To the Diet of Japan:

The Nation of Japan that we know today, is a beacon of democracy and human rights; one of the very few truly free nations in a continent where such an idea, to this day, remains mostly a fleeting dream. However, like all countries, Japan is also a nation whose history and reputation are stained by a dark past. In order for the world to truly move forward, to let the ghosts of the past finally rest, one must accept responsibility for their suffering.

This petition is on behalf of the women and girls of Asia and the Pacific islands, who were forced into sex slavery to serve as "comfort women" to the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during World War II. Around a quarter of a million women and girls, including pre-pubescent children, from China, Korea, the Philippines, and virtually any nation or territory occupied by the Japanese Warlords, were forced to suffer at the hand of their conquerors under conditions rivaling the worst atrocities of the Nazis in occupied Europe. This is a call for the Diet of Japan, its democratically-elected government body, to admit to these crimes against humanity, and to apologize on behalf of the entire Japanese populace to these women, to their families, and to the world, just as Germany has done after the downfall of the Nazis. 

In some of the nation-states liberated in the Pacific Theater of Operations, including the Republic of Korea, it is sadly believed that these sex slaves were willing collaborators with the Japanese occupation. This is a lie, misinformation partially perpetuated by the Japanese government. As a result, many women were too afraid to come forward, out of fear of retribution from their own fellow citizens, many of whom were ostracized as "traitors". As such, in the Tokyo Tribunals, the ruling Warlords, including the Prime Minister and arguably, the true ruler of Japan at the time, Hideki Tojo, were not prosecuted for these atrocities. 

It has been nearly seventy-seven years since the Imperial Japanese Forces had signed the instrument of surrender on board the USS Missouri on September 2nd, 1945, ending fourteen years of destructive conflict. It is high time that the Japanese government admits to the nation's crimes in the War, to publicly make it known that these victims were not collaborators and that these women, many of whom were only young girls at the time, would not have willingly participated in their own degradation and humiliation. The Japanese government also has the moral obligation to seek out the families of these victims and the remaining survivors of these atrocities, and offer their personal apologies and necessary compensation.

In the novel, "Silent Marionette, a Story of a Comfort Lady" by Nily Naiman, which I strongly recommend you read, you have a story based on a true account of a teenage Korean girl who was captured and forced to work as a comfort woman - or let's just call a spade a spade - she was taken from her home and forced into sex slavery for the Japanese occupation in Manchuria, or as they had renamed it, Manchukuo. It was published in 2014, and I believe, it should be taught in the school curriculum in Japan. 

Children in Germany, from a very young age, learn all about Hitler, World War II, the Holocaust, the Final Solution, and all the atrocities committed by and in the name of Hitler and the Nazi Party. German youth are often required to visit memorial sites and former concentration camps as part of their history education. The current generation of Japanese youth should be made fully aware of their nation's sins of the past. A truly free nation must publicly acknowledge its failures as well as its triumphs if we truly wish to relegate these failures to the pages of history as opposed to risking repeating them in the future.