Zo bericht CNN:
Toru Hashimoto, who serves as the Mayor of Osaka, told reporters at his weekly press conference Monday that "anyone would understand" the role of "comfort women" when soldiers were risking their lives and you wanted to give them "a rest."
Though he acknowledged the issue was a "tragic result of war," Hashimoto, who is co-leader of the nationalist Japan Restoration Party, insisted the use of prostitutes by soldiers was not unique to Japan.
Sommige Japanners hebben overduidelijk nog steeds moeite hun oorlogsverleden te verwerken...
Opvallend is ook dat collega-politici burgemeester Hashimoto alleen 'omfloerst' afvielen:
"A series of remarks by Japanese politicians related to our interpretation of [wartime] history have been misunderstood," Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura told reporters at his weekly press conference [...]
Fellow minister Tomomi Inada asked: "I wonder is this something the representative of a political party should say? I myself think the comfort women [issue] infringed the human rights of the women."
Chief Cabinet Spokesman Yoshihide Suga did not respond directly to Hashimoto's comments but instead told reporters "the stance of the Japanese government on the comfort women issue is, as it has been stated repeatedly in the past, that they suffered unspeakably painful experiences and we keenly feel the pain when we think about them."
Afgaande op het weinige dat ik weet van Japan, zullen dit pogingen zijn geweest om Hashimoto's gezichtsverlies niet al te groot te maken.
Maar van een gezonde omgang met het verleden kan er zo natuurlijk maar moeilijk iets terecht komen.
