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C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000879 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2017 
TAGS: PGOV JA
SUBJECT: JAPAN MOVES TO WEAKEN 1993 KONO APOLOGY ON 
"COMFORT WOMEN" 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Joe Donovan.  Reasons 1.4 (B),(D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  Prime Minister Abe is directing efforts to 
pursue World War II historical issues, including "comfort 
women," LDP Diet member Yasuhide Nakayama told Embassy 
Political Minister Counselor Meserve on February 28.  The 
Japanese government actions are in response to the U.S. 
congressional resolution seeking a formal apology for Japan's 
wartime acts against women forced into prostitution. 
Nakayama reported he has received direct instructions from 
LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa, speaking for the Prime 
Minister, to press ahead with revision of the 1993 Kono 
Statement on "comfort women."  Nakayama uncomfortably allowed 
to Meserve that he has misgivings about Abe's current 
thinking and fears the effort to lobby in the U.S. will 
backfire.  Nonetheless, Nakayama submitted a proposal to the 
LDP on March 1 to revise the Kono Statement.  End Summary. 
 
"Upgrading" the Kono Statement 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (C) The statement issued in 1993 by Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Yohei Kono is regarded as Japan's first official 
 
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acknowledgment of responsibility for abuses against the 
wartime "comfort women."  It has been a lightning-rod for 
conservative groups ever since.  Prime Minister Abe, 
following the example of his predecessors, acknowledged the 
Kono Statement in an October 2006 Diet session.  Privately, 
however, according to Diet member Yasuhide Nakayama, he has 
instructed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Policy Affairs 
Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa to work within the 
party framework to revise the controversial document, and 
correct the "mistaken" impression that the government of 
Japan officially ran forced prostitution centers during World 
War II. 
 
¶3.  (C) Nakayama is chair of a subcommittee on "comfort 
women," operating under the Committee of LDP Diet Members to 
Consider Japan's Future and Historical Education.  The 
Committee, headed by former Education Minister Nariaki 
Nakayama, is divided into two subcommittees, one on "comfort 
women," and another on the Nanjing Massacre, headed by Toru 
Toida.  (Note:  Nariaki Nakayama is not related to Yasuhide 
Nakayama, but is married to Special Advisor to the Prime 
Minister on Abduction Issues Kyoko Nakayama.  End Note.)  His 
subcommittee has worked closely with the Office of the Prime 
Minister (the "Kantei") in carrying out its work, he told 
Embassy Political Minister Counselor Meserve on February 28. 
In the past, according to Yasuhide Nakayama, Prime Minister 
Abe and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura used 
to attend meetings of the Committee.  He said his 
subcommittee has met five times, going through documents 
collected by the Cabinet Secretariat and getting feedback 
from historians and other individuals involved in drafting 
the original statement. 
 
¶4.  (C) In researching the "comfort women" issue, Nakayama 
said, he came to believe that the Kono Statement was at the 
heart of the problem.  The language is abstract and 
"masochistic," he noted, leading readers to believe that 
Japan's government was officially involved in organizing the 
taking of the "comfort women" and forcing them into 
prostitution.  Part of the problem lies in translation, he 
claimed.  MOFA has never produced an official text, and 
Nakayama finds many misleading expressions in the translation 
that is commonly used.  He added that some media outlets, 
including the Japan Times, have done their own translations 
aimed at "intentionally" misleading their readers.  The 
subcommittee's task has been to "upgrade" the text, with the 
goal of preventing left-wing groups from using Kono's words 
to attack Japan.  Nakayama assured Meserve he has tried to be 
careful to avoid using any language that would be damaging to 
the U.S.-Japan relationship. 
 
¶5. (C) On March 1, Nakayama's subcommittee announced a 
proposal for revising the Kono Statement at LDP headquarters. 
 He furnished the Embassy with a preliminary draft on 
February 28.  The proposal will now be submitted to the LDP's 
Education Division and Policy Deliberation Commission, and if 
approved, then to the LDP leadership and the Kantei. 
 
