Product Description

During World War II, an estimated 200,000 girls and young women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial military - which was authorised by the highest levels of Japan's wartime government. The system resulted in the largest and most methodical mass rape of women in recorded history. Japan's Kem pei tai political police tricked or abducted females as young as eleven years old and imprisoned them in military rape camps known as comfort stations situated throughout Asia. These comfort women were forced to service as many as 50 Japanese soldiers a day. They were beaten, starved, made to endure abortions or injections with sterilizing drugs. Only a few women survived and those that did suffered permanent physical and emotional damage. Little was known about the true scope of this crime against humanity until 1991, when after almost fifty years of silence, seventy-four year old Kim Hak-Soon told the world about her experiences as a comfort woman. Her testimony gave others the strength to come forward. The Washington Coalition for Comfort Women (WCCW) carefully transcribed and translated the stories of nineteen survivors and these are now presented in this book. This not simply a history book. Comfort Women Speak documents the lives of nineteen courageous women who continue to fight to bring to account one of the most powerful governments in the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2069990 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

Review
"Failure to address crimes of a sexual nature committed during the war has added to the level of impunity with which similar crimes are committed today - UN Special Rapporteur GJ McDougall

Customer Reviews

An unpleasant read, but a necessary one.
This book covers the lives of a series of women taken by the Japanese military during the second World War to be used as sex slaves. The personal testimonies of the woman are backed up by a series of reports later on in the book looking into the use of 'comfort women' by the Japanese military including excerpts from a UN report. It is important that people read this book to appreciate what these women went through and to increase support for these women to get their deserved compensation from the Japanese government.

I am sorry, but, all of these claims has been invalidated.
It is true that the Secretary-General of the Cabinet of Japan, Yohei Kono, admitted that there were evidences that show the Japanese Army kidnapped women to force them into "sex-slaves" and apologized to the ex-comfort women. Nevertheless, it is also true that, in fact, Kono had no evidences that substantiate the accusation and the ex-comfort women were never cross-examined. Later, the vice-Secretary-General, Nobuo Ishihara, admitted to a journalist that there was a "deal" between the South Korean government and the Japanese government to make the apology for saving South Korea's face so afterwards South Korean would never demand compensations as the government.
Many Japanese scholars and researchers on this issue examined the ex-comfort women's testimonies and concluded that none of them were reliable and substantiated.

Now, let us look into other testimonies made by comfort women and recorded by the U.S. force. Those women's photo is shown in this book at the page opposite of "contents".
They confided in those American soldiers that they lived comparatively "luxurious" lives thanks to the good money the Japanese soldiers paid for the "comfort" they provided. They had enough money to go to shopping in larger cities and the Japanese soldiers often gave them presents. They had picnic, sports-day, fun evening and diner party with Japanese soldiers. The Japanese Army tightly controlled traders who run the comfort stations so that the women would never be physically or financially abused.

This document is found in the book called "Documents of the Comfort Women" edited by Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a leading proponent of the accusation of kidnapping and forcing those women to the sex-slave state by the Japanese Army. On the contrary to the accusation, the women were paid three times more of average Japanese soldiers and some of them went home after working for a year or a few and built a big house for their family. Most Japanese soldiers were always thankful to them. Some even fell in love with and married to the comfort women. However different those facts are from what you had believed, it is true and, actually, well documented.

Still, you may think the report of Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy to the United Nations in this book (p112) authentic, but it is based on those invalid testimonies and a sole testimony of an ex-Japanese soldier, Seiji Yoshida who claimed that he was working in woman-hunt operations which were later completely debunked. Years later he publicly admitted it was a lie. Another book Ms. Coomaraswamy relied on is G. Hicks's "Comfort Women" which had already been debunked by many scholars and researchers. Furthermore, Ms. Coomaraswamy's academic consultant is above-mentioned Professor Yoshiaki Yoshimi, who also had been debunked and admitted himself in a Japanese TV debate programme that he had no evidences at all. So, now you know even a Special Rapporteur for the United Nations is not free of prejudice.

Here I urge everyone who is interested in this issue to know that there are unbelievable amount of propaganda spread by so-called anti-Japanese Japanese out there. And works of scholars are no exceptions.