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{{chinesename koreanname | tradchi=慰安婦 | simpchi=慰安妇 | py=Wèiān Fù | wg=Wei-An Fu | hangul=위안부 | hanja=慰安婦 | rr=wianbu | mr=wianbu}} |
{{chinesename koreanname | tradchi=慰安婦 | simpchi=慰安妇 | py=Wèiān Fù | wg=Wei-An Fu | hangul=위안부 | hanja=慰安婦 | rr=wianbu | mr=wianbu}} |
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{{nihongo|'''Comfort women'''|[[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 慰安婦|ianfu}} or {{nihongo|'''military comfort women'''|[[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 従軍慰安婦|jūgun-ianfu}} is a [[euphemism]] for |
{{nihongo|'''Comfort women'''|[[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 慰安婦|ianfu}} or {{nihongo|'''military comfort women'''|[[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 従軍慰安婦|jūgun-ianfu}} is a [[euphemism]] for around 200,000 [[sex slaves]], mostly from [[Korea]] and [[China]], conscripted into [[Imperial Japanese Army|military]] [[brothel]]s in [[Japan]]ese-occupied countries during [[World War II]]. <ref>[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/03/29/japan.comfort.women/index.html] [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/15/congress_backs_off_of_wartime_japan_rebuke/]</ref> |
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[[Image:Chinese girl from one of the Japanese Army's 'comfort battalions'.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Rangoon]], [[Myanmar|Burma]]. August 8, 1945. An [[Chinese diaspora|ethnic Chinese]] woman who was in one of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] officer.]] |
[[Image:Chinese girl from one of the Japanese Army's 'comfort battalions'.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Rangoon]], [[Myanmar|Burma]]. August 8, 1945. An [[Chinese diaspora|ethnic Chinese]] woman who was in one of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] officer.]] |
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==Number of comfort women== |
==Number of comfort women== |
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Given the well-organized and open nature of prostitution in Japan, it was seen as logical that there should be organized prostitution to serve the Japanese Armed Forces.<ref>George Hicks, "The Comfort Women". Allen & Unwin ISBN: 1863737278</ref> Japanese authorities hoped that by providing easily accessible prostitutes. the morale and ultimately the military effectiveness of Japanese soldiers would be improved. Also, by institutionalizing brothels and placing them under official scrutiny, the government hoped to control the spread of [[Sexually transmitted infection|STD]]s. Lastly, creating brothels in military bases directly on the front line removed the perceived need to grant leave to soldiers. {{Fact|date=March 2007}} |
Given the well-organized and open nature of prostitution in Japan, it was seen as logical that there should be organized prostitution to serve the Japanese Armed Forces.<ref>George Hicks, "The Comfort Women". Allen & Unwin ISBN: 1863737278</ref> Japanese authorities hoped that by providing easily accessible prostitutes. the morale and ultimately the military effectiveness of Japanese soldiers would be improved. Also, by institutionalizing brothels and placing them under official scrutiny, the government hoped to control the spread of [[Sexually transmitted infection|STD]]s. Lastly, creating brothels in military bases directly on the front line removed the perceived need to grant leave to soldiers. {{Fact|date=March 2007}} |
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In the early stages of the war, Japanese authorities |
In the early stages of the war, Japanese authorities recruited prostitutes through conventional means. Middlemen advertised in newspapers circulating in Japan and the Japanese colonies of [[Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Manchukuo]], and [[mainland China]]. Many who answered the advertisements were already prostitutes and offered their services voluntarily. Others were sold by their families to the military due to economic hardship. However, these sources soon dried up, especially from Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs resisted further issuance of travel visas for Japanese prostitutes, feeling it tarnished the image of the Japanese Empire. The military turned to acquiring comfort women outside mainland Japan, especially from Korea and occupied China. Many women were tricked or defrauded into joining the military brothels. The US Army Force Office report of interview with 20 comfort women in Burma found that the girls were induced by the offer of plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, and on the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen. <ref>[http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html]</ref> |
