"Osaka, Japan, Ends Ties With San Francisco..." Isa Chudzik

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654474739/osaka-ends-ties-with-san-francisco-in-protest-of-comfort-women-statue
Isa Chudzik

In this article Sasha Ingber explains why Osaka , Japan is cutting its relationship with its "sister city", San Francisco. In 2017 San Francisco debuted a statue called "The column of strength", meant to honor the women who were forced to become "comfort women" (sexual slaves) by the Japanese Imperialist Army during WW2. Osaka and Japan in general have a problem with this for a few reasons. They feel that the monument will further divide other Asian-American communities against the Japanese-American community, that the monuments misrepresents this event in history, and most troubling there are officials in the Japanese government who still believe the women volunteered to work at the brothels. Japan has always had a strained relationship with this part of its history. It was not until 1993 that the government officially acknowledged and apologized for its wrongdoings.