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Labeled the reporter who “fabricated” the comfort woman issue: A Rebuttal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Uemura Takashi  and
Tomomi Yamaguchi
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Uemura Takashi, a former reporter of the Asahi Shimbun, is currently an adjunct lecturer at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo. In 1991, while a reporter for the Asahi, he wrote two articles on Kim Hak-sun, the first “comfort woman” to come forward to tell her story (1991). Because of these two articles, Uemura has been the target of denunciations by nationalists. He has been labeled “the reporter who fabricated the ‘comfort woman’ issue” and denounced by nationalists as a “traitor.” Such bashing took a critical turn for the worse in 2014, to the extent that he and his family risk losing their right to a livelihood.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , January 2015 , e1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2015

References

Notes

1 See Asia Pacific Journal and Hokusei University Support Group, “Japan's Fundamental Freedom Imperiled,” on the attacks against Uemura.

2 “Wednesday demonstration,” officially named “Wednesday demonstration demanding Japan to redress the comfort women problems,” held by former “comfort women” and their supporters. It takes place every Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

3 Yoshida Seiji (1913-2000) was a WWII veteran and a writer whose testimony was retracted by Asahi's re-examination of its “comfort woman” coverage in August 2014. Yoshida claimed that he forcibly took women away to make them serve as “comfort women.” Asahi concluded that this testimony should be deemed a fabrication because of the lack of supporting evidence. See Asahi's re-examination page.

4 Gambare Nippon, Zenkoku Kodo Iinkai (Do Your Best Japan! National Action Committee) is a right-wing organization founded in 2010. It was initially chaired by Tamogami Toshio, a retired Air Self-Defense Force chief, and now, by Mizushima Satoru, the president of Channel Sakura, a right-wing Japanese TV production company and an online broadcaster. See here.

5 See Asia Pacific Journal and Hokusei University Support Group.

6 The December 17 statement by Hokusei Gakuen.

7 Reported in TBS's News 23 show of December 23, 2014.

8 The organization's official name in Korean is “Hanguk Chongsindae Munje Daech'aek Hyobuihoe ” and in Japanese, “Kankoku Teishintai Mondai Taisaku Kyogikai.” “The Korean Council to Address the Issue of the Volunteer Corps” is a direct translation into English, but the organization uses as its official English name “The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.) In this article, I will use the direct translation, ”The Korean Council to Address the Issue of the Volunteer Corps.“

9 The Asahi Shimbun has four head offices in Tokyo, Osaka, Seibu and Nagoya. Local editions are edited and published in these head offices. Uemura covered urban news in the Tokyo and Osaka head offices. See here.

10 This is in response to criticisms leveled at Uemura by conservative revisionists who question the need for an Osaka-based reporter like him to go to Seoul, given that the Asahi had its own Seoul-based correspondents.

11 The official name of the organization in English is the Association to Clarify the Postwar Responsibility of Japan,“ but I used the direct translation from the Japanese name here.

12 Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-1867), born in Kochi, was a figure who played an important role in connecting the Satsuma and Choshu clans and overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate. Only a month after the Tokugawa Shogunate's demise, Ryoma himself was assassinated. Having been featured in many novels, films and TV dramas, he remains a popular historical figure in Japan today. Because Uemura Takashi is originally from Kochi prefecture, he said in his public talks that he liked Ryoma and felt an attachment to him.

13 The Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (wam) is currently holding an exhibition on the history of the Yomiuri's coverage on the “comfort women” issue from the 1980s to 2007. For more information, see here.

14 On the re-examination, see the Asahi Shimbun's website, “Thinking about the comfort women issue.”

15 The New York Times article appeared in the December 2, 2014 issue. Martin Fackler, “Rewriting the War, Japanese Right Attacks a Newspaper.” The Hankyoreh also ran an article on him in December 21, after the publication of Uemura's Bungei Shunju piece. The Japanese version of the same piece.