# Comfort Women: True or False? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2001, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507 "2001-11-15T10:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bebegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@bebegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bebegirl)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/1 "2001-11-15T10:16:32Z")
I’m a Canadian english teacher in Seoul, Korea. I’ve been teaching english in asia for about 5 years now. 3 years in Tokyo, Japan and 2 years in Seoul, Korea. The people here are very nice, I love their culture, I love their food. Life has been great for me here. However, one thing has always bothered me. There seems to be a great distrust between the two people. It’s really sad to see two neighbors, each with great culture and so much to offer to each other, living with so much hate. In Korea, there seems to be a widespread anti-japanese sentiment. The main reason is, of course, its unfortunate history between the two countries. Many Koreans are upset about Japan’s attitude toward its past crimes, especially the “comfort women”(where 200,000 girls were kidnapped and forced into prostitution by the Japanese army). In Japan, nobody seems to know or care about what happened during the first half of the 20th century. And many of those who do know claim that “comfort women” did not exist. A Japanese friend of mine claims that it’s been greatly exagerated by Koreans to recieve compensation money from the Japanese government, refering to the following website. [http://coralnet.or.jp/kakichi/](http://coralnet.or.jp/kakichi/) My question is this. Did the “comfort women” really exist? Is there any factual basis for its denial? ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/2 "2001-11-15T10:37:18Z")
These sex slaves indisputably existed. The victims weren’t just Korean either, women from every single nation occupied by Japanese imperial forces were forced into slavery and forced abortions. Several court cases have been brought before the Japanese courts by Philipino women forced into sexual slavery. Following the capture of British colonies in SE Asia virtually all ‘eligible’ women were imprisoned under conditions of constant rape, often far worse than that experienced by Asian women because of lesser numbers, the inherent racist attitudes of the Japanese towards non-Asians and the ‘novelty’ erotic value of caucasian women to Japanese men. There are several dozen comfort women still alive in Australia/NZ and IIRC about 100 in Bitain in addition to the hundreds or thousands in Asia. If your friend claims it’s all made up by the Koreans then it’s the result of a conspiracy between Indonesia, Timor, PNG, Malaysia, China, Korea, Australia, England, New Zealand and a string other countries. Your freind is well up there with the holocaust deniers. [http://online.sfsu.edu/~soh/cw-links.htm](http://online.sfsu.edu/~soh/cw-links.htm) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/3 "2001-11-15T11:02:51Z")
Gaspode hit the main points real well. Taiwanese were missed on the list and it was an on going issue in the mid-1980’s when I lived there. I’m sure it is still an issue. I’ve read interviews with Dutch women who were sex slaves for the Japanese army. The one Japanese vetern I knew well in Tokyo, and who spoke native level english, said of course they went to the army run brothels. He said frankly that they neither knew nor cared how the women came to be there. It was set up and the women were available – that’s all they were concerned about. There is verified documentation on the comfort women taken from army records. I agree with you that there is a pretty large part of the Japanese population that neither knows nor cares what Japan did during the militaristic period. Certainly a significant percentage of Japanese have bought into the great myth that they are major victims of WW2 by virtue of being the target of a nuclear attack. (Okay, some may argue that Japan deserves something on the victim balance sheet because of the massive bombing they suffered, including the atomic bombs.) Fair enough, but that balance sheet has to include everything else including the comfort women, chemical warfare, treatment of prisoners, vivisection experiments, ad nauseum. ---
**Author:** ![Erwin\_Deja\_Wu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Erwin\_Deja\_Wu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erwin_Deja_Wu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/4 "2001-11-15T11:22:55Z")
Bebe Girl - welcome to straight dope! I’ve never heard of the comfort women, but I think it’s great that you teach english across seas. Keep up the good work! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/5 "2001-11-15T11:50:06Z")
Yeah, welcome to the board! I’m also an English teacher in Seoul (7 1/2 years now) who used to be an English teacher in Tokyo (a little over 2 years). I have no doubt at all that comfort women were real, and I’ve read a few of their stories–really heartbreaking. But I also remember that Japanese people often told me that it is just not a part of their culture to think about the past. To grossly generalize, it seemed to me that Japanese people did not feel the need to apologize for past wrongs (I’m talking about national wrongs, not personal ones), but they also didn’t ask for any apologies for damages they’ve suffered. My Japanese friends seemed to feel no bitterness at all about the two big bombs. One friend was a child in Nagasaki when the bomb fell. He said he thought it was inevitable, and shrugged. As a culture, they just don’t look back in that way very much. Just my observation. Oh, and welcome to Korea, too, though after 2 years, I guess you’re settled in by now. ---
