Japan’s scheme to “erase ‘comfort women’” … 3,500 lobby claims to the U.S. analyzed - Newstapa (August 8, 2019)

https://newstapa.org/article/OoPjd

Japan’s scheme to “erase ‘comfort women’” … 3,500 lobby claims to the U.S. analyzed - Newstapa (August 8, 2019)

Park Yu-ha, Professor of Japanese Language and Literature at Sejong University

Lee Woo-yeon, Researcher at Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research

Soh Chung-hee, Professor at San Francisco State University

Ikuhiko Hata, Emeritus Professor of Law at Nihon University

Tsutomu Nishioka, Guest Professor at Reitaku University

Archie Miyamoto, retired Lt. Colonel of the U.S. Army

• From the top left-hand side, clockwise: Park Yu-ha, Soh Chung-hee, Lee Woo-yeon, Tsutomu Nishioka, and Ikuhiko Hata. (Sources: Yonhap News; Chosun Monthly; Professor Soh Chung-hee’s website)

What do they have in common? They are all scholars or critics who deny the sexual slavery system and forced recruitment organized by the Imperial Japanese Military and espouse the logics of the Japanese ultra-nationalists (far-right).

Three Korean scholars and three Japanese scholars … what do they have in common?

In his book, Comfort Women of the Empire, Park Yu-ha argued that the “comfort women” had a collegial relationship with Japanese soldiers and hence were not sex slaves (https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/201503061652735674). The courts decided that the author should delete approximately 30 sections of the book that were problematic.

Lee Woo-yeon co-authored Anti-Japan Tribalism with former Seoul National University Professor and colonial modernization theorist Lee Young-hoon. Recently, Lee Woo-yeon led a movement against establishment of memorials dedicated to the Japanese military “comfort women” and forced laborers (https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/201503061652735674).

Soh Chung-hee argued that the Japanese military “comfort women” issue can be attributed not only to Japanese imperialism, but also to the Korean patriarchy that rendered these women vulnerable to trafficking as they were driven outside the protection of the home. She further argued that Korea’s nationalist politics and the international women’s human rights movement led to incomplete view of the “comfort women” issue (https://userwww.sfsu.edu/soh/cwbook.htm).

• Park Yu-ha’s Comfort Women of the Empire, Soh Chung-hee’s The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan, Lee Woo-yeon’s “Korean Coal and Metal Mineworkers Mobilized in Wartime Japan: The Question of Wages and Ethnicity-Based Disparities”

Ikuhiko Hata is known as the “scholar who denounced the ‘comfort women’ as sex workers and conceptualized such theory.” Hata is the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s scholarly mentor and led Abe’s Kono Statement Reassessment Team (https://premium.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/06/23/2014062300231.html?relpm). Hata is heavily cited in Park Yu-ha’s book.

Tsutomu Nishioka is a far-right critic who denies that the Japanese military “comfort women” were forcibly mobilized. He is known as one of “Prime Minister Abe’s brains” (https://www.sisajournal.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=118870).

Archie Miyamoto argues that Korean comfort stations were run by Korean agents and Japanese comfort stations were run by Japanese agents, and there were no comfort stations run by the Japanese military (https://japan-forward.com/comfort-women-statues-shame-not-help-koreans/).

• Ikuhiko Hata’s Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone, Tsutomu Nishioka’s “The Reality of the Mobilization of Koreans During World War II - An analysis based on statistics and written records”, Archie Miyamoto’s Wartime Military Records on Comfort Women

These scholars and critics have one more thing in common. The Japanese government spotlighted their publications or papers with a particular purpose in mind. Regardless of their intention, their publications have been taken up as part of the Japanese government’s public affairs strategies.

On February 2019, the Japanese Consulate in New York, U.S. signed a 15-day short-term contract with a U.S. consulting firm Marathon Strategies LLC. The consulting firm was paid 20,000USD. According to the lobby contract (Exhibit AB) (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6289-Exhibit-AB-20190528-9.pdf) acquired through the U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) website (https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara), the Japanese government tasked Marathon with making 2-3 page summaries of the books and papers written by the aforementioned authors.

