Product Description

Available for the first time in English, this is the definitive account of the practice of sexual slavery the Japanese military perpetrated during World War II by the researcher principally responsible for exposing the Japanese government's responsibility for these atrocities. The large scale imprisonment and rape of thousands of women, who were euphemistically called "comfort women" by the Japanese military, first seized public attention in 1991 when three Korean women filed suit in a Toyko District Court stating that they had been forced into sexual servitude and demanding compensation. Since then the comfort stations and their significance have been the subject of ongoing debate and intense activism in Japan, much if it inspired by Yoshimi's investigations. How large a role did the military, and by extension the government, play in setting up and administering these camps? What type of compensation, if any, are the victimized women due? These issues figure prominently in the current Japanese focus on public memory and arguments about the teaching and writing of history and are central to efforts to transform Japanese ways of remembering the war.Yoshimi Yoshiaki provides a wealth of documentation and testimony to prove the existence of some 2,000 centers where as many as 200,000 Korean, Filipina, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Burmese, Dutch, Australian, and some Japanese women were restrained for months and forced to engage in sexual activity with Japanese military personnel. Many of the women were teenagers, some as young as fourteen. To date, the Japanese government has neither admitted responsibility for creating the comfort station system nor given compensation directly to former comfort women.This English edition updates the Japanese edition originally published in 1995 and includes introductions by both the author and the translator placing the story in context for American readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #650902 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 262 pages

Review
"Crucial reading." -- Katha Pollitt, The Nation "Yoshimi, a reputable historian/scholar... has meticulously sleuthed out chronological data, exposing from its bitter outset that sordid, endless business of sexual slavery. Yoshimi's account extends to the essence of feminist political purpose... The book makes solid headway toward legitimizing his demands for public access to still-secret documents; acknowledging and apologizing for all violations of international law and war crimes and for failure to punish guilty parties; rehabilitating and compensating victims... A vigorous work, enhanced by a precise, graceful translation." -- Choice " Comfort Women's command of documentary materials makes it a landmark for historians, human rights activists and general readers." -- Georgette Fleischer, Los Angeles Times Book Review "As a piece of historical literature, Comfort Women is interesting as an in-depth look at the politics and psychology of a particular time, as much as it is a chronology of what happened to the comfort women and why they were forgotten. One of the most interesting things about it, however, is its unique place in history as the virtual smoking gun that supplied the damning evidence the world needed to hear in order to fully understand and come to grips with this issue...A convincing writer and powerful advocate, Yoshimi has shown by words and actions his willingness to campaign not only as an intellectual who loves the truth, but as a person of tough moral fiber who will stand up for human rights, even as a majority of one." -- Martha Vickery, Korean Quarterly "Yoshiaki's invaluable study explodes the claims of Japanese right-wing nationalists that comfort women were merely wartime prostitutes... Citing official military records and correspondence, he proves beyond doubt that the victims of this monstrous system were actually sex slaves subjected to repetitive rape and violence... [this book] belongs in most libraries." -- Library Journal (starred review) "it is necessary and compelling reading...invaluable addition...fascinating" -- Wendy Anderson, Asian Studies Review

About the Author
Yoshimi Yoshiaki is professor of modern Japanese history at Chuo University in Tokyo, and a founding member of the Center for Research and Documentation on Japan's War Responsibility.

Customer Reviews

A flawed, but still valuable books
There is no question that Yoshiaki's book is one with a mission and, as such, is flawed: throughout, he maintains a hectoring style, very similar to the way one makes a speech to an audience of committed political activists, rather than how one should write a scholarly book. So, as another reviewer here has already mentioned, it is a "biased" work in every possible way.

Furthermore, while Yoshiaki claims to have consulted a "wealth of documentation and testimony" in order to make his case, he does not distinguish between the critical bits of information, and the accidental. So, we do not know if one document on which he bases an argument is as important as another. Frequently, a report from a low official in a Japanese consulate somewhere in Asia gets the same prominence as an American or British report compiled on the basis of investigations at the end of the Second World War. The author simply jumps from one scrap of evidence to another, leaving the reader with the impression that all have equal value, and that all point in a similar direction. We are never told whether other documents which may exist in the Japanese archives prove the opposite, although we are given the hint - on two occasions - that the high military command in Tokyo enquired about the organisation of the military brothels. This may suggest that either the Japanese government organised the entire affair, or that it merely tolerated a process which started on the ground, without official approval. Either way, the question needs a more thorough examination.

This, in no way, diminishes the horrible tragedy of the so-called "comfort women" or vindicates Japanese nationalists who claim that the episode of enforced prostitution never took place, but merely suggests that Professor Yoshiaki has not completely succeded in making his case.

However, those who wish to know more about this sad event in modern history will still benefit from reading the book. At the very least, it provides a "case for the prosecution", and probably the most sustained case available today. Whether this is enough to come to the conclusion that Japan's war-time government actually organised this vast prostitution ring remains up to the reader to judge.

This is a pernicious anti-Japanese propaganda.
Yoshimi Yoshiaki publicly (in a debate programme on TV, 1997) admitted that he had no evidence that substansiates his argument on the kidnapping and forcing women to serve as "sex-slaves" for the Japanese Army. Still, he published this book in the U.S.A. after his argument was completely debunked in Japan.
He is a shameless anti-Japanese Japanese.
How so? Well, I make my point by translating one vital document that show you completely opposite view of the issue and that Yoshimi cowardly hid from English-speaking readers although he showed a tiny bit of this document to make good-natured people think that there are really some evidences (p42).
This document is titled "Matters Regarding the Recruitment of Women Workers for Military Comfort Stations". Because this is classified, many people may think something fishy contained.
There are not. My abridged translation of the document (quoted from "Comfort Women Documents" edited by Yoshimi himself) is following.
< There have been worrying reports that there are some wicked traders who deceive women saying they had military authorisation to recruit women for their own brothels and, in fact, there are some cases of kidnapping. It is aprehended that, because of those men, people would misunderstand the Army's intentions and the honor of the Japanese Imperial Army is disgraced. From now on, by working with the local police, strictly examine the background of the traders before let him work at a comfort station.>

It was this very document that the left-wing Asahi newspaper reported triumphantly that the hard evidence of the Army's "involvement" to kidnapping women was eventually found.
Yet, there are more contradictory evidences to Yoshimi's augument. One of them was written by the U.S. forces : some Korean comfort women who were working in Birma (the women in the photo in p.76) told the American that they were paid to be recruited, that they lived in relatively "luxurious" lives with quite good money given so they enjoyed shopping in a city and sometimes had a party or sports day with the Japanese soldiers. And that the Army strictly controled the traders not to abuse or exproite the women.
All I showed here is told in the Documents in Yoshimi's book. Maybe he just failed to read those documents he gathered. But what kind of scholar is he then?