide cheap sex to U.S. troops until spring 1946, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur shut the brothels down. The documents show that the brothels were rushed into operation as American forces poured into Japan beginning in August 1945.

“Sadly, we police had to set up sexual comfort stations for the occupation troops,” recounts the official history of the Ibaraki Prefectural Police Department, whose jurisdiction is just northeast of Tokyo. “The strategy was, through the special work of experienced women, to create a breakwater to protect regular women and girls.”

According to AP, on the opening night of the first brothel in Ibaraki, over 500 occupation soldiers queued in the streets for the chance to pay the equivalent of 50 cents for sex with one of the women inside. While there is no evidence that the women in this particular establishment were among those kidnapped from China, Korea or the other countries under Japanese control, none of this puts occupation authorities in a particularly good light especially if the plan received the go-ahead from US officers with knowledge that sexual slavery was used in the Japanese official brothel system.

—————–
*Maybe I don’t know enough about the subject, but I kind of feel that all prostitution is–on some level–coerced. Not many little girls grow up with the dream of some day becoming a hooker.

Today BBC reports (via HNN):

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has apologized in parliament for the country’s use of women as sex slaves during World War II.

The apology comes after Mr Abe was criticized by Asian neighbors for previous comments casting doubt on whether the women were coerced.

Mr Abe told parliament: “I apologies here and now as prime minister.”

This appears to be part of a concerted bid to reduce the fall-out of earlier comments, a BBC correspondent says.

Mr Abe said, during a debate in parliament’s upper house, that he stood by an official 1993 statement in which Japan acknowledged the imperial army set up and ran brothels for its troops during the war.

“As I frequently say, I ]]> Earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, seeking to shore up his crumbling base domestically, ripped open old wounds by publicly questioning the accounts of thousands of women forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese army during World War II. Abe suggested that “no historical proof exisisted” that these women had been coerced into service as these women claimed, despite a 1993 Japanese goverment study and official report that found the women’s stories credible.

Today BBC reports (via HNN):

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has apologized in parliament for the country’s use of women as sex slaves during World War II.

The apology comes after Mr Abe was criticized by Asian neighbors for previous comments casting doubt on whether the women were coerced.

Mr Abe told parliament: “I apologies here and now as prime minister.”

This appears to be part of a concerted bid to reduce the fall-out of earlier comments, a BBC correspondent says.

Mr Abe said, during a debate in parliament’s upper house, that he stood by an official 1993 statement in which Japan acknowledged the imperial army set up and ran brothels for its troops during the war.

“As I frequently say, I feel sympathy for the people war.”

While Abe should be ashamed of himself for trying to score political points by minimizing the horrible suffering of these women, at least he found the fortitude to apologize publicly.