• The lobby contract signed by the Japanese Consulate in New York, U.S. and the U.S. based consulting firm Marathon Strategy LLC in February 2019. It states that, per the request of the Japanese Consulate in New York, Marathon will “develop and execute a public affairs strategy that will advance” the goals of the Japanese government. The contract specifies books authored by the six scholars, requesting that each be summarized into 2-3 pages. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice FARA website)

The lobby contract states that the purpose of this project is “to develop and execute a public affairs strategy that will advance the organization’s goals.”

The Japanese Government requests summary of books authored by scholars who denies Japan’s war crimes, as a means of public affairs strategy

It is an open secret that the Japanese government has spent large sums of money to sign contracts with well-known U.S. lobby firms and lobbied against the Japanese military “comfort women” issue to numerous politicians and government associates across the spectrum. However, this is the first document to be found to show that the Japanese Government explicitly named and requested summaries of books that cater to the Abe administration and the Japanese far-right.

Why did the Japanese government pay 20,000USD over a 15-day time period for this kind of task?

In a written interview with Newstapa, Mindy Kotler, founder and director of Asia Policy Point (a D.C.-based Asian policy research institute), explained that “the Japanese government wants to convince the U.S., especially the Washington opinion leaders, to accept the distorted history put forth by the Abe administration and conservative nationalists.” She further added, “they believe that their arguments will be justified once Washington accepts their distorted version of history.”

In other words, the Japanese government borrows the guise and argument of scholars to instill Washington D.C.-based opinion leaders into thinking that the Abe administration is justified in its denial of war crimes and attempts to hide the past. This illustrates that the Japanese government’s lobbying efforts to erase its war crimes including the Japanese military “comfort women” issue take on various forms.

On July 18, 2019, Newstapa collaborated with Danbi News to report the 1st analysis of Japan’s lobbying efforts in the U.S. on the “comfort women” issue. The report compiled the entirety of Japan’s “comfort women” related lobbying activities recorded in the U.S. Department of Justice FARA website and found 49 cases of lobby supplements on this issue. It also found that the lobbying started in 1992 and intensified during the period when the resolution on “comfort women” issue was introduced in the U.S. Congress.

* Related article: The Japanese government’s obsessive “comfort women” lobbying in the U.S…acted on every single issue, invested 10,000,000USD in total (https://newstapa.org/44187)

The Japanese government’s lobbying efforts in the U.S. were largely undertaken through Hogan, a big law firm, and Hecht, a professional lobbying firm. Since the first report, Newstapa additionally compiled and analyzed lobbying activities these two companies have reported. The activity reports are detailed, including information such as the names and positions of U.S. public figures contacted by the firms, date of contact, and contact medium (email, phone call, meeting etc.). The investigation team collected all of the data on Hogan and Hecht’s lobby activities between 2001, when the firms started lobbying on the Japanese military “comfort women” issue, and 2019. Results revealed a total of 3,537 instances of contact with U.S. public figures.

• Records of contact instances included in the lobby firm Hecht’s lobby supplements submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice

Newstapa found 3,500 cases of the Japanese Government’s lobbying contacts

The main target the Japanese government contacted through lobbying firms was U.S. House Representatives (1,861 instances). Within the period Newstapa investigated, multiple resolutions were submitted to the House regarding the history that negatively affects the Japanese government, including the “comfort women” issue or the issue of “forced labor of US soldiers taken hostage by the Japanese military.” It seems that lobbying efforts were concentrated on House Representatives and their associates in order to influence such resolutions. The second most contacts were made to the US federal government (917 instances), and the third, to the US Senate (627 instances). In addition to personnel affiliated with the US federal government and Congress, those associated to the media (71 instances), state governments (27 instances), and think tanks (13 instances) were also contacted for lobbying purposes.

Number of lobby cases to each organization affiliated with persons lobbied

The most number of contacts for lobby purposes were made in 2001 when the Japanese government signed the first contract with Hogan, amounting to 843 instances of contact. The year 2001 was when Resolution 195 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/195), the first resolution to deal with the “comfort women” issue, was submitted to the House of Representatives. Then Rep. Lane Evans who submitted the resolution was also a target of lobbying. In 2002, there were 742 instances of contact for lobbying purposes. Lobby attempts decreased annually until 2006 and 2007 when Rep. Evans and Rep. Honda submitted a resolution on the “comfort women” issueto the House. Lobby attempts jumped to 133 and 535 instances of contact respectively.