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⚫ | In urban areas, conventional advertising through middlemen was used alongside kidnapping. However, along the front lines, especially in the countryside where middlemen were rare, the military often directly demanded that local leaders procure women for the brothels. This situation became worse as the war progressed. Under the strain of the war effort, the military became unable to provide enough supplies to Japanese units; in response, the units made up the difference by demanding or looting supplies from the locals. Moreover, when the locals, especially Chinese, were considered hostile, Japanese soldiers carried out the [[Sanko sakusen|"Three Alls Policy"]], which included indiscriminately kidnapping and raping local civilians.<ref>Fujiwara, Akira (藤原彰) ''The Three Alls Policy and the Northern Chinese Regional Army'' (「三光作戦」と北支那方面軍), Kikan sensô sekinin kenkyû 20, 1998</ref><ref>Himeta, Mitsuyoshi (姫田光義) ''Concerning the Three Alls Strategy/Three Alls Policy By the Japanese Forces'' (日本軍による『三光政策・三光作戦をめぐって』), Iwanami Bukkuretto, 1996</ref><ref>Bix, Herbert P. ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan'', HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN 0-06-019314-X</ref> |
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However, these sources soon dried up, especially from Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs resisted further issuance of travel visas for Japanese prostitutes, feeling it tarnished the image of the Japanese Empire. The military turned to acquiring comfort women outside mainland Japan, especially from Korean peninsula, Taiwan islands and Manchukuo. However, many women were tricked or defrauded into joining the military brothels by Korean and Chinese traffickers. The US Army Force Office report of interview with 20 comfort women in Burma found that the girls were induced by the offer of plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, and on the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen. Others were kidnapped by local trafficers for high brokerage. Their profits came up that an average month a girl would gross about fifteen hundred yen (this is about $60000) for market mechanism of danger area.<ref> [http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html] UNITED STATES OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION Psychological Warfare Team Attached to U.S. Army Forces India-Burma Theater APO 689 (Date of Report: October 1, 1944) </ref> |
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Several former comfort women testified that they were kidnapped by Japanese soldiers<ref>New York Times, "Japan's Abe Denies Proof of World War II Sex Slaves". Associated Press. March 1, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Japan-Sex-Slaves.html?ref=world, accessed March 1, 2007</ref>. According to veteran showa soldier Yasuji Kaneko, the women "cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died. We were the emperor's soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctances." <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100578.html</ref> |
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Comforting women in overseas were paid in war notes, because of the fact that Japanese authorities regulated and prevented the flow of Yen from Japan to foreign countries. Thereby, some went bankrupt as war notes became worthless after Japan was defeated, while some paid off their debts before the war ended. <ref>[http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html]</ref> |
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⚫ | In urban areas, conventional advertising through middlemen was used alongside kidnapping. However, along the front lines, especially in the countryside where middlemen were rare, the military often directly demanded that local leaders procure women for the brothels. This situation became worse as the war progressed. Under the strain of the war effort, the military became unable to provide enough supplies to Japanese units; in response, the units made up the difference by demanding or looting supplies from the locals. Moreover, when the locals, especially Chinese, were considered hostile, Japanese soldiers carried out the [[Sanko sakusen|"Three Alls Policy"]], which included indiscriminately kidnapping and raping local civilians.<ref>Fujiwara, Akira (藤原彰) ''The Three Alls Policy and the Northern Chinese Regional Army'' (「三光作戦」と北支那方面軍), Kikan sensô sekinin kenkyû 20, 1998</ref><ref>Himeta, Mitsuyoshi (姫田光義) ''Concerning the Three Alls Strategy/Three Alls Policy By the Japanese Forces'' (日本軍による『三光政策・三光作戦をめぐって』), Iwanami Bukkuretto, 1996</ref><ref>Bix, Herbert P. ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan'', HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN 0-06-019314-X</ref> |
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-According to veteran showa soldier Yasuji Kaneko testified in [[The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slave]] (女性国際戦犯法廷). "A Japanese army offered the Comfort women. It is fact." "However, they were large amount of money. (Their charges were 70% of his salary.) Therefore, we enjoyed sex by the rape free of charge." <ref>Testimony of female international War Crimes Tribunal Kaneko in December, 2000 [http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tyuukiren/web-site/syougen/nhk_special.htm] </ref> |
