Webzine-KYEOL │ Research Institute on Japanese Military Sexsual Slavery (RIMSS)

The Meaning of “Using Comfort Stations” for Japanese Soldiers

The role and function of “comfort stations” as revealed in numerous memoirs written by Japanese soldiers

Aya Furuhashi (古橋綾)

she said, with tears streaming down her cheeks, when a Japanese journalist suggested they go back and visit her old home together. Away for so long from her hometown in South Chungcheong Province – a place which she could now only dream about.

Park-Kim Wooki (朴金優綺)

How did Japan set up the “comfort stations” in Hainan Island (海南島) and mobilize “comfort women”?

The right-wingers in Japan deny any direct involvement of the Japanese government, citing that the documents proving that the Japanese Army or Japanese government had directly ordered the establishment of the “comfort stations” have never been found. They also claim that neither the Japanese army nor the Japanese government were involved in mobilizing “comfort women”, and that private businesses simply recruited “comfort women” by illegal means. Having accepted these claims, the Abe administration is contradicting what the previous Japanese government had admitted.

Choi Jong-gil

A Story of Constant Struggle: The “Comfort Women” Issue in North Korea

Historian Harrison C. Kim traces how discourse on “Comfort Women” in North Korea has evolved—at times in dialogue with the outside world—while developing distinct advocacy practices and perspectives.

Cheehyung Harrison Kim

How Can Perpetrators Bear Responsibility?

Testimony and publishing activities concerning wartime sexual violence and “Comfort Women” carried out by the Association of Returnees from China (Chukiren), which atoned for their perpetrators’ actions in postwar Japanese society.

Kim Su-yong

Images of “Comfort Women” Survivors at the Time of Their Rescue by Allied Force, as Seen in a Chinese Magazine

A report on the “Comfort Women” survivors rescued by the Allied Forces, as featured in the Chinese magazine “Da Zhan Hua Ji,” published just beforethe end of World War Ⅱ.

Liu Guangjian (刘广建)

The story of Song Shin-do – “We have not the slightest idea of what a person thinks inside.”

This article is about the story of Song Shin-do remembered by Kawata Fumiko, who connected Song Shin-do to the ‘”Comfort Women” 110 Report Call Executive Committee’.

Kawata Fumiko (川田文子)

What a Former Japanese Soldier Who Served as the Recreation Section Chief Saw and Failed to Say

Aya Furuhashi sheds light on the unspoken truths that emerge from the gaps between the lines of the the memoir, Wuhan Military Logistics Base, written by Seikichi Yamada.

Aya Furuhashi (古橋綾)

The Story of Bae Bong-gi – “We luckily managed to survive amid that war.”

In her book which was translated into Korean in 2014, Kawata Fumiko vividly yet calmly unraveled the testimony of Bae Bong-gi, one of the Korean "Comfort Women" who was taken to Okinawa. Based on the testimonies and data collected from Okinawa residents, Japanese soldiers, as well as Bae Bong-gi, this article describes the detailed circumstances experienced by Bae Bong-gi and the “Comfort Women” surrounding the U.S. military’s air raids that took place on the Kerama Islands, Okinawa.

Kawata Fumiko (川田文子)

Thoughts on the issue of the sexual violence of the Japanese military in China (Part 1)

Issues raised by the victims of the Japanese military in China - Many people recall the image of an innocent girl who was forcibly taken away by the Japanese military and brutally assaulted. China, at that time a battlefield, was one of the places where such damaging incidents frequently occurred. The Japanese military continuously used brutal violence against Chinese women during the war. They openly took away women to commit sexual abuse across the battlegrounds, occupied areas, as well as urban and rural areas.

Lee Sun-yi

Historical Memory