Instances of contact for lobbying purposes, made by Hogan and Hecht on behalf of the Japanese government

2001: Japan signed contract with Hogan

2006: House Resolution 759 (2005-06)

2007: House Resolution 121 (2007-08)

Japanese government’s lobby efforts focused on prime influencers following every House resolution

Of the 1,861 instances of contact to the House of Representatives, about two thirds, 1,200 instances, targeted individual Representatives. There were 452 instances in which the lobbyist from a lobbying in firm directly got in touch with the representative; 748 instances were made through personal congressional staff such as the chief of staff, legislative director, and scheduler. Additionally, 653 lobbying contacts were made to professional staff at the House Standing Committees.

Newstapa also analyzed lobby patterns depending on political party. The Japanese government’s lobbying efforts focused on Republican congressmen. Of the 195 congressmen lobbied, 134 people (69%) were Republicans, while 61 were Democrats. The difference proved to be bigger when measured by the number of contacts made. Of all lobby contacts made to House Representatives, 936 instances (78%) were made to Republican congressmen and 264 (22%), to Democrats.

The politician contacted most number of times by the Japanese government was Rep. Mike Simpson of the Republican party. In total, he was contacted 125 times. Rep. Simpson is a member of US-Japan Caucus, a group of Senate and House members invested in maintaining ally relations between the US and Japan.

Second highest on the list was John Boehner who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and House Republican Leader. He was contacted 90 times. Third most contacted was Rep. Chris Cox of the Republican party.

The Japanese government’s lobbying targeting House Representatives focused on congressmen who have sway on the outcome of resolutions and the so-called Japan experts. In the House, when a congressman submits a resolution, it goes through the Standing Committees and is brought to the Floor. Chairs of the Standing Committees and the Speaker of the House play a significant role in this procedure.

Rep. Hastert, who ranked 8th based on the number of times contacted, was the Speaker of House when Rep. Lane Evans submitted the “comfort women” related resolution in 2006. Rep. Evans’ resolution was submitted in April 2006 and passed the Standing Committees, but was not even discussed on the House Floor and subsequently killed in September 2006. During this time, Japan’s lobby firms got in contact with Speaker Hastert seven times in total. Some members of the House speculated that Rep. Hastert, who had wished to transition into the Embassy of Japan after retirement, disapproved of this resolution (https://apjjf.org/-Ken-Silverstein/2253/article.pdf).

When the Evans resolution was first submitted, the Japanese government contacted then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Henry Hyde, three times.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who ranked 4th based on the number of times contacted, was Speaker of House in 2007 when Rep. Mike Honda submitted Resolution 121 demanding that the Japanese government issue a formal apology and compensate for the “comfort women” issue. Speaker Pelosi was openly supportive of Rep. Honda’s resolution. When it passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Speaker Pelosi issued a statement saying that she “look[s] forward to the House of Representatives passing this resolution” (https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pelosi-supporting-comfort-women-resolution/). Regardless, the Japanese government was relentless,  contacting the House Speaker’s office 39 times while the Resolution 121 in discussion.

Rep. John Boehner, who, having been contacted 90 times, ranked 2nd on the list above, was House Republican Leader in 2006 and 2007 when Rep. Evans and Rep. Honda respectively submitted resolutions related to the “comfort women.” Rep. Boehner has consistently been a lobby target for Japan’s lobby firms. In 2015, as House Speaker, Rep. Boehner invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to deliver a speech at a joint meeting of U.S. Congress. Forbes reported this decision by Speaker Boehner was influenced by the fact that no other nation is as generous as Japan when providing political funds (https://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2015/04/19/dissing-comfort-women-and-other-war-victims-boehner-panders-to-japans-most-toxic-prime-minister/#55beafcd4f7d).

Rep. Donald Manzullo, who, having been contacted 33 times, ranked 6th on the list above, issued a statement against Rep. Mike Honda’s resolution in 2007, saying, “I question whether the United States House of Representatives is the proper forum to address historical grievances between third parties. While House Resolution 121 is well intentioned, I fail to see how it will do anything to provide closure to the survivors of this situation, and I fear this resolution will pit ally against ally and American citizens against each other” (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1026&context=humtraffdata).

