GAHT-US Corporation
Santa Monica, California
September 3, 2014

Announcement of Recent Legal Action

On this day, our attorney took two separate legal actions. First, notice was filed that we will be appealing the U.S. District Court’s August 4 decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court. And second, a separate lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles.

These actions are continuation of the lawsuit, Michiko Gingery et al v. the City of Glendale, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on February 20, 2014. The decision in this case announced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson on August 4, 2014 was, in our view, inappropriate. Thus, we have decided to appeal the first cause of action of the Gingery lawsuit, infringement by the City of Glendale upon the Federal Government’s exclusive power to conduct the foreign affairs of the United States, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court. Further, we have filed a new lawsuit, corresponding to the second cause of action of the Gingery lawsuit, alleging administrative negligence by the City Council and the City Manager for not voting on the proposed text to be engraved on the plaque next to the Glendale Comfort Women statue. The new lawsuit is permitted according to Judge Anderson’s August 4 decision, which directed the matter to the state court.

GAHT does not seek to interfere with the international relations of Japan with the United States or any other country. To the contrary, GAHT is eager to improve them through a balanced examination of the issue of wartime prostitution and of Japan’s experience in redressing its past in this regard. GAHT deplores this issue being used to create a negative image of Japan, Japanese citizens, and Japanese Americans in order to weaken the US-Japan strategic partnership that has flourished for over 60 years and has been the backbone of the U.S. policy in East Asia.

We are looking forward to continuing support for these lawsuits by many observers in the United States, Japan and elsewhere.