This site gets much traffic from all around the world, from people searching for news from Iraq, making it an ideal place to host stories from deployed forces in harm’s way. In my travels I’ve met many budding writers who are now wearing boots and carrying rifles, and I found their stories so compelling that I want the world to see.
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Published: Saturday, 08 August 2015 15:00
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Written by Japanese Scholars
August 6, 2015
On May 5th, 2015, one hundred and eighty-seven American-based researchers of Japan issued a statement on the comfort women issue titled, “Open letter in support of historians in Japan” (hereafter, “American scholars’ statement”). It is our understanding that, subsequently, the number of signers increased to some four hundred and sixty people. In response to the challenge proposed by the American scholars’ statement, we Japanese scholars respond with the following views.
<1> Complete agreement that events should be viewed in their historical context, and weighed carefully in the balance
We were struck by this passage from the American scholars’ statement:
“[…] we believe that only careful weighing and contextual evaluation of every trace of the past can produce a just history. Such work must resist national and gender bias, and be free from government manipulation, censorship, and private intimidation.”
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We are sympathetic to this suggestion, which we believe to be an important, fundamental principle of historical research. It is cause for celebration that researchers in both Japan and the United States are in agreement on this point.
That we are attempting a response here is due to our having detected, in the American scholars’ statement, a willingness to deal constructively with historical facts that has previously been lacking in American debate on the comfort women issue.
Read more: Japanese Scholars’ Reply to the American Scholars’ Comfort Women Statement: In search of a...
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Published: Thursday, 06 August 2015 14:42
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Written by SNV
Article by SNV
17 July 2015
This week, construction was completed on the new Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) production facilities at the Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre, located just outside the Vientiane city limits. This partnership is part of the ADB’s Harnessing Climate Change Mitigation Initiatives to Benefit Women project, funded by the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). The collaboration between these organisations will provide more skills and income-generating activities for disabled women in Laos, as well as expanding the market for Improved Cook Stoves in the country.
To view the original article and to fllow their work click on the link below.
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Published: Tuesday, 07 July 2015 13:03
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Written by Choi Kilsung
By Choi Kilsung,
Professor at University of East -Asia, Professor Emeritus at Hiroshima University
(2) The Korean War As I Experienced It
July 6, 2015
Mr. Michael Yon
In this Chapter, the author vividly illustrates memories of what he experienced at the age of ten during the Korean War.
The arrival of the UN Army In summer of 1951, fighter planes came to attack the Chinese army which occupied the village the author lived and then UN army entered the village. Villagers welcomed its tall, smartly dressed soldiers. They waved at them as they passed by. Soldiers liberally distributed chocolates, candy drops, and cookies to the villagers. Villagers liked them more and more with each passing day.
Read more: The Origins of the US Army's Korean Comfort Women
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Published: Saturday, 13 June 2015 00:43
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Written by Fujioka Nobukatsu
June 12, 2015
A Counter Response and Proposal to the "Open Letter” written by 187 Historians
By Fujioka Nobukatsu, Visiting Professor, Takushoku University
To the 187 historians who jointly signed the Open Letter,
On May 5, the “Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan” was released and rapidly circulated around the world. This Letter was signed by 187 historians and researchers mainly in the field of Japan studies from the United States and western countries. The Open Letter accused the Japan’s military comfort women system before and during World War II. The Letter was a thinly veiled demand for an apology from the Prime Minister of Japan.
Note: As of the end of May, the number of signatures had grown to around 460, but out of respect for the original signatories I will only address the first 187.
Read more: A Counter Response and Proposal to the "Open Letter” written by 187 Historians
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Published: Thursday, 04 June 2015 14:34
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Written by Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact
THE TAIWANESE ARE NOT HAN CHINESE
Lin Jianliang, Ph.D. in Medicine
Editor, Voice of Taiwan
June 3, 2015
Mr. Michael Yon
Many people think that the Taiwanese belong to the same ethnic group as the mainland Chinese. Not only ordinary people, but also scholars and researchers studying Taiwan labor under this false impression. They believe what they’ve heard, i.e., that 2% of the Taiwanese population are aborigines, 13% are natives of the mainland who fled to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-Shek in 1949 (and their descendants), and the remaining 85% are natives of the mainland who arrived in Taiwan prior to World War II. Therefore, they reach the conclusion that 98% of Taiwanese are Han Chinese.
Read more: SDHF Newsletter No.96 THE TAIWANESE ARE NOT HAN CHINESE
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Published: Friday, 29 May 2015 13:29
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Written by Kent Gilbert
テーマ：真面目な話
The ROK Army Used Vietnamese Comfort Women Part2（No restrictions on retransmission)
韓国軍にベトナム人慰安婦がいた！二カ国語 Part1(拡散自由)
今回、米国の公文書によって初めてその存在が明らかになった、サイゴンの「韓国軍慰安所」とは、一体どのように運営されていたのか。
How was the ROK army comfort station in Saigon that has come to light through a U.S. archive document operated?
すぐにでもホーチミンに飛んで現地取材したかったが、ワシントン支局長という立場上長期間アメリカを離れる事は難しい。そこで私は、アメリカにトルコ風呂の実態やこの施設について知っている人物がいないか、改めてリサーチを開始した。
I would have wanted to fly to Vietnam immediately to investigate, but as the Washington Bureau chief, it was difficult to take leave from my job for an extended period. Therefore, I began research to find out if there was anybody in the U.S. who was knowledgeable about the sex industry in Saigon at that time or who knew about the establishment in question.
まず、当時の米軍関係者とベトナム系アメリカ人に照準を絞って、アメリカにおけるベトナム関連のネットワークを探した。関連のフォーラムに出席したり、米政府の退役軍人省のデータベースを調べたりして、連絡先の判明した関係者に虱つぶしに手紙やＥメールを送った。また、サイゴンに駐在経験のある人物の証言を得る為、ワシントン郊外バージニア州のベトナム人集住地区の新聞に情報提供を求める広告を出した。すると、ほどなくして広告を見たアメリカ人からＥメールが来た。
I focused first on former U.S. military personnel and Vietnamese-Americans and looked for Vietnam-related networks in the U.S. I attended the relevant forums, looked into the databases of the U.S. government’s Department of Veteran Affairs, and sent letters and e-mails to people with known contact information who might know. I also placed an advertisement in a newspaper in the Vietnamese community in Virginia outside Washington, asking for information. Shortly after, an American who saw the ad sent me an e-mail.
Read more: 韓国軍にベトナム人慰安婦がいた！二カ国語 Part2(拡散自由）