**Author:** ![royjwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@royjwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/royjwood)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/6 "2001-11-15T12:11:19Z")
Howdy, I live and work in East Timor, where some of the surviving comfort women are also still alive and talking about it. But more recently was the Indonesion military , police, and government sponsored militia treatment of the Timorese women during the previous 25 years of illegal occupation. Unfortunately, noone really cares about punishing countries if they share enough trade. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/7 "2001-11-15T15:09:33Z")
[Militarism, Colonialism, and the Trafficking of Women: “Comfort Women” Forced into Sexual Labor for Japanese Soldiers](http://csf.colorado.edu/bcas/sample/comfdoc.htm) by Watanabe Kazuko Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, vol. 26, no. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1994 small part of long article below History of Comfort Women "Many historians and activists in Korea and Japan have worked to reclaim these women’s pasts, reconceptualizing this violation of human rights and historicizing the Japanese army’s explicit military policy of wartime prostitution. Research shows that the modern Japanese system of prostitution for soldiers began as early as the turn of the century. In the invasion of Siberia starting in 1918 the Japanese military took Japanese prostitutes with them but then left them behind. Most of these women, daughters of poor farmers, had been sold into prostitution by their families and became prostitutes called karayukisan, foreign-bound (literally China-bound) women.12 In the 1920s, as part of Japan’s imperial policies after the colonization of Korea in 1910, the Japanese Imperial Army began to mobilize Korean women as physical laborers or as enforced sex laborers. In particular, beginning with the Japanese invasion of China in 1932, the recruiting of Korean women as prostitutes was gradually institutionalized to arouse soldiers’ fighting spirit, provide them with an outlet for the frustration and fear fostered by hierarchical military life, and, ostensibly, prevent random rapes. Since the official pretext of the war was that Japan was saving other Asian nations from colonization by Western countries, the Korean comfort women were needed to prevent Japanese soldiers from sexually abusing and collectively raping local Chinese women as they did during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937. The procurement of comfort women was institutionalized to avoid atrocities that would damage the reputation of the Japanese army. At the beginning of World War II, the Japanese army brought Japanese prostitutes with them, but many of them were suffering from venereal diseases and infected the Japanese soldiers. So Japanese brokers recruited Korean village girls, seventeen to twenty years old, from poor families. Toward the end of the war, the supply of women was enlarged by more indiscriminate kidnapping of women aged fourteen to thirty, including married women. Under the enforcement of the Military Compulsory Draft Act in 1943, more women were taken by the Japanese Imperial Army; by then the number had reached approximately 200,000, among whom 70,000 to 80,000 were sent as comfort women to the front lines in Asia.13" etc etc ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/8 "2015-12-28T14:19:00Z")
Bumped. Japan and South Korea have now reached a settlement for direct Japanese compensation of the few surviving comfort women: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/28/asia/south-korea-japan-comfort-women/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/28/asia/south-korea-japan-comfort-women/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/9 "2015-12-28T17:30:07Z")
It’s worth noting, now the subject has been bumped anyway, that AFAICT the dispute over comfort women is not so much over whether they existed altogether but over whether and to what extent they were 1) forced into sex slavery 2) by the Japanese military. The alternative view apparently maintains that 1) some of these women were willing participants, and 2) the system was run by private actors with the quiet acquiesence of the Japanese military. > **[Disputing Korean Narrative on ‘Comfort Women,’ a Professor Draws Fierce...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/world/asia/south-korea-comfort-women-park-yu-ha.html?_r=0)** > > Park Yu-ha has been charged with defamation for a book that challenged the common understanding of “comfort women” as innocent girls taken forcibly and raped by Japanese colonizers. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/10 "2015-12-28T19:05:29Z")
Another thing to consider–my career path and **bebegirl** ’s are pretty similar, though I got into teaching in East Asia about nine years later than she did–is that Japanese, Korean and Chinese students are notoriously disinterested in current events and history. There are echoes of this in the West as well. Watch people’s eyes roll when topics like slavery, the holocaust, or drones bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East are brought up. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/11 "2015-12-28T23:31:41Z")