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Although there is no evidence of Japanese Government orders, evidences of enforcement by Japanese Army officers do exist. According to Dutch archives, 10 Dutch women were taken from prison camps in Java by officers of the Japanese Imperial Army to become prostitutes in February 1944. Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished until the end of the war; 11 officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
Although there is no evidence of Japanese Government orders, evidences of enforcement by Japanese Army officers do exist. According to Dutch archives, 10 Dutch women were taken from prison camps in Java by officers of the Japanese Imperial Army to become prostitutes in February 1944. Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished until the end of the war; 11 officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
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==Responsibility and compensation== |
==Responsibility and compensation== |
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In 1983, [[Seiji Yoshida]] published ''Watashino sensō hanzai - Chōsenjin Kyōsei Renkō'' (''My War Crimes: The Impressment of Koreans''), in which the author confesses to forcibly procuring women from [[Jeju Island]] in Korea under the direct order from the Japanese military. In 1991, ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'', one of the major newspapers of Japan, ran a series on comfort women for a year. This is often regarded as the trigger of the on-going controversy over comfort women in Japan. In this series the ''Asahi Shimbun'' repeatedly published excerpts of his book. Consequently, it was regarded as evidence of "forced comfort women" and cited in the U.N. report by Dr. [[Radhika Coomaraswamy]] as well. |
In 1983, [[Seiji Yoshida]] published ''Watashino sensō hanzai - Chōsenjin Kyōsei Renkō'' (''My War Crimes: The Impressment of Koreans''), in which the author confesses to forcibly procuring women from [[Jeju Island]] in Korea under the direct order from the Japanese military. In 1991, ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'', one of the major newspapers of Japan, ran a series on comfort women for a year. This is often regarded as the trigger of the on-going controversy over comfort women in Japan. In this series the ''Asahi Shimbun'' repeatedly published excerpts of his book. Consequently, it was regarded as evidence of "forced comfort women" and cited in the U.N. report by Dr. [[Radhika Coomaraswamy]] as well. |
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But some people doubted Yoshida's "confession" because nobody other than him told of such crimes. When Prof. Ikuhiko Hata revisited the villages in South Korea where Yoshida claimed he had abducted many women, nobody confirmed Yoshida's confession and the situation was contradictory to his confession. When Hata questioned these problems to Yoshida, he admitted that his confession was a "novel".<ref>Hata, ibid.</ref> Since then nobody quotes Yoshida's book as evidence. |
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Initially the Japanese government denied any official connection to the wartime brothels; in June 1990, the Japanese government declared that all brothels were run by private contractors. In 1990, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery filed suit, demanding compensation. Several surviving comfort women also independently filed suit in the [[Tokyo]] [[District Court]]. The court rejected these claims on grounds such as statute of limitations, the immunity of the State at the time of the act concerned, and non-subjectivity of the individual of international law. [http://www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/sexualslavery/courtcase.html]. |
Initially the Japanese government denied any official connection to the wartime brothels; in June 1990, the Japanese government declared that all brothels were run by private contractors. In 1990, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery filed suit, demanding compensation. Several surviving comfort women also independently filed suit in the [[Tokyo]] [[District Court]]. The court rejected these claims on grounds such as statute of limitations, the immunity of the State at the time of the act concerned, and non-subjectivity of the individual of international law. [http://www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/sexualslavery/courtcase.html]. |
