Japan's Comfort Women Read Online Free PDF Page B

prefecture (Kyushu) to send a group of comfort women to Shanghai.5 His choice of Nagasaki as a recruiting centre for comfort women was probably based on its historical background. Many so-called karayuki-san ( Japanese prostitutes working at overseas brothels) of poor family background in Nagasaki had previously been sold by their parents to procurers and sent to various places in the Asia-Pacific region.6
    It is clear from Okamura’s private record that the army intended to use Japanese professional women, rather than Koreans, as comfort women at this stage.
    It is interesting to note that the army’s explicit purpose in setting up such facilities in Shanghai was not only the prevention of VD but also the prevention of rape committed by their own soldiers. The diary of another senior staff officer in Shanghai, Lieutenant-General Okabe Naozabur d , further confirms this point.
    On March 14, 1932, he wrote:
    Recently I have heard a lot of scandalous stories, including that some our soldiers wander around seeking women. Such a phenomenon is hard to prevent as fighting becomes less frequent. Therefore the establishment of appropriate facilities must be accepted as a good cause and should be promoted. In consideration of our soldiers’ sexual problems, we have decided to introduce various measures. Lieutenant-Colonel Nagami Toshinori is now responsible for this task.7
    From these records, it is clear that the establishment of army comfort stations was initiated by top-ranking officers of the Japanese forces stationed in Shanghai. The actual plan was carried out by senior staff officers.
    Why did the senior leaders of Japanese forces in Shanghai quickly introduce military-controlled prostitution? Undoubtedly, one important factor was the bit-ter experience of Japanese forces during the so-called “Siberian Expedition,”
    between 1918 and 1922. Okamura, although only for a short period, served as the commander of the 14th Infantry Regiment which participated in this war against the Russians. Okabe was well known amongst Japanese military leaders as a Russian specialist, and he was an officer attached to the Special (i.e. secret) Service Agency in the Vladivostok headquarters during this expedition. For the majority of the The origins of the comfort women system 11
    Japanese troops sent to Siberia, the mission of this military expedition was unclear, and the soldiers’ morale was relatively low from the beginning. The discipline of these troops was also slack. Widespread looting and rape by Japanese troops on Russian soil gravely concerned Japanese military leaders.8
    The Japanese commanders in Siberia were also troubled by the high VD rate amongst their troops. According to the official record, 1,109 soldiers were treated as VD patients between August 1918 and October 1920. The true figure was probably much higher. Even when the official figures are compared with 1,399
    deaths and 1,528 casualties during the same period, one realizes how seriously VD affected the combat strength of the troops. In order to tackle this problem, the kempeitai (the Japanese military police force) was authorized to regulate private prostitution in Sakhalin and to force the prostitutes to have periodical medical examinations.9 It can be said, therefore, that the establishment of military brothels in Shanghai in the 1930s, by both the Japanese Navy and Army, was a natural development from regulated prostitution in Siberia.
    An official document confirms that a comfort station was set up in northeast China in April 1933, more than a year after the establishment of military brothels in Shanghai.
    On April 10, 1933, the Kwantung Army crossed the Changcheng Border, starting an invasion towards the east of China. The document, from the 14th Mixed Infantry Brigade of the Kwantung Army stationed in Pingquan, provides some evidence.
    According to some of the reports on sanitary affairs issued every ten days by the Brigade headquarters, local Chinese brothels