Controversial art exhibition to open in Tokyo on June 25

Why not, a sit-in protest is fine too,

The fact that the Japanese public acknowledges that these women were actually recruited to work in Japan's military brothels against their will is a major step towards reconciliation.

It’s an ART exhibition Art might be confrontational or benign that’s why it’s art? Really not something to start a fire over. You might like it , I might find it offensive. Don’t be so sensitive, not, (and this might be a revelation) be so dumbfounded not everyone is thinking like you. It’s art that’s all, I’m constantly insulted by TV shows but it’s not art so I let that go.

ashamed to be Korean.

For me, it's amazing to find so much anti-Korean sentiment in Japan.

Much unlike to the controversial Nagoya case, the Tokyo exhibition is privately funded, and within the range of free speech.

It showcased 23 works including the statue symbolizing comfort women, many of them Korean, who were recruited to work in Japan's wartime military brothels against their will, as well as a piece on the Japanese imperial system.

Kidnapped, forced . . .

For future reference, a Korean professor confirmed some Koreans volunteered to be comfort women or helped recruit other women.

For future reference the vast majority were either forced or tricked into something (to be clear: being raped up to 30 times a day in the middle of a war zone and beaten or murdered if they resisted) that nobody in their right mind would ever "voluntarily" do.

And here we go again.. Instead of moving on, so many people feel offended. We should take our cue from Germany. Germany and the majority of the nation has confronted the past and come to terms with it. They make films, they make documentaries and they highlight what happened. In here? We resist it, we say how it was different and then we are terribly hurt when a statue is erected somewhere. I can't imagine a film about the past being made here at all, as in Germany. People would probably jump out of windows. We cannot accept criticism and we cannot face the past. How long will we continue to dodge it and build a wall against it?

@Finder Keeper

For future reference, a Korean professor confirmed some Koreans volunteered to be comfort women or helped recruit other women.

There were also black people who helped catch slaves. There were also Americans that helped the Soviet Union. There were also Jews that helped the Nazis!

What is your point?

The majority of the Korean women were forced!

The exhibition is in Shinjuku, but where in Shinjuku?

JT, where exactly is the exhibition? The name of the gallery, website, address? A few key points missing from the article. I’d like to go and see this exhibition.

This is only controversial to people who refuse to acknowledge what Japan did during the war.

If you don't like it, perhaps you should set up your own art exhibition to show how beautifully Japan treated the women of the nations it invaded. (And if this sentence triggered you, it's because YOU KNOW Japan abused them)

@Robert Cikki

Agreed and this is why, for a part, east Asia will remain a zone of diplomatic tensions.

Many countries, starting with Japan put their pride first and don't collaborate as european countries do.

For future reference the vast majority were either forced or tricked into something (to be clear: being raped up to 30 times a day in the middle of a war zone and beaten or murdered if they resisted) that nobody in their right mind would ever "voluntarily" do.

The majority of the Korean women were forced!*

Thanks for examples where Korean pimps or house owners who deceived or coerced their fellow Korean teenagers.

So where in Asianwomen fund paper can we find the key words in the statement above as if it was the experience of vast majority of Korean women? raped up 30 times a day, beaten or murdered (by Japanese soldiers)

Thanks for reminding AWF was essentially official J-Gov missionary as opposed to S.Korean claim it was mere private group effort.

I know the site very well and nowhere I could find the experience of girlS as young as 10, beaten or murdered** by Japanese soldiers, more than anything THAT is the typical experience the vast majority of Korean women went through.

**Except one case a woman who tried to protect herself from the violence by a drunk Japanese stabbed him in his chest but was acquitted at military trial

I have met Takashi Kawamura-A loathesome vile creature who is full of himself not surprised he was against this art.

He is a right wing ideaologist whose only goal is to make Nagoya castle out of wood.

Pathetic!

And here we go again.. Instead of moving on, so many people feel offended. We should take our cue from Germany. Germany and the majority of the nation has confronted the past and come to terms with it. They make films, they make documentaries and they highlight what happened. In here? We resist it, we say how it was different and then we are terribly hurt when a statue is erected somewhere. I can't imagine a film about the past being made here at all, as in Germany. People would probably jump out of windows. We cannot accept criticism and we cannot face the past. How long will we continue to dodge it and build a wall against it?

