Biography
Robert O’Mochain is a professor at the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.
Yuki Ueno is a language instructor at the University of Toulouse and a doctoral candidate at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in France.
Together, the authors have published “Sexual abuse and education in Japan: In the international shadows.” The work explores their research interests into masculinism and other gender issues that affect the lives of citizens in Japan, especially stakeholders in education. Their research aims at strengthening efforts to end cultures of impunity for perpetrators of sexual abuse and to promote more honesty and social justice in Japanese society.
Abstract
In recent years, powerful actors in Japan’s political elite have consistently denied the oral testimony of so-called “comfort women.” The denial of this and related historical crimes is made in the service of a claim we denote here as the “big lie.” This is the erroneous assertion that the Asia-Pacific War was a straightforward war of liberation by the Japanese Imperial Army, inspired by a blameless Emperor and carried out by morally exemplary military forces. This denial of historical realities, especially those related to “comfort women,” has constituted a contributory factor for a pattern of denial regarding all historical crimes. Effects have been far-reaching, including for survivors of sexual abuse who pursue justice. The determination to deny the validity of oral testimony by “comfort women” carried over into the judiciary and society so that numerous public conversations have created a chilling effect for survivors of abuse. Survey research with 800 young Japanese indicated that invocation of “comfort women” issues and the trope of the selfish “bad girl” led to a diminution in support for victims of sexual abuse and an increased tendency to maintain the status quo of inegalitarian gender relations. Further research is required to determine the extent and the nature of the chilling effect that is engendered by the “big lie” to the detriment of sexual abuse survivors in Japan.
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Recommended Citation
O'Mochain, Robert and Ueno, Yuki (2024) "Japan’s “Big Lie": The Negation of Oral Testimony of Sexual Violence," Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 9: Iss. 2, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2024.09.02.01