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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
For those inclined to keep their hopes well under control when it comes to the Japanese judiciary's capacity to deliver decisions even mildly critical of the political establishment, news of the Tokyo High Court's finding in favor of the Violence-against-Women-in-War Japan Network (VAWW-Net Japan) against the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) was stunning enough to provoke initial eye-rubbing. At least I can say for myself that I had to read twice, and thrice, the first brief listserv message from Nishino Rumiko, one of VAWW-Net's two co-representatives since the premature death (2002) of founder Matsui Yayori.
[1] Video Juku, VAWW-Net Japan, Breaking the History of Silence (2001) and the sequel, also by Video Juku, The Hague Final Judgment (2002).
[2] For information and analyses of media representations of the Tribunal, see Section IV, “Jyosei kokusai sempan hotei o meguru gensetsu/eizo kukan” in Sabakareta senji seiboryoku, edited by VAWW-Net Japan (Nishino Rumiko and Kim Puja, chief eds.), Hakutaku-sha, 2001.
[3] As of February 4, 2007, this press conference can still be viewed. Asked if there were similar instances of political interference in NHK programming, Nagai referred to canceled plans for re-airing a documentary on the government's role in preventing mad cow disease.
[4] For a thoroughgoing presentation of the Tribunal and NHK's role and an analysis of the structural problems of the Japanese media, see Tessa Morris-Suzuki, “Free Speech—Silenced Voices: The Japanese Media, the Comfort Women Tribunal, and the NHK Affair.”
[5] Quoted in an Asahi article on the Tokyo High Court decision, “NHK ga menkai toritsuke; Abe-shi o meguri kosai nintei,” January 30, 2007, satellite edition. As for the basis of the original (January 2005) Asahi article, written by Honda Masakazu (dubbed “the North Korean spy” in the rightist media), journalist Uozumi Akira presented a transcription of Honda's interviews of Executive Director-General of Broadcasting Matsuo Takeshi, Nakagawa, and Abe, in Nikkan Gendai, September 2005, now available through the internet News for the People in Japan. The transcribed tapes as presented here graphically contradict subsequent statements by the three. The News for the People in Japan website states that it was posting Uozumi's article because, one month into the Abe administration, not a single question regarding allegations of intervening in NHK programming had been posed to the Prime Minister.
[6] The Broadcast Law (Hoso ho, 1950) may be found here; an unofficial English translation may be found here.
[7] The decision is posted on the News for People in Japan site. I will refer to it as “Decision” in the text, giving page numbers from the pdf file.
[8] “‘NHK ga bangumi kaihen’ 200 man'en baisho meijiru Tokyo Kosai,” Asahi Shimbun, January 29, 2007, accessed here.
[9] See the plaintiffs' press conference after the decision.
[10] For its part, VAWW-Net, felt itself to be in solidarity with production workers in NHK. Shoji Rutsuko, co-representative, hopes that VAWW-Net's legal struggle will lead to securing those workers' freedom of expression and thought. (Personal email, February 6, 2007.)
[11] The original only has “bengoshi shonin.”
[12] “‘Seiji ni kajo hanno’ nintei,” Asahi Shimbun, January 30, 2007, satellite edition.
[13] “Kaihen nintei, yuki aru hanketsu,” Asahi Shimbun, January 30, 2007, satellite edition.
[14] The system now provides for 300 single-member seats (“first-past-the-post”) and 180 seats filled proportionally. The preponderance of single-member seats favors large, well organized parties.
[15] “‘NHK ni taisuru kokusai hoso meirei’ no kyoko ni kogi suru seimei” is available here. The determination to exploit the abduction issue seemingly knows no bounds. The film Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2006) is being promoted internationally by the Japanese government, which even took it to the World Economic Forum in Davos with Koike Yuriko, special national security adviser to Prime Minister Abe, hosting a sushi reception. See here. In addition to the Bloomberg account included in the above, the screening shows up on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2007/1/0126-2.html. Let me state unequivocally that the North Korean abductions are a grave human rights violation that need to be appropriately addressed by the international community. This will not be accomplished by approaches that serve to bolster the position of the LDP in Japanese politics.
[16] “Jugun ianfu no sakuhinten dame: Obihiroshi ga shimin horu shiyo kyakka,” Hokkaido Shimbun, January 3, 2007, here. Note the slight but decisive difference from the terminology used by those who seek justice for the comfort women, namely, “former (moto) military comfort women.”
[17] “Statement of Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi ‘On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end’ (15 August 1995) is available here. I have written critically of the apologies of what seem by now the halcyon days of the early 1990s in ”War and Apology: Japan, Asia, the Fiftieth, and After,“ positions 5:1 (Spring 1997).
[18] “Ianfu kankei chosa kekka happyo ni kansuru Kono naikaku kambochokan danwa,” available here.
[19] Here.
[20] Jean-Paul Sartre, “Inaugural Statement”.
[21] From the Tribunal Charter.
[23] Message to the VAWW-Net Japan listserv, January 30, 2007. Quoted with permission.
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