Conflicting Instructions from the Prime Minister's Office 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
 
¶6.  (C) Prime Minister Abe and his staff were aggressive in 
pursuing the "comfort women" issue to counter the U.S. 
congressional resolution, according to Nakayama.  When 
Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Public Relations 
Hiroshige Seko met with Nakayama prior to Seko's February 
trip to Washington, he told him he would be conducting a 
press briefing in front of Capital Hill to discuss the issue. 
 Nakayama said he warned Seko at the time to deal with the 
issue in a more restrained manner, and thinks his advice paid 
off.  After the visit, Seko spoke with Nakayama again and 
counseled him to "not get too excited" about the "comfort 
women" issue.  He told Nakayama that the Kantei wanted to 
avoid creating any controversy between the United States and 
Japan so close to the Prime Minister's upcoming summit with 
the President.  Earlier press reports had been playing up the 
opposite angle, criticizing the MOFA and the Japanese Embassy 
in Washington for not doing enough to head off the 
resolution, and noting that passage of the resolution would 
damage U.S.-Japan ties. 
 
¶7.  (C) LDP policy chief Nakagawa acknowledged Seko's 
softening position on the issue, but gave Nakayama a 
different message, telling him to push ahead more 
aggressively than ever, on the Prime Minister's direct 
orders.  That conversation notwithstanding, Nakayama believes 
the Kantei has realized that it needs to put on the brakes, 
based on advice from MOFA, the Japanese Embassy in 
Washington, and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.  He continues to 
receive pressure from Nakagawa, however, and wonders if Abe 
will be able to moderate his position.  Many LDP members, 
including most of the current cabinet, do not really back the 
language of the Kono Statement, Nakayama noted, but they are 
also conscious of preserving the balance between their 
political interests, Japan's national interest, and the 
U.S.-Japan relationship.  Committee Chairman Nariaki Nakayama 
has now told Yasuhide Nakayama that an "upgraded" version of 
the Kono Statement is no longer necessary.  Committee General 
Secretary Kyoko Nishikawa has said, "the matter should not be 
 
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aggravated." 
 
Nakayama in the Middle 
---------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Nakayama had no intention of becoming the front man 
for Japan's right-wing, he stressed, but was appointed to the 
chair based on comments he made at the first Committee 
meeting.  At this point, all he wants is for Japan to deal 
with the issue calmly, and to avoid pushing Abe's popularity 
any lower.  While he has come under some pressure from his 
colleagues to argue more aggressively against the Honda 
resolution, he believes such efforts would be 
counterproductive for both Japan and the United States. 
 
Nanjing Massacre More Problematic 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Nakayama said he believes his presence on the 
"comfort women" subcommittee acts as a neutralizing factor, 
but worries much more about the subcommittee on the Nanjing 
Massacre.  Toida and core member Yohei Matsumoto are very 
nationalistic, he warned, and want to start a national-level 
campaign denouncing the common view held by China and many 
others on Japan's responsibility for the atrocities committed 
on Nanjing's residents.  Toida is a member of an ultra 
conservative religious organization and holds strong beliefs 
on the issue.  Nakayama said he has cautioned them about the 
dangers of "blind patriotism" as a force to destroy the 
nation. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10.  (C) The proposal for an "upgraded" version of the Kono 
Statement given to us by Nakayama is problematic.  It begins 
by taking issue with a number of contentious but not major 
historical points, and buries at the very end of the text a 
reasonable paragraph noting the harm caused toward the 
"comfort women," repeating an apology from Japan, and 
committing to continue study of the historical issues. 
Nakayama admitted that engaging aggressively on the issue 
would only serve to raise the profile and spin up the 
importance of this issue.  He agreed that the issue was best 
 
left to the historians, not the politicians.  Nakayama 
announced several weeks ago that he would be leading a 
delegation to the United States to confront the issue, but 
has made no concrete plans for a trip at this time. 
SCHIEFFER