Simple. You should not compare what German id with fake stories made up as what Japan did. Secondly Genocides German did is not only the one against Jews... although it seems Germans finally after this length of period, started admitting one of the other in Nigeria.

majority of the nation has confronted the past and come to terms with it.

Which one and How? Did they return their lands to the 1st people?

The issue became sensational in early 1990's, if most of , or not a few of them were teenager then, they would have been younger than 65 years old. 65!

If vast majority experienced as you claim and if 200,000 as minimum estimated number of victims, how come only 240 stepped forward and raised hands. Either their and your narrative is BS or their dreaming estimation is BS. Do you happen to know how many victims of US/UN/Korean comfort stations still exist? Do you happen to consider how come there were so many comfort women across 1945 serving for US/UN/Korean soldiers

that is what common sense telling you.

Oh I see, most of them were violently killed by Japanese soldiers RIGHT?

 I seriously question the morals and ethics of someone trying to rationalize an organized rape system utllized against girls as young as ten. Its sick.

Oh I see now I remember. you're talking about a self-proclaimed victim who has recently passed away, who, by reverse calculation, was supposed to be around 10 in 1945. Japan did apply age limitation for the system and that is undeniable fact. Heavily brainwashed ones believe this kind of fake story straight, which is full of mixture of chaff and chaff. Ordinary people suspect that she was lying or she was a comfort woman for UN/US/Korea troops. Regardless, South Korean Gov registered this women as a official victim without any sort of fact-checking whatsoever. It is so ridiculous but the reality of this issue.

The comfort women have become a symbol of anti-Japan propaganda and Korean nationalism and self-victimization.

Japan created a comfort women foundation that Moon dissolved so Korea could maintain its victim status. Just last year, it was discovered a Korean activist group was embezzling money meant for the surviving comfort women.

Moon may say he wants to strengthen ties, but Koreans are only interested in victimizing themselves.

They are the only people who set themselves on fire at protests, try to make it mandatory to put stickers in classrooms that say “This device was made by a war criminal”, and indoctrinate their children to hate Japan. As a child, my own parents constantly reminded me of what Japan did seventy years ago as if it happened yesterday.

Such insincere, hypocritical behavior makes me ashamed to be Korean.

It is unrealistic and too naive to assume that those who knew what kind of jobs and willingly took that job could have proudly confessed so. It is so easy to tell " I was deceived or forced" to hide their original intention.

But it isn't naive to assume that girls, many of them teenagers or younger, willingly made an informed choice to volunteer for a job that involved them being raped dozens of times a day by soldiers in a war zone who would face zero repercussions for beating or murdering them if they in any way resisted?

Interesting perspective.

"Early in May of 1942 Japanese agents arrived in Korea for the purpose of enlisting Korean girls for "comfort service" in newly conquered Japanese territories in Southeast Asia. The nature of this "service" was not specified but it was assumed to be work connected with visiting the wounded in hospitals, rolling bandages, and generally making the soldiers happy."

https://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html

Basically　Under the system either themselves or their parent(s) sign on written consent for the job which clearly states 娼妓(prostitution). And then all women must visit and take interview and sign again after confirming what they would so at local police stations. Whatever report49 says, those women in Burma were not exceptions ( Refer to the diary of Korean comfort station manager)

Basically　Under the system either themselves or their parent(s) sign on written consent for the job which clearly states 娼妓(prostitution). And then all women must visit and take interview and sign again after confirming what they would so at local police stations. Whatever report49 says, those women in Burma were not exceptions ( Refer to the diary of Korean comfort station manager)

Uh huh. So you are willing to completely ignore the eye witness accounts of actual victims on the one hand, which are very well documented, but on the other are willing to accept an entry in a single "diary" of a comfort station manager as the god's honest truth about how the entire system worked?

Again, how about we actually use common sense here? Nobody in their right mind would willingly "volunteer" to be raped dozens of times a day by soldiers in a war zone who could beat or murder them (and in fact did beat and murder them) for resisting. Nor is there any sane reason to be trying to frame it otherwise. I seriously question the morals and ethics of someone trying to rationalize an organized rape system utllized against girls as young as ten. Its sick.

