New exhibition in Tokyo focuses on Japanese 'comfort women'

Yes, please, right wing nutjobs and their ilk. Please continue denying this fact.

Japan Nationalism at its finest. I commend the courage of these women for standing up for their rights and for justice.

Isn't it about time we stopped using this "comfort women" euphemism. They were military prostitutes or sex slaves. "Comfort woman" sounds like some kindly auntie who gives a soldier a cup of tea and says something like, "Having a hard time? Tell auntie all about it, dearie."

When the war ended, Sasaguri heard an officer say, "We will lose our prestige if it is widely known that the Imperial Army accompanied such women. We have to abandon them even if they die. They are comfort women, anyway."

This... terrible. There is no prestige and never was. Dogs.

waiting to hear the LDP response...

Oh-oh! How are the usual suspects going to blame this on Korea or claim it's all lies and attacks on Japanese culture? At least Japanese were honestly the victims here... of their own nations forced (and recruited) sexual slavery.

good on these women!!

Oh-oh! How are the usual suspects going to blame this on Korea or claim it's all lies and attacks on Japanese culture? 

Waiting with bated breath (cricket noises)

I have often tagged some of my sex slave comments over the years on JT above trying to imagine what the Japanese sex slaves must feel like, seeing their country deny deny constantly.

Here's hoping this gains some REAL traction!

attended a womens group discussion in japan. the topic was about what happened after japan surrended to america. the american soldiers wanted "comfort". the japanese husbands had to sacrifice their daughters in order to save their wives. if they didn't give their daughters the americans would just take the wives and the husbands could do nothing about it. the small group of about twenty old women all kept this memory in the back of their minds. lots of crying.

war sucks.

Finally! Some recognition of comfort women are present in Japan! I don't care if it's a Japanese, Chinese or Korean comfort woman, as long as comfort women gain recognition and respect in Japan.

"It reflected an assumption that soldiers require comfort stations, as well as fear that U.S. soldiers would do the same thing the Japanese soldiers had done -- rape in occupied areas," Watanabe said.

Can't follow the logic of this thinking, but there you have it in writing, from a Japanese national that was there - Japanese soldiers raped in occupied areas.

Waiting for those who claim this is all lies...

Japanese soldiers raped in occupied areas.

soldiers rape(d) in occupied areas.

Raw BeerToday 12:08 pm JST

soldiers rape(d) in occupied areas.

But none have more vehemently denied it after the fact, and systematically enabled it at the time (at administrative level), than the Japanese - even in the face of hard evidence.

Deal with it.

Japan should demand an apology and reparations from itself.  Maybe some lifelike statues of these poor women on the chikatetsu and basu.  An anime?  some cute cosply rags in the style of a Japanese comfort woman?

Goodlucktoyou: "the american soldiers wanted "comfort". the japanese husbands had to sacrifice their daughters in order to save their wives."

An article about how the IJA forced/coerced or hired even Japanese women into sexual slavery and you still manage to blame the US for it. Well done! Just when you thought the apologists couldn't reach new lows.

AgentX: "Waiting for those who claim this is all lies..."

I think they're just doing the usual "it never happened" and omitting this article from memory, and will later claim it does not exist.

Kaerimashita: "Japan should demand an apology and reparations from itself."

I think the topic makes you uncomfortable, as does the fact that Japanese coerced and raped their own, so you're being facetious, but not Japan so much as these women should indeed sue to have Japan at the very least openly acknowledge and apologise for it. You know full well they'd NEVER allow statues in public acknowledging what the IJA did, under the emperor -- hell half the government claims it's propaganda! -- but instead of a poor attempt at sarcasm why not ask these women what THEY think of such statues in other countries? I'm quite sure at least some would be happy with their exist of symbols of the terrible suffering many women endured, and a reminder so that it won't visit people again.

why not ask these women what THEY think of such statues in other countries? I'm quite sure at least some would be happy with their exist of symbols of the terrible suffering many women endured, and a reminder so that it won't visit people again.

Good point. It always appears to be blokes saying what should or shouldn't be done over this issue.

Missing information from the article:

Address: Nishiwaseda 2-3-18 AVACO. Bldg 2F, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0051

I hope everyone (who's in Kanto) gets a chance to go.

Also, I'd like everyone to keep in mind that sexual slavery isn't just a historical issue.

you are waaaay too late to play victim now, give it a rest we are trying to move forward

you are waaaay too late to play victim now, give it a rest we are trying to move forward

"We" are trying to address injustices and brutalities of the past. So "we" can learn from them and prevent them happening again.

Prostitution, rape, and forced sexual slavery has been a constant throughout history especially with military conquests.

Prostitution, rape, and forced sexual slavery has been a constant throughout history especially with military conquests.

Making this time less of an issue huh? Flawless logic(intense sarcasm)

Wallace Fred: "Making this time less of an issue huh?"

The apologists always do. It either "doesn't matter because it was a long time ago", until you Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries (or fire bombings) roll around, or "it happens all the time", until it happened to Japan. It's a basic avoidance/deflection technique. Heck, a lot of the usual denialists aren't even showing up on this thread, and forget about getting a comment from the head of APA hotels or the mayor of Nagoya or something on this "propaganda" all of a sudden.

These women were heavily stigmatized when they returned to Japan, because everyone knew who they were and where they had been. Would be nice to see some official acknowledgment of their suffering. Women who went to the front as nurses, cooks, etc. were also forced to sleep with a quota of soldiers daily. There has been much written about this by Japanese historians but it doesn't get much publicity.

