How American Legislators Came to Befriend the 'Comfort Women' and Shake up U.S.-Japan Relations

December 17, 2014 6:30 PM (finished)


Mary M. McCarthy

(Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Drake University)

Date/Time December 17, 2014 6:30 PM
Location Room 549 5th floor, Akamon Sogo Kenkyuto Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo  [map]
Abstract The U.S.-Japan relationship is being tested by the resurgence of history issues, and contending interpretations of the past and the meaning it holds today. In this project, I explore two crucial case studies: passage of U.S. House Resolution 121, which called on Japan to acknowledge and apologize for the use of “comfort women,” or sexual slaves during WWII, and the erection of “comfort women” memorials throughout the U.S. My thesis is that processes of identity formation (at the individual, group, and national levels) have combined with domestic political dynamics to put the U.S. and Japanese governments at odds. My analysis explores how contemporary understandings were born and evolved and uncovers how these differing interpretations resulted in actions and reactions by the American and Japanese governments.
Bio Mary M. McCarthy is a visiting scholar at Tokyo International University and an associate professor of politics and international relations at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She received her B.A. in East Asian studies and her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. Dr. McCarthy specializes in Japan’s domestic and foreign policies. She has published on topics including the Japanese media, and cooperation and conflict between Japan and China in the East China Sea. Her current research examines the historical legacies of the Asia-Pacific War on Japan’s foreign relations. Dr. McCarthy is a 2014 Japan Studies Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington and a Mansfield Foundation U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Scholar.