Japan's Comfort Women Read Online Free PDF Page A

in postwar Japan.
    In the final chapter, the Epilogue, the discussion focuses on two major issues.
    One is the question of how Japan’s extraordinary military system of sexual enslavement came to be. The answer is sought in historical continuities linking the comfort women system and the karayuki-san system of overseas prostitution that involved large numbers of Japanese women. While noting continuities I delineate important differences between the two systems. The other is a theoret-ical analysis of the fundamental causes of military violence against women in general and of the specific characteristics of the comfort women system which differentiate it from other types of military violence against women.
    Throughout this book, I use the words “comfort women.” I am well aware that some historians and feminist scholars query the use of this term. Critics rightly note that these words evoke a false impression – suggesting that these women voluntary provided services, and indeed, the term masks the sexual and violent aspects of the system. Some of these critics suggest that the expression “sexual slaves” is more appropriate. As this study shows, the comfort women were indeed the “sexual slaves” of the Japanese military. At the same time, however, for reasons that I elaborate upon in the book, the “sexual slavery” of Japanese Imperial forces during the Asia-Pacific War assumed distinctive characteristics which cannot be found in other types of “sexual slavery.” While the
    Introduction
    7
    term “comfort women” was an official euphemism, it nevertheless is useful in underlining distinctive features of the system. Moreover, at this stage, I cannot find a more suitable alternative term to embody and connote this unique historical and socio-political phenomenon. Thus, I hope that my use of “comfort women”
    will not offend anyone who is concerned with the issue of violence against women.
    Another important issue which concerns me deeply is that by putting “comfort women” in a special category, I do not intend to trivialize the victims of any other types of sexual violence. No matter how we historians and academics analyze various cases of sexual violence and classify them into different categories, the fact remains that, from the viewpoint of the victims, their individual experiences were invariably traumatic and unendurable. Each victim of sexual violence deserves to receive careful attention. I sincerely hope that the discussion in this book does not lose its foundation in the “human responses” to individual victims of sexual violence.
    8
    The origins of the comfort women system 1
    The origins of the comfort
    women system
    The initial establishment of comfort stations Exactly when the Japanese Imperial forces first set up ianjo (comfort stations) – military brothels – for the exclusive use of their soldiers and officers is still unknown. This is because a vast number of relevant official records were destroyed immediately after Japan announced its surrender in August 1945. However, a number of official Japanese documents related to this issue have been unearthed in the last several years. Information available in these newly discovered documents strongly suggests that the first Japanese military brothels for the exclusive use of troops and officers were those set up for the Japanese Navy in Shanghai, during the so-called “Shanghai Incident” in 1932.
    On September 18, 1931, Japanese forces blew up the railway at Lake Liu (near Mukden in southern Manchuria), then claimed that Chinese forces had destroyed the railway. The Kwantung (Kant d ) Army of the Japanese Imperial forces plotted this “sabotage” in order to provide a pretext for the invasion of northeast China. This marked the beginning of the so-called “Manchurian Incident.” As Chinese forces avoided a major confrontation with the Japanese in this region, Japanese forces managed to occupy this part of China within a relatively