> [@MrO](#): > > But I also remember that Japanese people often told me that it is just not a part of their culture to think about the past. A classic Asian side-step. Are westerners dumb enough to fall for something like this? NB: I’m Asian. > [@](#): > > To grossly generalize, it seemed to me that Japanese people did not feel the need to apologize for past wrongs (I’m talking about national wrongs, not personal ones), but they also didn’t ask for any apologies for damages they’ve suffered. No? They’re still asking for apologies for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. > [@](#): > > My Japanese friends seemed to feel no bitterness at all about the two big bombs. One friend was a child in Nagasaki when the bomb fell. He said he thought it was inevitable, and shrugged. As a culture, they just don’t look back in that way very much. Just my observation. That’s their opinion, although it sounds conditioned. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/12 "2015-12-28T23:50:29Z")
[Japan and South Korea signed a treaty today.](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35188135) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/13 "2015-12-29T00:45:31Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > A classic Asian side-step. Are westerners dumb enough to fall for something like this? > > NB: I’m Asian. > No? They’re still asking for apologies for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. > That’s their opinion, although it sounds conditioned. They haven’t apologized for eating American POWs. Do you recall when the first President Bush was ill at a Japanese dinner? Some of his associates in the Second World War were eaten by their captors. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/14 "2015-12-29T01:53:58Z")
Asian culture is big on NOT criticizing the leaders/their heritage/their past. So it’s only natural they lean to just moving on. Revisiting past transgressions borders on criticizing their culture. And, in their eyes, a bigger sin than refusing to acknowledge a shameful past. Of course that leaves the victims of these horrific acts out in the cold. The excuse "they only seek monetary compensation’, is just that, an excuse. But true reconciliation does require truth. Still, tiny steps forward count for a lot in such cultures and tiny steps are indeed happening it seems. Too little? Too late? Entirely subjective I suspect! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/15 "2015-12-29T02:39:40Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The alternative view apparently maintains that 1) some of these women were willing participants,[URL=“[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/world/asia/south-korea-comfort-women-park-yu-ha.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/world/asia/south-korea-comfort-women-park-yu-ha.html?_r=0)”] I don’t know many women who would volunteer to be prostitutes without receiving remuneration at the time … and nobody seems to be willing to claim the women were handed money which they were able to keep a significant portion of. And I know even fewer teen aged girls who think prostitution is the exact career choice they are eager for … ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/16 "2015-12-29T03:13:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > But true reconciliation does require truth. Still, tiny steps forward count for a lot in such cultures and tiny steps are indeed happening it seems. Too little? Too late? Entirely subjective I suspect! I’ll suggest subjective. The women kidnapped and forced into prostitution that are still alive are elderly, and will soon die. The problem will amount to much less at that point. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/17 "2015-12-29T03:52:29Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > No? They’re still asking for apologies for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No, “they” are not. Perhaps some one or a few people but this is not the common view. There is no doubt that the Zjspanese managed to evade taking responsibility for many of the atrocities for the war. While this is better than never acknowledging it, it really is something which should have been done much earlier. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/18 "2015-12-29T05:21:49Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Another thing to consider–my career path and **bebegirl** ’s are pretty similar, though I got into teaching in East Asia about nine years later than she did–is that Japanese, Korean and Chinese students are notoriously disinterested in current events and history. > > There are echoes of this in the West as well. Watch people’s eyes roll when topics like slavery, the holocaust, or drones bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East are brought up. This is probably the most significant issue. Look at how much debate there is over slavery reparations - basically, none, and it ain’t happening. Who in the USA wants to discuss slavery, Jim Crow, or what was done to the natives during the drive west, or how blatant was the expansion at the expanse of Mexico, etc.? Any politicians who are under 60 years old were not born when the war ended. I suspect like Southerners and the debate over the Confederate flag, the Japanese are happy to embrace the parts of their heritage they can put a positive spin on, and want to ignore the bad. The Koreans, particularly IIRC were a possession of Japan for several decades. They were certainly not regarded as equals by Japanese; they are considered an even lower form of life than the Chinese. Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations do not qualify for citizenship, IIRC. With that attitude, should you be surprised that press-ganging of such women into brothels was seen as acceptable behaviour when the morale of the imperial army was at stake? ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/19 "2015-12-29T06:02:27Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The Koreans, particularly IIRC were a possession of Japan for several decades. They were certainly not regarded as equals by Japanese; **they are considered an even lower form of life than the Chinese. Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations do not qualify for citizenship, IIRC.** With that attitude, should you be surprised that press-ganging of such women into brothels was seen as acceptable behaviour when the morale of the imperial army was at stake? Bolding mine. This seems a bit inflammatory and unlikely in the modern world stage. Got a cite? One directly disagreeing article suggests this: > **[Many angles to acquiring Japanese citizenship](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/12/27/reference/many-angles-to-acquiring-japanese-citizenship/#.VoIhqPl96Ul)** > > Nationality has long been a controversial issue in Japan. For most, it is something they are born with; for others, it is something they had to fight for. For some, nationality may be a source of pride, while for others, it may be the cause of... > [@](#): > > Are most requests approved? > > Yes. About 99 percent of all applications are approved. In 2010, for example, 13,072 were recognized as naturalized citizens and 234 were rejected. Of those approved, 6,600 were North or South Korean nationals and about 5,000 were Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507/20 "2015-12-29T06:59:55Z")
> [@Richox](#): > > Bolding mine. This seems a bit inflammatory and unlikely in the modern world stage. Got a cite? One directly disagreeing article suggests this: > > [Many angles to acquiring Japanese citizenship - The Japan Times](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/12/27/reference/many-angles-to-acquiring-japanese-citizenship/#.VoIhqPl96Ul) > **[Koreans in Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreans_in_Japan)** > > Koreans in Japan (在日韓国人・在日本朝鮮人・朝鮮人, Zainichi Kankokujin/Zainihon Chōsenjin/Chōsenjin) (Korean: 재일 한국/조선인) are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since the end of World War II and the division of Korea. > They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan after Chinese immigrants, due... the truth is a bit complex: > [@](#): > > The Japanese word “Zainichi” itself means a foreign citizen “staying in Japan” and implies temporary residence.[2] Nevertheless, the term “Zainichi Korean” is used to describe settled permanent residents of Japan, both those who have retained either their Joseon or South Korean / North Korean nationalities, and even sometimes, but not always, includes Japanese citizens of Korean descent who acquired Japanese nationality by naturalization or by birth from one or both parents who have Japanese citizenship. > … > . The Japanese government was in favour of repatriation not only as a way to reduce the number of welfare or other public assistance recipients in a time of economic difficulty, **but also as a way to rid the country of ethnic minority residents regarded as incompatible with Japanese culture** [15] Though the United States government was initially unaware of Tokyo’s cooperation with the repatriation programme, they offered no objection after they were informed of it; the US ambassador to Japan was quoted by his Australian counterpart as describing the Koreans in Japan as “a poor lot including many Communists and many criminals”. > … > During the post-World War II period, Zainichi Koreans faced various kinds of discrimination from Japanese society. Due to the San Francisco Peace Treaty,the Japanese government created laws to support Japanese citizens by giving financial support, providing shelters, etc. However, after the treaty was signed, Zainichi Koreans were no longer counted as Japanese citizens, so they were unable to get any support from the government. They were unable to get an insurance certificate from the government, so it was difficult for them to get any medical care. Without medical insurance, Zainichi Koreans were unable to go to hospital since the cost of medication was too high. Another problem caused by this treaty was that the Japanese government created a law which stated that Korean residents in Japan had to be fingerprinted since Zainichi Koreans had two names (their original name and a name given by the Japanese government). Under this law, Zainichi Koreans had to reveal their identity to the public because when they visited the city hall to provide their fingerprints, their neighbors found out that they were Zainichi Koreans. Therefore, Zainichi Koreans were forced to reveal their identity to Japanese and faced discrimination from them directly. So some were Japanese citizens, but the Japanese did whatever they could to prevent the Koreans from becoming integrated into japan, including not providing citizenship. Many countries are not as generous as the USA, do not automatically confer citizenship to anyone born there regardless of parents. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-women-true-or-false/93507.md?page=2)