In the interest of brevity, I will not explain here all the details of the Asahi’s report, which also filled much of the edition’s city news section. For now, I will just list the main headlines.
“Documents show military involvement in comfort stations”
“Written instructions, journals of former Japanese military found at Defense Agency library”
“Units instructed to set up [comfort stations]”
“Control, supervision of [comfort stations], including recruitment, instructed under name of chief of staff. Some documents had seal of administrative vice minister”
“Government view ‘that private operators were in charge’ challenged”
“Calls for apology and compensation intensifying”1
Furthermore, the report included comments by Chuo University professor Yoshimi Yoshiaki, who “discovered” the materials at the Defense Agency library. “The military’s involvement is very clear,” Yoshimi told the Asahi. “Japan should offer an apology and compensation.”2 The newspaper also carried remarks by historian Suzuki Yuko, who said the discovery exposed “an insufficient investigation” into the issue by the government.3 Former Second Lieutenant Yamada Seikichi, who had been in charge of recreational activities of a Japanese military unit, was quoted in the report as saying, “The military’s involvement is clear.”4 The report accompanied an analysis on military comfort women by an Asahi columnist who claimed “most [comfort women] were Korean women who were forcibly recruited under the name of female volunteer corps,” and estimates of “their number are said to range from eighty thousand to 200,000.”5
