Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 23 - May 6 TOP3 [POLITICS]

What became of Japanese ‘comfort women’?

‘Morning breeze’ column

Wartime sex slaves of the Imperial Japanese Army included Japanese women. Even though they have not come forward, many official documents and soldiers’ diaries suggest their presence.

In the middle of the Japanese-Chinese War, on November 8, 1938, the chief of the National Public Safety Bureau ordered five prefectural governors, including Osaka and Kyoto, to collect 400 young women with the purpose of sending them to southern China on a “special mission”. The following is a breakdown of the total: Osaka, 100; Kyoto, 50; Hyogo, 100; Fukuoka, 100; and Yamaguchi, 50.

The order adds, “Select agents who have no problem in running the army’s comfort stations, and authorize them to recruit women in secret.”

The security chief had issued another letter on February 22 in the same year with the approval of the Home Minister. The notification states that the dispatch of prostitutes to the northern or middle part of China will be permitted. While caring about the international convention banning human trafficking, the Imperial government was secretly dispatching many Japanese women to areas under its occupation.

Just after the war ended, Japan’s authorities installed “comfort stations” across the country for U.S. occupation personnel. On the other hand, they have neither helped those women to return to their homeland nor bothered to determine whatever became of them.

Past related articles:
> New evidence of forcible recruiting of comfort women found [April 7, 2014]
> Gov’t should refrain from reviewing statement on ‘comfort women’ issue: JCP Shii [March 15, 2014]