While the Honda resolution was in discussion, Lee Yong-soo, survivor of the Japanese military sexual slavery, spoke as witness at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. That day, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was the only person to oppose the Honda resolution, echoing the Japanese government, stating that Japan had already apologized multiple times and had done what Resolution 121 requests, which is to recognize its historical responsibility, admit, and apologize for the “comfort women” issue. Through lobby firms, the Japanese government had contacted Rep. Rohrabacher 21 times in total, and 15 of those contacts were made when Resolution 121 was in discussion.

Timeline of Japan’s lobbying activities in the U.S.

Number of lobby activities

• House of Representatives

  • Mike Simpson

  • John Boehner

  • Chris Cox

  • Jim Saxton

  • Nancy Pelosi

  • Donald Manzullo

  • Eni Faleomavaega

  • Dennis Hastert

  • Henry Hyde

• Senate

  • Daniel Inouye

  • Chuck Hagel

  • Larry Craig

  • Trent Lott

• House Resolution 759 (2005-06)

• House Resolution 121 (2007-08)

In the Senate, most contacted by the Japanese government was “Japan expert” Sen. Inouye of the Democratic Party

Of all 627 instances of contact the Japanese government made to the Senate to lobby on the “comfort women” issue, 80%, 494 instances, targeted individual senators. Of those instances, 227 were directly to the senators themselves, and 267 were to staff at the senators’ office. The rest, 133 instances, were made to professional staff at the Standing Committees.

Japan contacted more Republican senators (41 senators) than Democratic senators (29) for lobbying. However, a bigger number of contacts were made to the Democratic party (254 times) than to the Republican party (240 times). This is because Sen. Daniel Inouye, a notable Japan expert in Congress and most fervently lobbied by Japan, belongs to the Democratic Party. Sen. Inouye had publicly made known his disapproval of Rep. Mike Honda’s House Resolution.

Ranked 2nd was Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel who was appointed as Secretary of Defense during the Obama administration (24 instances of contact). Ranked 3rd was Sen. Larry Craig (20 instances) from the same party.

Sen. Trent Lott, who ranked 4th with Sen. Robert Byrd, is known for helping Japanese company Nissan evade car fuel-efficiency requirements (https://www.donga.com/news/View?gid=8413491&date=20070303).

Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff during the Bush administration were also lobbied during their time in office

The federal government came after the House of Representatives as the second most targeted for Japan’s “comfort women” related lobbying. The federal government was contacted on 917 occasions. Based on departmental affiliation, former and current officials at the Department of State were contacted most often (592 instances) and former and current vice presidents were second most contacted (102 instances). The National Security Council (81 instances), the White House (61 instances), and the Department of Justice (35 instances) followed suit.

Among federal government officials, most often contacted by the Japanese government was Tom Reich, who served as Legislative Management Officer at the Bureau of Legislative Affairs in the Department of State. Japan’s lobby firms contacted Tom Reich on 318 occasions. Notably, Tom Reich was the most targeted individual in Japan’s “comfort women” related lobbying efforts. Ranking 2nd was James Hergen, State Department affiliated attorney, who was contacted 98 times for lobbying. Michael Green, former legal advisor at the National Security Council, ranked 3rd, contacted 74 times. Green is currently serving as Japan Chair and Senior Vice President for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a conservative think tank. He is often cited in Korean mainstream media as an East Asian specialist.

Included in the Top 10 list of federal government officials were a number of well-known politicians. Ranking 4th on the list and contacted 54 times was Walter Mondale, former Vice President Walter Mondale and Ambassador to Japan upon retirement. Ranking 5th was Vice President Dick Cheney who was contacted 47 times. Ranking 6th and contacted 25 times was former Secretary of Defense, Richard Armitage, who became famous for the Armitage Report which argued in favor of Japanese remilitarization. Karl Rove, former White House Chief of Staff and a close aide to former President George W. Bush, ranked 9th, having been contacted 15 times for lobbying.

Journalists who wrote on the “comfort women” issue and researchers specializing in East Asia also targeted for lobbying

Japan’s lobby supplement recorded 71 lobby activities targeting the media and 13 targeting think tanks. Among media outlets, The Washington Post came highest, having been contacted 18 times. Political newspaper, The Hill (contacted 9 times), ABC Network (6 times), Wall Street Journal (5 times), and The New York Times (5 times) followed suit.