.

featuring a statue symbolizing "comfort women"  doesn't give you anything other than an abstract idea...it's the context of the presentation that matters and I'll just go out on a limb and assume no one posting here has actually seen the exhibit.

Uh huh. So you are willing to completely ignore the eye witness accounts of actual victims on the one hand, which are very well documented, but on the other are willing to accept an entry in a single "diary" of a comfort station manager as the god's honest truth about how the entire system worked?

Uh huh. Thanks for the composite typical stereotype THE STORY anyway, whatever eye witness accounts you have in mind, as long as you exclude Dutch women case cuz the topic is Korean comfort women, unless you are the ilk who conventionally mix all things up with individual war crimes, those have nothing to do with the system . But if you like to touch upon it, I don't mind either .

Even if it is a single diary, it was written by Korean, and the manager who lived with those comfort women day in day out in BURMA. You just cannot underestimate it can you？

Again, how about we actually use common sense here?

Fine. My common sense tells me if testimonies of officially registered so-called victims assure you " It is the experience of vast majority", Hey , the number officially registered WITHOUT proper fact-finding reviews at South Korea Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in charge is short of 240. This means total number of

Korean victims can hardly go above 500 which is so far far away from min 200,000 they insist by their own dreaming narrative. Please do not bring in the fiction like most of them killed by Japanese soldiers.

The issue became sensation in early 1990's, if most of them are teenager, they would have been younger than 65 years old.

Nobody in their right mind would willingly "volunteer" to be raped dozens of times a day by soldiers in a war zone who could beat or murder them (and in fact did beat and murder them) for resisting. Nor is there any sane reason to be trying to frame it otherwise. I seriously question the morals and ethics of someone trying to rationalize an organized rape system utllized against girls as young as ten. Its sick.

This is what I call composite stereotyped fiction. girls as young as 10?

Prove it if you can with eye witness accounts about actual murder cases. Is it some testimonies from North Korea? Don't let me point out they were beaten or abused by Korean brokers/house owners. warning you in advance.

For future reference the vast majority were either forced or tricked into something (to be clear: being raped up to 30 times a day in the middle of a war zone and beaten or murdered if they resisted) that nobody in their right mind would ever "voluntarily" do.

> The majority of the Korean women were forced!

Majority of what? of group of self-proclaimed victims? or of estimated 20 thousand ~ 200 thousand?

It is unrealistic and too naive to assume that those who knew what kind of jobs and willingly took that job could have proudly confessed so. It is so easy to tell " I was deceived or forced" to hide their original intention.

But it isn't naive to assume that girls, many of them teenagers or younger, willingly made an informed choice to volunteer for a job that involved them being raped dozens of times a day by soldiers in a war zone who would face zero repercussions for beating or murdering them if they in any way resisted?

Interesting perspective.

Basically　Under the system either themselves or their parent(s) sign on written consent for the job which clearly states 娼妓(prostitution). And then all women must visit and take interview and sign again after confirming what they would so at local police stations. Whatever report49 says, those women in Burma were not exceptions ( Refer to the diary of Korean comfort station manager)

Comfort women were told they would be nurses.

A story from a Taiwanese-Japanese soldier " They were all prostitutes trying to earn good money overseas without being known to fellow Koreans in South Korea. So When they returned home, they dressed like nurse and pretend to have done nursing to cover up everything"

Kidnapped, forced . . .

For future reference, a Korean professor confirmed some Koreans volunteered to be comfort women or helped recruit other women.

The book uses the women’s testimonies and historical documents, noting some were prostitutes rather than slaves, some soldiers helped those who were slaves escape and some Koreans worked as “dealers” who made the system possible.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2118358/south-korean-professor-fined-book-about-comfort-women-proving

For me, it's amazing to find so much anti-Korean sentiment in Japan.

Denso PR will change Korean hated to Chinese hated. Koreans will get a “get out of jail free” card.

Nothing new about sayoku and zainichi going bananas by featuring their so-called "art exhibitions" which I find offensive. It's business as usual, for them I guess.