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However, in 1992, the historian [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] discovered incriminating documents in the archives of Japan's [[Japan Defense Agency|Defense Agency]] indicating that the military was directly involved in running the brothels (by, for example, selecting the agents who recruited). <ref>Yoshimi, ibid.</ref> When Yoshimi's findings were published in the Japanese media on January 12, 1993, they caused a sensation and forced the government, represented by Chief Cabinet Secretary, [[Koichi Kato]], to acknowledge some of the facts the same day. On January 17, Prime minister [[Kiichi Miyazawa]] presented formal apologies for the suffering of the victims during a trip to South Korea. |
However, in 1992, the historian [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] discovered incriminating documents in the archives of Japan's [[Japan Defense Agency|Defense Agency]] indicating that the military was directly involved in running the brothels (by, for example, selecting the agents who recruited). <ref>Yoshimi, ibid.</ref> When Yoshimi's findings were published in the Japanese media on January 12, 1993, they caused a sensation and forced the government, represented by Chief Cabinet Secretary, [[Koichi Kato]], to acknowledge some of the facts the same day. On January 17, Prime minister [[Kiichi Miyazawa]] presented formal apologies for the suffering of the victims during a trip to South Korea. |
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On August 4 in 1993, the Japanese governments issued a statement by which it recognized that "Comfort stations were operated in response to the request of the military of the day", that "The Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of the women" and that the women "were recruited in many cases against their own will through coaxing and coercion". The Government of Japan "sincerely apologizes and (expresses its] remorse to all those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable psychological wounds". In that statement, the Government of Japan expressed its "firm determination never to repeat the same mistake and that they would engrave such issue. through the study and teaching of history".[http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9308.html] |
On August 4 in 1993, the Japanese governments issued a statement by which it recognized that "Comfort stations were operated in response to the request of the military of the day", that "The Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of the women" and that the women "were recruited in many cases against their own will through coaxing and coercion". The Government of Japan "sincerely apologizes and (expresses its] remorse to all those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable psychological wounds". In that statement, the Government of Japan expressed its "firm determination never to repeat the same mistake and that they would engrave such issue. through the study and teaching of history".[http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9308.html] |
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Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished by Japanese authorities until the end of the war.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> After the end of the war 11 Japanese officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished by Japanese authorities until the end of the war.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> After the end of the war 11 Japanese officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.<ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
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It decided that the case was not crime organized by the Army and that the ones who raped violated the Army’s order to hire only voluntary women. <ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
It decided that the case was not crime organized by the Army and that the ones who raped violated the Army’s order to hire only voluntary women. <ref>''Collection of Reports of Investigation into Documents Relating to "Comfort Women" 1999'', p115-117, 1999, Japan, http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf</ref> |
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The situation changed when Yoshida admitted his confession was a "novel" in 1996, because there was no other evidence that the Army had abducted women from Korea. Former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Nobuo Ishihara, who collected the documents for the apology, told that there was no evidence of Army's abduction but that [[Kiichi Miyazawa]], then Prime Minister, decided to apologize as a political compromise with Korean government.[http://abirur.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/30961/] [[Shinzo Abe]], now the Prime Minister, demanded the government to revise the apology because its ground was overturned by the author, Yoshida.<ref>"Ianf to Senjou no Sei" (「慰安婦と戦場の性」) [[Ikuhiko Hata]](秦郁彦) 新潮選書 1999/6 323頁 .</ref>. |
