A detailed commentary on how attorney Kazuko Itō and related human-rights NGOs internationalized the “sex slave” narrative in the comfort-women issue, how similar advocacy frameworks are now expanding to the AV coercion controversy in Japan, and how these developments tie directly into global information warfare involving the UN and Western media.

Because when one speaks of Kazuko Itō, she is one of the lawyers who spread the term “sex slave” around the world regarding the comfort-women issue.
November 29, 2016.

The following facts, too, are things that will never be conveyed to people who subscribe to newspapers like the Asahi Shimbun and watch only programs from their subsidiary TV networks.
Bold emphasis within the text is mine.

The NGO that pursued the comfort-women issue now extends its reach into the AV coercion problem…
Will the day come when “AV actresses = modern sex slaves” are condemned at the UN?
— Sugita Mio’s Nadeshiko Report

The other day, I spoke at a study group for entrepreneurs and office workers about the UN and the comfort-women issue.
During the Q&A session, a man working in the entertainment industry made the following comment:

“This may be related to the comfort-women issue and the UN… It’s about the AV-appearance coercion case that has been in the news.”

Summarizing his story:
A woman burdened with debt begged to be allowed to appear in AV and became an AV actress.
During filming she repeatedly said to staff, “Please let me appear again,” “I’m counting on you,” and in the end she appeared in about 200 works.
She repaid her debts and retired, but when her boyfriend discovered her past AV appearances, the first words that slipped out of her mouth were: “I was forced into it.”
Her boyfriend took this at face value and asked a so-called human-rights lawyer to represent her.
The woman then filed a criminal complaint against the AV production company and also launched a civil lawsuit.
However, staff members who knew her well were puzzled, saying, “Why is she suing?”

We do not know whether every part of the man’s story is true.
The woman claims that she was “deceived and forced” into filming—an entirely different explanation.

Still, the term “human-rights lawyer” caught my attention, so I asked:
“Is that lawyer perhaps Kazuko Itō, secretary-general of the international human-rights NGO Human Rights Now?”
He answered, “Yes.”
At that moment, everything made sense.

Kazuko Itō is indeed one of the lawyers who spread the term “sex slave” worldwide in the comfort-women issue.
I have met her several times at the UN Headquarters in New York and at the UN Office in Geneva (UN European Headquarters).

In late October of last year, UN Special Rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio stated at a press conference—without any evidence—“Thirty percent (later corrected to 13 percent) of Japanese female students engage in compensated dating.”
The Japanese government protested, demanding disclosure of the source and evidence, and requested withdrawal of the statement and submission of a report based on objective data.
It is believed that the person who provided this information was Itō.

She is considered the successor to attorney Yoko Hayashi, who served as Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Meanwhile, I received the following letter from a woman living in the United States:

“Regarding the AV-appearance coercion issue that has become a topic in Japan, I became concerned because the lawyers and groups involved were the same people dealing with the comfort-women issue.
Japan is already under scrutiny from the U.S. and the UN over child pornography and the sex industry, so statements by women like Ms. Sugita are extremely important.
Don’t you think the AV coercion issue has a similar structure to the comfort-women issue?”

If we dismiss this as a mere internal matter of the AV industry, one day the UN committees may suddenly declare:
“Japan is a terrible human-rights violator that condones the existence of sex-slave AV actresses.”
This is a very grave situation.

People say women should speak out more about the comfort-women issue and the AV coercion issue.
This is because matters of sexuality inevitably carry the image of “male aggressor, female victim.”
Human-rights lawyers understand this well, and that is exactly why they skillfully use the fact that they are women to take up issues like AV and compensated dating, turning them into “victim-business” opportunities.
Their next target being the AV coercion issue is, I must say, almost certain.

Today, even people in countries with no relation to the comfort-women issue have come to believe the false impression that “the former Japanese military was a barbaric organization of sexual criminals.”

This is partly because outlets like The New York Times have published articles that uncritically repeat the claims of China and South Korea.
But I believe that the existence of Japan’s adult videos and adult-oriented anime/manga has also strongly influenced the readiness of Western and Asian audiences to accept the “Japanese military sex-slave theory.”

In the internet age, Japanese adult content is widely viewed overseas.
In the West, sex is considered “something to be enjoyed by both men and women,” and works are created based on that premise, leading to open and casual depictions of sexuality.
However, Japan has a culture of “hiding” and “modesty.”
Scenes in which “a woman refuses” are generally preferred, leading to many rape-themed works.
Anime featuring beautiful young girls or “lolicon” characters is also popular.

Even if such works are merely fictional expressions of things that cannot or should not happen in reality, overseas audiences interpret them as:
“If they make works like this, Japanese people must be perverted.
No wonder the Japanese military enslaved virgins in the past.”
This is a very troublesome problem—exactly what human-rights lawyers hope for.

Regarding this issue, I have discussed it in my co-authored book with non-fiction writer Keiko Kawazoe, “History Wars Are Women’s Battles.”
Once again, the AV coercion issue is unexpectedly connected to the international information war.
We conservatives have truly reached a point where we must also put “women” at the forefront in this fight.

■ About Sugita Mio
Born April 1967.
Graduated from Tottori University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Forestry.
Worked as a City of Nishinomiya official, then ran for the House of Representatives in 2012 with the Japan Restoration Party and was elected for the first time.
After losing her seat in 2014, she has been active as a member of a private international NGO working to restore Japan’s honor in the global arena.
Her favorite saying is: “You cannot change the past or other people. You can change yourself and the future.”