George R. Packard
President, International University of Japan;
Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, President, U.S.-Japan Foundation
George R. Packard was dean of SAIS from 1979 to 1993 and is now director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies as well as professor of East Asian studies at the school. He is also president of the International University of Japan. From 1965 to 1967, he was chief diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek. Prior to that, he served as special assistant to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. In March of 1998, he was appointed president of the U.S.-Japan Foundation.
Packard Report - Jul. 2007
Japan's many friends in Washington were deeply saddened to learn of the death of former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa last week. Those of us who knew him personally were of course impressed by his strong English language ability, but even more by his deep knowledge of political and economic affairs in this country. He read widely and deeply in both our popular media and scholarly works, and always asked sharp and perceptive questions. I do not see anyone who can match him among the current generation of top political leaders. We will have to wait for the next generation, now in their 30's and 40's.
It seems almost inevitable that Rep, Mike Honda (D-Cal.) will be able to find enough support next week to get his resolution condemning Japan for its treatment of comfort women (sexual slavery) in World War Two passed in the House of Representatives.
Prior to June 14, it appeared that the efforts of Senator Dan Inoue, former Ambassador Tom Foley and others would be sufficient to head off this measure.
But the full-page advertisement in the Washington Post on June 14 attempting to explain away the issue, signed by many conservative or right wing Diet members as well as other well-known rightist commentators, had exactly the reverse effect from what was intended.
What were they thinking?
The advertisement was doomed to failure from the start. No matter what the actual facts of the situation may have been during the war, this is an issue where Japan cannot win.
The authors of the ad seem to have forgotten that Japan was America's enemy in World War Two, that China was our ally, and that those old memories still resonate with older Americans. China's benign image has deep roots among Americans who were influenced by missionaries in the 1930's, and among their descendants.
In addition, there is enough convincing evidence from living ex-comfort women to have turned public opinion against Japan on this issue. Komori San of Sankei Shimbun writes that Chinese-and Korean-Americans in Honda's district m California are pushing Honda. This may be true but I feel that residual anti-Japanese emotions run even deeper than that. The "revisionists" of the 1980's revived the image of Japan as untrustworthy, and those deep scratches on the public consciousness have not gone away.
The comfort women issue touches every American female, and it provides House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a convenient reason to bring the resolution to a vote without paying any price.
The Japanese Embassy in Washington took pains to issue a press release on June 20 stating that the authors ofthe ad were acting as private citizens, and did not represent the view of the Japanese Government. The press release repeated Prime Minister Abe's statement of apology, made during his recent visit to Washington.
But it was not convincing, since Abe had sad many different things, and many of the signers were in fact elected members of the Diet. In some ways, this only made matters worse.
So the committee passed Honda's resolution by an overwhelming vote of 39-2 and sent it to the floor, where it has more than 100 sponsors, and it will pass. Of course it has no binding effect, and the Senate will let it die. Still, the whole episode reveals how poorly the right wing signers of the ad understand American public opinion.
One can question whether the U.S. House of Representatives has any jurisdiction over this matter - it probably does not - but that's not the point. We are looking at a public relations fiasco, and it will not soon go away. Friends of Japan are disappointed that this issue cannot be dealt with once and for all.
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