The history of the Comfort Girls demands to be told!
Jul 15, 2015 8:03:39 GMT -6
Nugget, 727sky, and 10 more like this
Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 8:03:39 GMT -6
The "Comfort Girls" of wartime Japan are an aspect of the Pacific War which is known, but not terribly well and Japan's Government has spent the better part of the years since 1945 trying to pretend never happened.
Over 200,000 young women and mere girls were raped, 7 days a week, 365 days a year....ill or well. Happy or sad..and replaced when they died from the abuse. These were the "Comfort Girls" of Imperial Japan.
I think this is a thing we have trouble even imagining..outside a movie. The scene she describes is similar enough to Sean Penn's character abducting a Vietnamese girl from a village in the film "Casualties of War" to compare for the image it must have made. That, too, had been based on real events. The difference being... America has bad apples who do evil things. Every war has them, on ALL sides of conflict. Imperial Japan WAS the bad apple, and this wasn't soldier abuse with the Comfort Girls. It was STATE SUPPLIED entertainment for the troops.
Source
I like World War II history in general (tho sure not the specific details of some parts) because that war was SO clean and SO clear for Good (us) vs. Evil (them). We didn't strap down human beings to inject bleach into...just to see what would happen. Japanese medical experimentation teams did..and so did the Germans. We didn't take people apart, like a girls doll in living vivisections...to see what worked, in what way. Both of those war time powers did.
Of course, to be fair on balance, that clarity during combat became about as clear as a glass of muddy water at the end......and they address that here too when the women note that EVERYONE involved in the policy of the "Comfort Girls" should have been held to account and paid for those crimes back then.
Pacific War Crimes Tribunals
As noted, the problem with World War II was.....great men and fighting Generals became politicians at the end, and made concessions to their own agendas of rebuilding that let some very evil men walk from some of the worst crimes recorded in our human history.
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The story here is as much the lawsuit these women are bringing as the story of what led to it during the war. They are suing the Government of modern Japan, the current Prime Minister, Hitachi, Nippon Steel, the Mitsui Group, Okamoto Industries and others.
It looks like a full playing card...and I imagine national Governments will be watching this. Unlike Germany, who have all but built monuments to reflecting on their own dark moments of shameful history (which passed..and they've moved on from), Japan is JUST STARTING to admit some of their worst war crimes and systemic atrocities. In having denied so much, for so long? It is safe to say South Korea, China and others likely wait with at least a mild curiosity to see how this one plays out.
History has some very VERY dark corners to it, and some? Not that long ago. Many of those dark corners are still, to this day, dark with as much ignorance as evil from the deeds that were recorded.
Perhaps this corner will now illuminated.....at last. It's been FAR FAR too long, with few of the victims still alive to feel vindication or benefit from accountability now.
Over 200,000 young women and mere girls were raped, 7 days a week, 365 days a year....ill or well. Happy or sad..and replaced when they died from the abuse. These were the "Comfort Girls" of Imperial Japan.
Hee Nam You was 15 years old when a policeman snatched her off the street of her Korean hometown in 1943 and shipped her to a faraway land, where she was forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers five to 30 times each day, according to a federal class action filed Monday.
I think this is a thing we have trouble even imagining..outside a movie. The scene she describes is similar enough to Sean Penn's character abducting a Vietnamese girl from a village in the film "Casualties of War" to compare for the image it must have made. That, too, had been based on real events. The difference being... America has bad apples who do evil things. Every war has them, on ALL sides of conflict. Imperial Japan WAS the bad apple, and this wasn't soldier abuse with the Comfort Girls. It was STATE SUPPLIED entertainment for the troops.
"The women were denied proper medical attention, shelter and nutrition," the complaint states. "Even when they got sick, the rape did not stop even for a day."
Kim was 18 years old when she was abducted in Korea and sent to comfort stations in Japanese-occupied areas around Asia and the Pacific, the complaint claims.
Kim, who was born in 1926, and You, who was born in 1928, both reside in Korea today and are approaching 90 years of age.
Only 25 to 35 percent of sex slaves survived the war. Those who did suffered severe health problems including permanent damage to their reproductive organs from sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases, the women say.
Kim was 18 years old when she was abducted in Korea and sent to comfort stations in Japanese-occupied areas around Asia and the Pacific, the complaint claims.
Kim, who was born in 1926, and You, who was born in 1928, both reside in Korea today and are approaching 90 years of age.
Only 25 to 35 percent of sex slaves survived the war. Those who did suffered severe health problems including permanent damage to their reproductive organs from sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases, the women say.
I like World War II history in general (tho sure not the specific details of some parts) because that war was SO clean and SO clear for Good (us) vs. Evil (them). We didn't strap down human beings to inject bleach into...just to see what would happen. Japanese medical experimentation teams did..and so did the Germans. We didn't take people apart, like a girls doll in living vivisections...to see what worked, in what way. Both of those war time powers did.
Of course, to be fair on balance, that clarity during combat became about as clear as a glass of muddy water at the end......and they address that here too when the women note that EVERYONE involved in the policy of the "Comfort Girls" should have been held to account and paid for those crimes back then.
Pacific War Crimes Tribunals
As noted, the problem with World War II was.....great men and fighting Generals became politicians at the end, and made concessions to their own agendas of rebuilding that let some very evil men walk from some of the worst crimes recorded in our human history.
--
The story here is as much the lawsuit these women are bringing as the story of what led to it during the war. They are suing the Government of modern Japan, the current Prime Minister, Hitachi, Nippon Steel, the Mitsui Group, Okamoto Industries and others.
It looks like a full playing card...and I imagine national Governments will be watching this. Unlike Germany, who have all but built monuments to reflecting on their own dark moments of shameful history (which passed..and they've moved on from), Japan is JUST STARTING to admit some of their worst war crimes and systemic atrocities. In having denied so much, for so long? It is safe to say South Korea, China and others likely wait with at least a mild curiosity to see how this one plays out.
History has some very VERY dark corners to it, and some? Not that long ago. Many of those dark corners are still, to this day, dark with as much ignorance as evil from the deeds that were recorded.
Perhaps this corner will now illuminated.....at last. It's been FAR FAR too long, with few of the victims still alive to feel vindication or benefit from accountability now.