Of all journalists, Blaine Harden, Seattle correspondent at The Washington Post, received the most outreach from lobby firms hired by Japan. On July 18, 2007, when interest in the Honda resolution was high, Harden reported on a letter sent by Ryozo Kato, then Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., titled, “Japan Warns U.S. House Against Resolution on WWII Sex Slaves” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701802.html). Japan’s lobby firms contacted Harden five times before the report was made and three times after.

Among all people affiliated with think tanks, William Galston at Brookings Institution and Michael Oslin at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) were contacted most number of times, which is four times respectively.

Sudden increase in Japan’s “unregistered lobbying” presents bigger problem

Researchers who have been paying attention to Japan’s lobbying activities in the U.S. warn that unregistered lobbying, in addition to those reported to the Department of Justice, should be closely examined.

In an interview with Newstapa, Asia Policy Point Director Mindy Kotler commented that compared to FARA-registered lobby activities targeting congressmen, the more serious problem with Japan’s lobbying is the unregistered lobbying that targets Asia specialists in DC-based think tanks and congressional programs.

Kotler stated that “the Japanese government is spending an enormous amount of money to financially support multiple think tanks in Washington DC and to channel retired government officials into think tanks and exert their influence in favor of Japan.” She further explained that “there is a lot of fear among Asia specialists working in Washington DC that they will lose funding from Japan or that they will not be invited to conferences funded by Japan.”

Kotler added that “The Asia specialists in Washington DC are self-censoring. Not even researchers at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) are free from this fear” and that “unregistered lobbying effectively silences the lobby targets, which is much more powerful than issuing foolish public statements.”

In a written interview with Newstapa, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University, shared that recently, Japanese diplomats are growing their influence on what scholars say about historical issues.

Professor Morris-Suzuki stated that “foreign scholars such as those who host conferences on the ‘comfort women’ issue in the U.S. sometimes receive complaints by the Japanese Embassy taking issue with their research” and that “scholars have expressed concern over such growing pressures.”

The Abe administration meddles with Statue of Peace exhibitions and attempts to erase the “comfort women” issue

On August 4th during the Aichi Triennale 2019 held in Nagoya, Aichi, an exhibit entitled ‘After “Freedom of Expression”?’ including the Statue of Peace was shut down. Mayor of Nagoya, Takashi Kawamura called the exhibit be shut down, saying that it “trample[s] on the feelings of the Japanese people,” and Governor of Aichi, Hideaki Omura decided to shut it down over concerns of terrorist threats.

In the first report on Japan’s “comfort women” related lobbying in the U.S., Newstapa had found that Forbes-Tate, which struck a deal with the Embassy of Japan in the U.S. in 2018, recorded in its lobby supplement that “it had contacted the congressional staff regarding the Senate’s approval and exhibition of the Statue of Peace in the Capitol Visitors Center.” Additionally, Newstapa found evidence that suggests that Hogan, another firm through which the Japanese government lobbies in the U.S., also took actions on the Statue of Peace exhibit in the Capitol Visitors Center. During this period, Hogan contacted Stephen Ayers, the Architect of the Capitol, who oversees all of the congressional buildings, as well as multiple congressmen in the House and Senate.

The Japanese government’s lobbying records in the U.S. reveal that it has tried ceaselessly to erase the history of Japanese military “comfort women” from all directions. It has been 10 years since the House passed in 2007 the resolution demanding that Japan take responsibility for the “comfort women” issue. Yet, the Japanese government continues take all measures to hide its war crimes – in 2018, by meddling with the Statue of Peace exhibition at the Capitol Visitors Center, and in 2019, by, as a public affairs strategy, devising reports that summarize books authored by scholars such as Ikuhiko Hata who deny the sexual slavery system and forced recruitment. These are reasons that render suspicious the sincerity of the Japanese government which argues to have “already apologized for the ‘comfort women’ issue on multiple occasions.”

On August 4th, when the Peace of Statue exhibition was shut down in Nagoya, Japan, another “comfort woman” survivor passed away. Now, there are only 20 registered survivors left who are still alive.

Reporting: Kim Ji-yoon, Lim Bo-young

Data: Kim Kang-min

Data visualization: Lim Song-yee

Translated by Volunteer