Booklet on wartime sex slavery published

By Keiji Hirano

TOKYO —

A booklet detailing sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army has been published to serve as a bridge between the victims and those who have not had sufficient opportunity to learn about the history of such wartime atrocities.

‘‘Field Work—‘Comfort Women’ of the Japanese Army,’’ compiled by the Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo, or WAM, is a general history of sex slavery—why it was launched, how it was managed, how ‘‘comfort women’’ were procured and what happened to them after the war—and includes testimonies of former comfort women from 10 countries.

The booklet also serves as a guide to WAM, which was established in August 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II as Japan’s only resource center on sex slavery. The museum greets visitors with large portraits of 155 women who have come out as former sex slaves. It also features various exhibits as well as video footage and documents relating to sex slavery.

‘‘We hope this booklet will contribute to handing down the historical truth to the next generation,’’ Mina Watanabe, secretary general of WAM, said.

According to the booklet, comfort stations were established to prevent Japanese soldiers from raping local women and from contracting sexually transmitted diseases. The military also aimed to boost the troops’ morale by ‘‘assigning’’ women to them.

Women in Japanese colonies or occupied areas were recruited by force or coaxed into becoming comfort women, and were beaten if they tried to escape from the stations. Some whose bodies had yet to mature fully had their vaginas surgically enlarged by military doctors.

A South Korean woman testified in the booklet that she was abducted at the age of 14 and brought to an airport in China, where she was forced to do heavy work and repeatedly raped.

After the war ended in 1945, she was left behind in China and stayed there until 2000, when she returned home for the first time in 58 years, However, she was not welcomed by her siblings as she had been a comfort woman.

Another woman, from Indonesia, who said she was raped by 10 to 15 Japanese soldiers on a daily basis, recalled undergoing an abortion without an anesthetic at the age of 14 when she was five months’ pregnant. ‘‘It was a boy and he was still alive,’’ she said. ‘‘The sense of guilt and agony still remain that I killed my own child.’’

The 64-page booklet covers developments since 1991 in a series of lawsuits involving former comfort women against the Japanese government, and how the government has responded to the sex slavery issue.

While some voices are still calling for a review of a 1993 statement issued by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledging the forced recruitment of women by the imperial army into sexual servitude and apologizing to the victims, WAM urges the government to strictly abide by it so that the justice the women hope to see is served.

In the face of growing nationalistic tendencies in Japan, the number of references to wartime sex slavery in history textbooks for junior high school students is on the decline. In fiscal 1997, all of the textbooks touched on the issue, but today, according to the booklet, 83 percent of students are using textbooks that make no reference to sex slavery.

‘‘We tried to make the booklet easy to understand even for junior high school students,’’ WAM’s Watanabe said. ‘‘We hope it will be used as a supplementary reader when their textbooks do not refer to the issue, and that it will attract students on school excursions to this museum.’’

The booklet costs 600 yen plus tax. It can be ordered through bookstores, or by contacting the museum at 03-3202-4633 or the publisher, Heiwabunka Co, at 03-3812-8618.

9 Comments

GrouchyGaijin at 08:36 PM JST - 2nd May

Good for these women. And when they open again next week I'll buy some copies and make sure as many people I know get to read them."We hope this booklet will contribute to handing down the historical truth to the next generation." Given the black van mens' selective memories of this bit of Japan's recent history, handing this truth on will be invaluable. Let's watch Abe, Taro the Aso, Mori, Ishihara and the likes try to wiggle out of this. "Oh, they volunteered!" as some elected moron has said in the past. The trouble is, nothing has changed. What was enforced sex slavery during wartime is now, given the enjo-kosai culture in which we live, is now enforced sex slavery in peacetime. Just now the "volunteers" get some cash with which to buy LV bags and other brand name "goods." Life is cheap here, especially if you are a disposable woman. Sad but true.
jeancolmar at 10:00 PM JST - 2nd May

The booklet is long overdue. Good for these brave women.
Azrael at 10:21 PM JST - 2nd May

What's the name of the pamphlet in Japanese? I'd like to look for it on online stores.
Nessie at 03:06 AM JST - 3rd May

The bad news: It's in the "...for Idiots" series.
pathat at 09:24 AM JST - 3rd May

This sounds like a good way to spend 600+ yen and learn something. I wish I had it right now, with the da*n rain falling all day. Good work by the people who took the time to put the booklet together.
Alphaape at 10:15 AM JST - 3rd May

Is this book in English or in Japanese only?
panzerdampf at 11:23 PM JST - 4th May

If all else fails, you can probably find out where to buy it directly from them: http://www.wam-peace.org/eng/
VOR at 08:32 PM JST - 6th May

I don't see a lot of new information here nor any major steps toward Japan reckoning with its evil past.

Calling sex slaves comfort women and trying to claim the whole comfort woman concept the process put into place to prevent rape while committing rape is orwellian doublespeak and another slap in the face to these poor women who live out their final years of shame.

C'mon Japan, you are better than that. Perhaps you are not. Your thriving Pink business with its third world workforce is nothing more than a spin off of the comfort woman system predicated on arrogant japanese businessmen taking advantage of economically depressed women.
sabiwabi at 10:42 AM JST - 8th May

Sex slavery remains rampant world-wide. I hope people don't get the impression this "comfort women" thing was only during WWII and only by the Japanese. Looking back in an open and honest way is important, but people should focus on the current sex slavery and who is behind it (it isn't the Japanese army).