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On 17 January 2005, additional documents detailing the minutes of the 1965 [[Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea]] were released by South Korean government. They suggest that the South Korean government agreed not to demand further compensation, either at the government or individual level against the Japanese government, after receiving $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan <ref>"[http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050117-025138-3813r.htm S.Korea discloses sensitive documents]," [[United Press International|UPI]] [[January 17]] [[2005]]</ref>. |
On 17 January 2005, additional documents detailing the minutes of the 1965 [[Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea]] were released by South Korean government. They suggest that the South Korean government agreed not to demand further compensation, either at the government or individual level against the Japanese government, after receiving $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan <ref>"[http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050117-025138-3813r.htm S.Korea discloses sensitive documents]," [[United Press International|UPI]] [[January 17]] [[2005]]</ref>. |
Revision as of 15:02, 12 March 2007
Template:Chinesename koreanname
Comfort women (Japanese: 慰安婦, ianfu) or military comfort women (Japanese: 従軍慰安婦, jūgun-ianfu) is a euphemism for around 200,000 sex slaves, mostly from Korea and China, conscripted into military brothels in Japanese-occupied countries during World War II. [1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Chinese_girl_from_one_of_the_Japanese_Army%27s_%27comfort_battalions%27.jpg/280px-Chinese_girl_from_one_of_the_Japanese_Army%27s_%27comfort_battalions%27.jpg)
Number of comfort women
Historian's estimate of the number is greatly varied, but 20,000-200,000 young women were recruited to serve in Japanese military brothels.[2] There are different theories on the breakdown of the comfort women's place of origin. According to Kanto Gakuin University professor Hirofumi Hayashi, the majority of the women were from Japan, Korea, and China.[3][4][5] Others came from the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, and other Japanese-occupied countries and regions. Chuo University professor Yoshiaki Yoshimi states there were about 2,000 centers where as many as 200,000 Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Taiwanese, Burmese, Indonesian, Dutch and Australian women were interned.[6] Nihon University professor Ikuhiko Hata states the number of women working in the licensed pleasure quarter was fewer than 20,000. They were 40% Japanese, 20% Koreans, 10% Chinese, with others making up the remaining 30%.[7]
Establishment of comfort women system
Given the well-organized and open nature of prostitution in Japan, it was seen as logical that there should be organized prostitution to serve the Japanese Armed Forces.[8] Japanese authorities hoped that by providing easily accessible prostitutes. the morale and ultimately the military effectiveness of Japanese soldiers would be improved. Also, by institutionalizing brothels and placing them under official scrutiny, the government hoped to control the spread of STDs. Lastly, creating brothels in military bases directly on the front line removed the perceived need to grant leave to soldiers. [citation needed]
In the early stages of the war, Japanese authorities recruited prostitutes through conventional means. Middlemen advertised in newspapers circulating in Japan and the Japanese colonies of Korea, Taiwan, Manchukuo, and mainland China. Many who answered the advertisements were already prostitutes and offered their services voluntarily. Others were sold by their families to the military due to economic hardship. However, these sources soon dried up, especially from Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs resisted further issuance of travel visas for Japanese prostitutes, feeling it tarnished the image of the Japanese Empire. The military turned to acquiring comfort women outside mainland Japan, especially from Korea and occupied China. Many women were tricked or defrauded into joining the military brothels. The US Army Force Office report of interview with 20 comfort women in Burma found that the girls were induced by the offer of plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, and on the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with an advance of a few hundred yen. [9]
In urban areas, conventional advertising through middlemen was used alongside kidnapping. However, along the front lines, especially in the countryside where middlemen were rare, the military often directly demanded that local leaders procure women for the brothels. This situation became worse as the war progressed. Under the strain of the war effort, the military became unable to provide enough supplies to Japanese units; in response, the units made up the difference by demanding or looting supplies from the locals. Moreover, when the locals, especially Chinese, were considered hostile, Japanese soldiers carried out the "Three Alls Policy", which included indiscriminately kidnapping and raping local civilians.[10][11][12]
