The right-wingers in Japan deny any direct involvement of the Japanese government, citing that the documents proving that the Japanese Army or Japanese government had directly ordered the establishment of the “comfort stations” have never been found. They also claim that neither the Japanese army nor the Japanese government were involved in mobilizing “comfort women”, and that private businesses simply recruited “comfort women” by illegal means. Having accepted these claims, the Abe administration is contradicting what the previous Japanese government had admitted.
In her book <The House with a Red Tile Roof - The Story of Korean Women Who Became the Japanese Military "Comfort Women"> which was translated into Korean in 2014, Kawata Fumiko vividly yet calmly unraveled the testimony of Bae Bong-gi, one of the Korean "Comfort Women" who was taken to Okinawa. Based on the testimonies and data collected from Okinawa residents, Japanese soldiers, as well as Bae Bong-gi, this article describes the detailed circumstances experienced by Bae Bong-gi and the “Comfort Women” surrounding the U.S. military’s air raids that took place on the Kerama Islands, Okinawa.
Written by Choi Jae-in (The translator of 『Fifty Years of Silence』 by Jan Ruff O'Herne)
<Part 2>
Nam Kijeong (Institute for Japanese Studies, Seoul National University)/ Cho Yanghyeon (Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security)/ Cho Sihyeon (The Center of Historical Truth and Justice)
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.