Legal experts and “Comfort Women” movement activists reflect on the 34-year legal struggle to resolve the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” issue.
Editorial Team of Webzine <Kyeol>
Reflecting on and exploring how to record, remember, and carry forward the history of the “Comfort Women” beyond the framework of legal remedies.
The male-centric society in Japan is the root cause of the “Comfort Women” issue. Ultimately, I am convinced that this structural problem is why the Japanese National Diet has been unable to enact legislation on its own.
Totsuka Etsuro (戶塚悅朗)
Written by Totsuka Etsuro (戶塚悅朗)
Asian Women’s Shelter’s executive director shares how the organization began and how it works to serve “not either/or, but all” communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Orchid Pusey
The spread of “Comfort Women” memorials across different cities and countries offers insights into both possibilities and the limits of memory activism, especially in an era when the world continues to confront the legacies of colonialism, racism, and historical injustice.
Dr. Daniel Schumacher
All things considered, Japan must bear responsibility as a nation. To reignite the movement, a civic movement aimed at achieving legislative resolution was needed. In December 1996, the “Gathering for Legislative Resolution of the “Comfort Women” Issue” was established, with Attorney Tsuchiya Koken as the Chairman, Professor Arai Shinichi from Surugadai University as the Vice Chairman, and Arimitsu Ken serving as the Secretariat Liaison.
Kyung-hee Cho, Assistant Professor, Institute for East Asian Studies, Sungkonghoe University
Kyung-hee Cho
Attorney Sanghee Lee, the head of the Lawyers for the Democratic Society Task Force addressing the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue
Sanghee Lee
In this conversation, Freedom United Executive Director Joanna Ewart-James and Kyeol examine how modern slavery is sustained by social and institutional systems, how collective action can drive meaningful change, and how historical awareness can deepen our understanding of injustices that persist today.
Joanna Ewart-James