Several former comfort women testified that they were kidnapped by Japanese soldiers[13]. According to veteran showa soldier Yasuji Kaneko, the women "cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died. We were the emperor's soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctances." [14]
Although there is no evidence of Japanese Government orders, evidences of enforcement by Japanese Army officers do exist. According to Dutch archives, 10 Dutch women were taken from prison camps in Java by officers of the Japanese Imperial Army to become prostitutes in February 1944. Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished until the end of the war; 11 officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.[15]
As a of the victim of the incident, Jan Ruff-O'Hearn testimonied to the U.S. House of Congress, "Many stories have been told about the horrors, brutalities, suffering and starvation of Dutch women in Japanese prison camps. But one story was never told, the most shameful story of the worst human rights abuse committed by the Japanese during World War II: The story of the “Comfort Women”, the jugun ianfu, and how these women were forcibly seized against their will, to provide sexual services for the Japanese Imperial Army. In the so-called “Comfort Station” I was systematically beaten and raped day and night. Even the Japanese doctor raped me each time he visited the brothel to examine us for veneral disease." [16] [17]
It is also claimed that beatings and physical torture were not uncommon. [18] A single woman could expect to have sex a dozen to forty times a day, often resulting in injury to the genitals. [citation needed] Women were divided into three or four categories, depending on their length of service. [citation needed]
As time went on, the comfort women were downgraded as the likelihood of their acquiring STDs became more certain. Any others who were suspected with pregnancy were forced to undergo crude methods of abortion, more often than not killing the women through over-bleeding during surgical removals. When they were considered likely to be too diseased to be of any further use, they were abandoned, often far from home, or even in a different country, as the comfort women were shipped wherever deemed necessary. Sometimes to conceal the existence of their use of comfort women, retreating Japanese battalions would stash these women in secret caves and blast the entrance, causing landslides that sealed the cave. [citation needed] Many women reported having their uteruses rot from the diseases acquired from being raped by thousands of men over several years, at times requiring surgical removal.[citation needed]
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone stated in his memoir that he set up a comfort house for his troops of about 3,000 when he was a navy lieutenant in charge of accounting. When criticised, he claimed that he was unaware that the women were forced into service. [citation needed]
Responsibility and compensation
In 1983, Seiji Yoshida published Watashino sensō hanzai - Chōsenjin Kyōsei Renkō (My War Crimes: The Impressment of Koreans), in which the author confesses to forcibly procuring women from Jeju Island in Korea under the direct order from the Japanese military. In 1991, Asahi Shimbun, one of the major newspapers of Japan, ran a series on comfort women for a year. This is often regarded as the trigger of the on-going controversy over comfort women in Japan. In this series the Asahi Shimbun repeatedly published excerpts of his book. Consequently, it was regarded as evidence of "forced comfort women" and cited in the U.N. report by Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy as well.
Initially the Japanese government denied any official connection to the wartime brothels; in June 1990, the Japanese government declared that all brothels were run by private contractors. In 1990, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery filed suit, demanding compensation. Several surviving comfort women also independently filed suit in the Tokyo District Court. The court rejected these claims on grounds such as statute of limitations, the immunity of the State at the time of the act concerned, and non-subjectivity of the individual of international law. [4].
However, in 1992, the historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi discovered incriminating documents in the archives of Japan's Defense Agency indicating that the military was directly involved in running the brothels (by, for example, selecting the agents who recruited). [19] When Yoshimi's findings were published in the Japanese media on January 12, 1993, they caused a sensation and forced the government, represented by Chief Cabinet Secretary, Koichi Kato, to acknowledge some of the facts the same day. On January 17, Prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa presented formal apologies for the suffering of the victims during a trip to South Korea.
