Research Journal Example 1

Post date: Apr 25, 2016 1:17:14 AM

i. What have you learnt from your research this week? Who/Where did the information come from? What are some actors and their positions on what happened (history) and what should be done (policy) for this area?

I have learnt what happened at the lawsuits in Japan related to the issue of comfort women and some similarities. There are three lawsuits, which are thelawsuit by Korean bereaved families of the pacific war victims, the lawsuit byformer comfort women in Pusan & women’s labor volunteer corps, and thelawsuit by former comfort women Zainichi Koreans.

First, all of them were brought in a court from 1991 to 1993 and were dismissed in the High Court and the Supreme Court. However, the courts admitted the fact that those victims suffered from consolation by the Imperial Japanese Army. The Supreme Court dismissed the requests because of the prescription or the statue of limitations, and the thinking that a state does not have a responsibility for an individual’s damage.

Another similarity is the date. In 1991, Japan had the bubble economy and Korea joined the United Nations. I think there are some reasons why the lawsuits regarding comfort women have increased recently in this age.

ii. How has your thinking about your area changed or developed?

I was very surprised that Japanese courts admitted the fact of comfort women. I think that the way the courts dismissed is interesting because they didn’t touch on historical or economic issues. Prescription might be a good solution to end the controversies over comfort women.

Also, I didn’t know that there were many events in Korea around 1991 such as the Seoul Olympics and first freeparliamentary elections in 1988, joined the UN in 1991, and first civilianpresident in 1993. Former comfort women in Korea might get an opportunity to speak up their experiences or get the freedom of speech by those events.

iii. What do you want to focus on and find out more about now? Which actors and positions do you want to learn about (more) now? What are your research questions and research issues now?

During the research, I found out that Koreanconstitutional courts requested the Japanese government to set up a negotiationin August 31, 2011. I also heard that the Korean courts recently recognized the Japanese government’s responsibility to pay compensations to the victims. Therefore, I’d like to find out more about the lawsuits in Korea regarding comfort women.

Also, I have focused on the Japanese government, Japanese NGOs and activists, Korean government, and Korean former comfort women from the beginning, so I’d like to research on opinions of the international organizations and the UN next time.

(447 words, 45 minutes)

Resources

South Korea - Timeline, BBC News, 9 December 2015

Supreme Court in Japan, 検索結果詳細画面, アジア太平洋戦争韓国人犠牲者補償請求事件, 平成16年11月29日

Homepage Harada

http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~kj8899/isaiban_ichiran.html

"Comfort Women": Korean constitutional court orders negotiation, Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center, Sep 27, 2011.