Smith.  not uncomfortable.  Maybe a bit darkly sarcastic.

As for believeing that all this fuss and bother will ever stop rape and plunder and murder and exploitation in a war or warzone I think that is a little naïve.

Its a shame that people suffered during a brutal war 80 years ago.

Its shameful that there are those making political points out of it 80 years later.

@smith. still manage to blame the US for it.

the last line is "war sucks"

im not anti all countries, including USA. but it happened in japan. other war rapes happened SK, DRC, Yugoslavia, Srilanka...endless list of violence against women for ?

apart from a couple of pedaophle rapes by US military in Okinawa, USA is not so bad. UN peacekeepers...thats a different story.

sex slaves

Goodlucktoyou: "the last line is "war sucks""

Sure does. What sucks more is considering life so utterly worthless that you lump everything together under a "shucks, gosh... too bad for them!"

"im not anti all countries, including USA. but it happened in japan. other war rapes happened SK, DRC, Yugoslavia, Srilanka...endless list of violence against women for ? 

apart from a couple of pedaophle rapes by US military in Okinawa, USA is not so bad. UN peacekeepers...thats a different story."

Do you even realize this is about JAPANESE coercing and raping JAPANESE women? It's not about the USA, Korea, Yugoslavia, or anywhere else, yet you have once again spent your entire comment blaming everyone else but the perpetrators.

hiding out: "Its shameful that there are those making political points out of it 80 years later."

Your right. The people raped are the bad guys here. Shame on them, right?

Kaerimashita: "As for believeing that all this fuss and bother will ever stop rape and plunder and murder and exploitation in a war or warzone I think that is a little naïve."

I think you're naive to assume anyone ever said that, or that they'll take your deflection away from what happened as anything but excuses and deflection.

"Smith. not uncomfortable. Maybe a bit darkly sarcastic."

Now THAT is, naive. You were TRYING to be sarcastic, but ending up failing and just making excuses.

You guys need to stop blaming the victims.

All of you Comfort Women advocates should try and read the other side sometimes, rather than cry "right wing" and "denier". Despite that the J-Govt has never "denied" the existence of the Comfort Women System, simply the manner in which the women were recruited. The Comfort Women issue is not a Women's Rights or even Human Rights issue, it is a political too being used by the NK/China side to break apart the US/SK/JPN alliance.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/05/10/japan-vs-us-no-japan-is-not-killing-us-were-killing-japan-our-staunchest-asian-ally.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/31/opinions/north-korea-comfort-women-coleman/index.html

And for all those who live to blame Japan solely for sexual crimes, goodlucktoyou is absolutely correct.

"Soon after the U.S. marines landed, all the women of a village on Motobu Peninsula fell into the hands of American soldiers. At the time, there were only women, children and old people in the village, as all the young men had been mobilized for the war. Soon after landing, the marines "mopped up" the entire village, but found no signs of Japanese forces. Taking advantage of the situation, they started "hunting for women" in broad daylight and those who were hiding in the village or nearby air raid shelters were dragged out one after another"

"Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand troops in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) also committed rapes. The commander of the BCOF's official reports state that members of the BCOF were convicted of committing 57 rapes in the period May 1946 to December 1947 and a further 23 between January 1948 and September 1951. No official statistics on the incidence of serious crimes during the BCOF's first three months in Japan (February to April 1946) are available"

These are in addition to the Comfort Women system set up in Japan to cater to occupation troops.

And for all those who live to blame Japan solely for sexual crimes...

It is only you, who lives to claim "a sex crime does not need to condemned " if happening somewhere else than in Japan or done by somebody else than a Japanese citizen, why can't you just and condemn the act clearly for a change ?

Keiji Hirano started this article in the first sentence ending with: “….sexual servitude as ‘comfort women’ under the Japanese military during wartime has been well documented.”

Is the author aware it “has been well documented” by the U.S. Army in 1944 and 1945 that they were “well paid prostitutes?”

In the interest of being intellectually valid do you think perhaps both what “has been well documented” on both sides of this issue should also be on display? This way the people visiting the exhibit would be permitted to come to their own conclusion after having been exposed to both “well documented” sides.

Citizen2012Today 03:04 am JSTAnd for all those who live to blame Japan solely for sexual crimes...

It is only you, who lives to claim "a sex crime does not need to condemned

Nonsense. Military prostitution by any country needs to be condemned. It's just that your crowd likes to ignore the fact that Japan's WWII system isn't the only one. South Korean women are suing their own government for the system it set up to serve US troops in SKorea. And rape, something that military prostitution systems were created to prevent or minimize, calls for an even greater condemnation,

Nonsense. Military prostitution by any country needs to be condemned. It's just that your crowd likes to ignore the fact that Japan's WWII system isn't the only one. South Korean women are suing their own government for the system it set up to serve US troops in SKorea. And rape, something that military prostitution systems were created to prevent or minimize, calls for an even greater condemnation,

well said

have been hesitant to come out to struggle for their rights,"

until they realized how much money they, and their families for generations, could make

If we consider ourselves a developed civilization, not just a horde of savage beasts, then all countries must apologize for the war crimes which their soldiers committed in the past. This is not only about Japan, similar widespread rapes of local women occurred in the Eastern Germany after the end of WW2, and Russians have not apologized yet.

No historical issue should be ignored. As the saying goes, those who ignore history, are doomed to repeat it.

"It is necessary for Japan to consider legislation so it provides reparations to victimized women regardless of their nationalities."

Thumbs down me till the cows come home, the fact is they want money, just what i said in my first post