Thread by @tkatsumi06j

#AGT talent #GONZO believes Asian #comfortwomen who were subject to #sexualenslavement during WWI were NOT #forcefullyrecruited by the #JapaneseImperialArmy (even with local help) and expresses support to the #revisionists who are pressuring an established encyclopedia publisher.

https://twitter.com/gonzotambourine/status/1490887734000439297

#GONZO appears to base his assertion on dozen of newspaper articles that #Asahi retracted in 2014 about false testimonies of a novelist who claimed to have participated in raids that #forcefullyrecruited Korean women, which was considered only one of many sources by historians.

https://twitter.com/gonzotambourine/status/1490909973886369792

As indicated in #Asahi’s independent committee report & other media reports, Asahi only retracted the articles that pertain to these false testimonies and did not retract their conviction that #comfortwomen were #forcefullyrecruited one way or the other. asahi.com/shimbun/3rd/20…

In 2014, @jijicom published an extensive interview with #Asahi where a senior editor clearly expressed that they are convinced that fact remains the element of “force” was present in how #comfortwomen were forced to serve the soldiers against their will.
jiji.com/jc/v4?id=asahi…

In fact the senior editor was insistent that his paper decided to retract articles related to so-called #YoshidaTestimonies or #吉田証言 because the testimonies in itself was found to be falsified, but the “element of force” still remains ‘a fact’ in their view. Many would agree.

As I stated in my earlier post, the element of “force” does not have to involve the use of brute force. If the subject is denied freedom of movement or free will to provide sexual acts as a service (through intimidation or coercion), then that in itself is #sexualenslavement.

https://twitter.com/tkatsumi06j/status/1316254827102433280

And the favorite counterargument that many of the #comfortwomen were handsomely compensated? Same here. Awarding a captive deprived of basic freedom DOES NOT preclude anyone involved from being complicit of the systematic sexual abuse of those that are subject to such state.

https://twitter.com/tkatsumi06j/status/1316255916619046914

Testimony about 'forcible taking away of women on Jeju Island': Judged to be fabrication because supporting evidence not found：朝日新聞デジタル asahi.com/articles/SDI20… #comfortwomen #従軍慰安婦

According to publisher #Poplar’s encyclopedia #Poplardia #comfortwomen is defined as women “who were initially mobilized within Japan from red-light districts, but later oftentimes #forcefullyrecruited from occupied Korea, China, and regions in Southeast as comfort women.”

Requested by his follower, LDP Councillor #HiroshiYamada, known for his #revisionist views, was quick to respond to “consider some action,” calling @poplarsha‘s publications as “horrible ‘encyclopedia’.” Soon after, the publisher was bombarded with calls/emails from supporters.

But counteraction to that was also quick. With hashtag #ポプラ社は歴史修正主義に負けるな , supporters of @poplarsha mobilized their support calling them to not “cave in to the demands of the revisionists.” And so the battle is ongoing, with the likes of #GONZO in the forefront.

Some background on this. The campaign to rewrite history is not a politically isolated case. The government has been aggressively working to remove expressions related to #comfortwomen in textbooks. This is another #主戦場 ; the main battleground against historical revisionism.

https://twitter.com/tkatsumi06j/status/1436139791574188034

@threadreaderapp please unroll.