(by 9 people)
Read the lens to see how this tragedy is worse than the holocaust.
UPDATE* Nov. 10th, 2006: This is living history. There will never be a more important time than now to do something. It will always be important to do something, but right now is when the most important changes can occur. The last remaining women are still alive and need your help to get the repreations they deserve. They are trying to spread the word, get a museum made, and a national monument. We need to help these women right now. Before the last of them pass away. It is my personal hope that they are around to see a monument made in their honor, that the world cares about them.
"Comfort Women" was the term used for women who were forced to work as sex slaves, by the Japanese Military, in military brothels(comfort stations) in Japanese occupied countries during World War II.
The majority of these women were Korean. it is on these women that I have gathered most of my resources and information on.
This site is in no way intended to be extensive or exhaustive information on this subject. It is intended as quick initiation into the subject for those who otherwise wouldn't spend the time to learn about the comfort women because, perhaps, they do not have the time to invest, or they think they wouldn't be interested.
a big thank you
we can all help in someway:)
Thank you as well. There has been 57 visits to the site in the last week. Doesn't sound like much, but it's more than I thought this site would get.
THANK YOU.
*Just a note: nov. 10, 2006*
Guess what? this IS a charity
I really appreciate all the people who have visited. I think it's easily arguable that this is one of the most important subjects of our time. Right here, right now, we are living in a monumental crossroads that will be spoken in future history books for eons to come. And what will be written in those books depend on the decision you make today, right now.
Please don't be discouraged by the ugly pictures or intense subject matter. Yes it's all intense-it's one of the worst things that have EVER happed in the worlds history. You can help, but time is running out.
At the bottom of this lens is options you can take to help these very real Women who are currently living in and around Korea. They not only need your help, money, food, but they need you to carry there story and make people admit the truth of what happened to them, so it doesn't happen again, and people will remember.
This charity takes 100% cash, but all of that will go to the house of sharing(listed below).
Please give in any way you can. What was done to these women was/is so wrong. No government will help because of political ties to each other. They have no one. They just want people to know what happened so it doesn't happen again, and they need our help. Please give.
I want to thank everyone who has visited, and voted for the site, again. Please if you've seen the title or just don't seem interested, please stay, it's worth it. Trust me.
Prologue
and my two cents
I just want to let everyone know a little of my opinion and some further facts surrounding the Comfort Women.- The Comfort Women story reveals a piece of history that is just too tragic, intense, and important for so little of the world to know about. Hardly anyone knows about them, yet it is one of the biggest tragedies of our time. It is just too big to pass away into history. This was labelled an atrocity against women and a crime against humanity(this is an official crime--the highest in our world). Including what they did to men and children, it's about on scale with the holocaust. Yet, sadly, because of the culture of the women, and the Japanese unwillingness to admit or do anything, this story has been largly untold and unknown to many.
- I think it's a shame that something that is one of the most important events in history, is also one of the most unknown. We need to spread the word. There aren't many of these women left alive, and not only do they need help, but we need to make sure we learn from this history so it isn't repeated.
Worse than the holocaust? really?
Yes, combining the plight of the Comfort Women with the other crimes, it is.
- Comfort Women Project
- More detailed information on the Comfort Women and what was going on in China and Japan during World War 2
Quick facts
basic info on Comfort Women
- Who knows anything about "Comfort Women"?
- Term used for women who were forced to work as sex slaves, in military brothels, in Japanese occupied countries. Actual term used by military (jugun-ianfu), Korean women also called "Korean P's"
map of Japanese occupied territories at height of their empire before finally surrendering in 1945. Important to note that when women were taken, they were shipped all over the territories and many lost track of where they were and where home was in relation. Many ended up having to learn Japanese and/or Chinese and forgot their own language. They had no money- Average number of men served a day was 30. It was worse for the first couple days of a woman's arrival and on days the soldiers were shipping out to the front lines. Having sex before going to battle was a sign of good luck and vitality. Some men would take pubic hair for good luck.200,000 is the common average but taking into consideration the amount of women who never came forward and the inaccurate amount that were killed or died, the number could be much larger-some say over 250,000.
- There were Japanese comfort women. Lack of numbers, increasing number of soldiers, and danger of taking women on the front lines made for rationalizing the abductions. How were they abducted? Or coerced?
although worst time period for women was 1941 to 1945, when war was at its peak and the number of soldiers in territories were at their largest, comfort stations are reported back as far as 1932 with the man responsible for the system actually coming forward and testifying out of guilt and shame. The purpose for forming the system was to reduce the amount of civilian women being raped by Japanese soldiers after a case of 223 women being raped. Conditions ranged from nice hotels in big cities to small huts with dirt floors, and straw curtains to partition off rooms.- Beaten if they didn't act like they enjoyed it. Mention testimony of woman telling new girls "you had to be their 'wives'". Extremely sore after just a few men with dozens yet for the day. Some given a few minutes in-between to freshen but some were given only a jar of cotton swabs soaked in disinfectant, placed by bed, to quickly clean before next man.
- Many were in strange unfamiliar land with no money. Many treated like so much evidence and killed by Japanese army when they shipped out after surrender. Many couldn't return home out of shame because of their culture. Mention story we read in class about families house attacked by fellow villagers because girl got pregnant.
- All the women are now elderly, many private groups helping in fight. Most countries won't help because they either can't (Japan is a sovereign nation) or they are afraid to because they rely heavily on Japan for support and aid. House of sharing is probably the best thing that's been done yet for the women.