On August 4 in 1993, the Japanese governments issued a statement by which it recognized that "Comfort stations were operated in response to the request of the military of the day", that "The Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of the women" and that the women "were recruited in many cases against their own will through coaxing and coercion". The Government of Japan "sincerely apologizes and (expresses its] remorse to all those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable psychological wounds". In that statement, the Government of Japan expressed its "firm determination never to repeat the same mistake and that they would engrave such issue. through the study and teaching of history".[5]
In 1995, Japan set up an "Asia Women's Fund" for atonement in the form of material compensation and to provide each surviving comfort woman with a signed apology from the prime minister, stating "As Prime Minister of Japan, I thus extend anew my most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women[20]." The fund is funded by private donations and not government money, and has been criticized as a way to avoid admitting government abuse.[21][22] But because of the unofficial nature of the fund, many comfort women have rejected these payments and continue to seek an official apology and compensation. [23]
Although there is no evidence of official order by Japanese Army, there are many evidences of sexual abuse by soldiers. 10 Dutch women were taken by force from prison camps in Java by officers of the Japanese Imperial Army to become forced sex slaves in February 1944. They were systematically beaten and raped day and night in so called "Comfort Station". Even the Japanese doctor visiting the brothel "Comfort Station" to examine for veneral disease participated in the rape. [24] [25] Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the officers were not punished by Japanese authorities until the end of the war.[26] After the end of the war 11 Japanese officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.[27] It decided that the case was not crime organized by the Army and that the ones who raped violated the Army’s order to hire only voluntary women. [28]
On 17 January 2005, additional documents detailing the minutes of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea were released by South Korean government. They suggest that the South Korean government agreed not to demand further compensation, either at the government or individual level against the Japanese government, after receiving $800 million in grants and soft loans from Japan [29].
On 2 March 2007, the issue was raised again by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, in which he denied that the military had forced women into sexual slavery during World War II in an orchestrated way. He stated, "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion." Before he spoke, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers also sought to revise Yohei Kono's 1993 apology to former comfort women. [30] [31] Abe's statement provoked a negative reaction from Asian and Western countries. The New York Times editorial said “These were not commercial brothels. Force, explicit and implicit, was used in recruiting these women. What went on in them was serial rape, not prostitution. The Japanese Army’s involvement is documented in the government’s own defense files.” [32] An unidentified official[citation needed] of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said unofficially that this editorial was inaccurate and would demand the NYT to publish its rebuttal.[6] Abe stopped "unproductive argument" because his statement is always mistaken.[7] On 11 March 2007 Abe said on NHK broadcast that he would succeed Kono's 1993 apology to former comfort women . [33]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/COMFORT_Ad.gif/250px-COMFORT_Ad.gif)
(Right: Keijō nippō, July 26, 1944) "Comfort Women Wanted, Urgent!" Age: 17-30. Place of Employment: entertainment for non-frontline unit [obscured]. Monthly Salary: More than 300 yen. (You can receive an advance on salary up to 3000 yen.) From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., ...[obscured]. [Contact at] [Address(unreadable)] Imai [Employment] Registry
See also
- Japanese war crimes
- List of War Apology Statements Issued by Japan
- Sexual slavery
- Trafficking in human beings
- Joy Division (World War II)
- Historical revisionism
- History of Korea
- Mike Honda
- Anti-Japanese sentiment
- Korean nationalism
References
Some recent work on the comfort women issue include:
- Tanaka, Yuki Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation, London, Routledge: 2002. ISBN 0-415-19401-6.
- Yoshimi, Yoshiaki Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, Columbia University Press, 2001. (mentioned RAA too) ISBN 0-231-12032-X.
- Molasky, Michael S. American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa, Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0-415-19194-7, ISBN 0-415-26044-2.
- D. Kim-Gibson, Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women, 1999. ISBN 0-931209-88-9.
- Hicks, George L. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War, 1997. ISBN 0-393-31694-7.
- Schellstede, Sangmie Choi. Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military, 2000. ISBN 0-8419-1413-3.
A review of the Tanaka text can be found in the academic journal Intersections, Issue 9:
- Morris, Narrelle. Review of Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation. Warwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue9/morris_review.html
A review of some of these books and a history and historiography of the issue, from a critical viewpoint, can be found in issue 58:2 of Monumenta Nipponica:
- Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashii "Comfort Women: Beyond Litigious Feminism"
A work of literature on the issue was created by Korean American writer Nora Okja Keller:
- Nora Okja Keller "Comfort Woman", London, Penguin: 1998. ISBN 0-14-026335-7.
External links
Academic research
Japanese official statements
United States historical documents
Footnotes
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