- Official documents discovered leading to Japan admitting they had direct involvement
- Japan forms the Asian Women's Fund which isn't exclusively for Comfort Women but they have an "Atonement Money" project which isn't even exclusively government funded, they take contributions and it's really just a way for Japan to sweep things under the rug
War-time photos
Comfort Women, maps, comfort stations, etc...
Photos showing a map of the Japanese empire in 1942 along with photos of Comfort Women, stations, and other photos related to the plight of the Comfort Women
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Organizations
Groups formed to spread the news
- WCCW
- Washington Coalition for Comfort Women
- What Happened to Korean Women?
- Ministry of Gender Equality and Family
- Korean Council
- the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
- House of Sharing
- House set up by Buddhists to help the remaining comfort women.
- May 22nd article
- Recent communications between the UN and Japan. UN urging Japan to take responsibility for sex slavery by military.
Multi-media
Audio/Video
- WNYC-Soundcheck streaming .ra
- Radio Program out of New York City. The second half is a conversation with a musician who visited the House of Sharing
- Byong Moon Kim lecture 1 of 5, 10.5MB .mov
- Talk by Byong Moon Kim, Ph. D and Yun Chung-Ok, a retired professor from Ewha Woman's University in Seoul, South Korea, recorded in September 2001 about Korean women used as sexual slaves of the Imperial Japanese army. This video is small and being recorded in a classroom environment-hard to hear.
- Byong Moon Kim lecture 2 of 5, 8.1MB .mov
- Talk by Byong Moon Kim, Ph.D
- Byong Moon Kim lecture 3 of 5, 9.3MB .mov
- Talk by Byong Moon Kim, Ph.D
- Byong Moon Kim lecture 4 of 5, 7MB .mov
- Talk by Byong Moon Kim, Ph.D
- Byong Moon Kim lecture 5 of 5, 10.8MB .mov
- Talk by Byong Moon Kim, Ph.D
Videos for Sale
ordering and rental information
- Video Juku
- Educational videos for sale and rent on comfort women. One I'd especially like to see is the video containing testimonies from 8 women.
Must read
The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War
From Publishers Weekly
Most categories of atrocity committed by Japanese troops during WWII were prosecuted at the 1946 Tokyo war-crimes trials. One major category was ignored, however: the thousands of women, mostly Korean, who were coerced into sexual slavery for the pleasure of the Imperial Army. Hicks (Hong Kong Countdown) begins his stark report with a historical survey of wartime sexual exploitation of women, then narrows the focus to the "comfort women" system developed by the Japanese. The copious testimony of victims is shockingly graphic. The author reviews the progress of a class-action suit brought by surviving comfort women in Tokyo District Court in 1991: the Japanese government has admitted complicity, but no apology or compensation has been tendered. This significant addition to "the poor record of mankind to womankind, especially in war," properly approaches the subject as a human-rights issue tied to the rise of feminism in Asia. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 10/11/2008)
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Comfort Women
During the Asia Pacific War (1931-45), the Japanese government forced up to 200,000 Korean, Taiwanese, Indonesian, and other young Asian women to work as so-called comfort women, providing sexual services for the armed forces of Imperial Japan. Yoshiaki's invaluable study explodes the claims of right-wing Japanese nationalists that comfort women were merely wartime prostitutes. Citing official military records and correspondence, the author proves beyond a doubt that the victims of this monstrous system were actually sex slaves who were subjected to repetitive rape and violence. Often kidnapped or tricked by false promises of legitimate employment, the comfort women were trebly exploited as colonial subjects, members of the rural and urban poor, and women. Yoshiaki, a politically engaged scholar, analyzes the comfort-women issue against the background of Japan's prewar system of licensed prostitution and contemporary Asian sex tourism, where Japanese men continue to exploit the women of neighboring Asian countries. The translator's introduction illuminates the Japanese debate over comfort women, to which this book is an indispensable contribution. Steven I. Levine, Univ. of Montana, Missoula
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Further reading
Silence Broken : Korean Comfort Women
Amazon Price: $15.00 (as of 10/11/2008)
True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women (Cassell Global Issues Series)
Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slaver & Prostitution during World War II & the US Occupation (Asia's Transformations)
Amazon Price: $44.80 (as of 10/11/2008)
Comfort Woman
Amazon Price: $11.20 (as of 10/11/2008)
Comfort Woman: A Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery Under the Japanese Military
Amazon Price: $16.15 (as of 10/11/2008)
The Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II
Amazon Price: $31.95 (as of 10/11/2008)
Ianfu-The Comfort Women of the Japanese Imperial Army of the Pacific War: Broken Silence (Japanese Studies, Volume 10)
Amazon Price: $109.95 (as of 10/11/2008)
Donate
You can help
Likewise all revenue generated by this lens will go directly to the House of Sharing. http://www.nanum.org/eng/
Don't know what you can do to help? Here's some suggestions:
- Supplies. Box up daily living supplies like toilet paper, laudry detergent, household cleaners, etc... (remember to check with the post office and see what is acceptable to mail, and what isn't) and mail them to the House of Sharing.
- Donate money. If you can't think of anything else, simply donate money to the House of Sharing
- Spread the word. You don't need to donate money or supplies to help. Look through the links of organizations above and see what they are currently doing. Right now I'm in the process of contacting all the women's clubs and organizations on my college campus to spread awareness. We already have made progress by getting one of the books included in the Women's Book Club.
Personal Opinions
What did you learn, your thoughts, etc...
Please leave any questions or comments you have. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have,
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iienglish
This is the time to really spread the word about this piece of history. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. Posted July 30, 2006 |
