Suchergebnisse

This article examines attempts by Japanese government representatives to remove or prevent the installation of memorial statues dedicated to 'comfort women' – women across the Asia-Pacific whom the Japanese military forced into conditions now recognised as sexual slavery before and during World War Two. This article examines four cases around the world in which Japanese regional and national government officials have demanded the removal of comfort women statues: 1) Glendale, California; 2) San Francisco, California; 3) Manila, the Philippines; and 4) Berlin, Germany. Japanese actors were unsuccessful in the U.S., successful in the Philippines, and partially successful in Germany. Through a discussion of these cases, this article argues that the global expansion of comfort women memorialisation constitutes an important case for understanding contemporary statue politics. Firstly, East Asian diasporas have become important actors in orchestrating the commemoration of Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacific War outside East Asia. Secondly, these memorials constitute attempts by diasporas to recover and reclaim a traumatic past through material culture. Thirdly, despite the geographically transnational scope of memory activism surrounding comfort women, both proponents and critics of comfort women statues have anchored their arguments in nationalist symbols and narratives. As a result, this article argues that neither nationalism nor the power of the nation-state have declined in today's transnational world.

Chapter 1: Introduction: New Ways of Solidarity with Korean Comfort Women -- Part I. Victims, Stories, and Transformations -- Chapter 2: The Power of Korean "Comfort Women's" Testimonies" -- Chapter 3: Rise of the Comfort Women Issue in the United States: From the Perspective of the Korean Diaspora -- Chapter 4: Reconfiguring Activist-Survivors of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, Remapping Encounters between Colonial Women -- Part II. Ways of Memory, Remembrance, and Healing -- Chapter 5: New Genres, New Audiences: Retelling the Story of Japan's Military Sexual Slavery -- Chapter 6: Korean 'Comfort Women' Films Following the 2015 Korea-Japan Comfort Women Agreement: Historical Perceptions of Military Sexual Slavery Amid Strained Korea-Japan Relations -- Chapter 7: Keeping the memory of comfort women alive: How social media can be used to preserve the memory of comfort women and educate future generations -- Chapter 8: Kut as Political Disobedience, Healing, and Resilience -- Part III. Global Actors, Legal Frames, and Contested Memories -- Chapter 9: How is the Memory of a Nation Made? Discovery of North Korean "Comfort Stations" and the Politics of "Places of Memory" -- Chapter 10: On Comfort Women's Way to the United Nations -- Chapter 11: Lessons from International Human Rights Norms and Korea's comfort women-girls.

One of the greatest human rights abuses against women occurred during World War II when the Japanese Imperial Army a system of military brothels staffed by young women who were coerced, tricked, or abducted to work in "Comfort Stations." These young women were euphemistically called "Comfort Women" because they were to provide "comfort" – that is, sexual pleasure to the Japanese soldiers. This paper will examine the genesis of the Comfort Women system, explore why the wrong has never been addressed, assess the legal grounds for holding Japan accountable in international law, and critique the legal mechanisms that have been used to obtain redress for former Comfort Women.

Japanese comfort women system was a military prostitution system that did not only cause war crimes, but also involved gender-based violence which put the comfort women as victims. This issue gained international exposure due to demands against the Japanese government that hadn't fulfilled its responsibilities towards the victims, especially the victims from South Korea. Despite the Japanese government's various efforts until the 2015 Japan-ROK Agreement on Comfort Women with the South Korean government, this issue still remains unresolved from the perspective of the victims from Souh Korea. Although the perspective of states deems the issue of comfort women resolved through bilateral reconciliation, the gender approach seeks to declassify this as an unresolved issue from the perspective of the victims as the party directly affected by the comfort women system. The ignorance by putting aside the victims' perspective in viewing the issue and excluding the said victims from the resolution process eventually encouraged the victims to continue demanding justice from the Japanese government.

From late 1942, Australians knew that the Japanese had shipped women to Rabaul, where they worked in brothels catering for Japanese troops. Japanese captured on the Kokoda Track and elsewhere described the brothels, and New Guineans and who had been in Rabaul talked about them. Australian military and civilian prisoners saw the brothels, and a few of those Australians observed them over a long period. Japanese who served in Rabaul have left reminiscences about the brothels, and one Korean woman has testified that she worked in Rabaul. As result, there is scattered material on perhaps 3,000 comfort women in an Australian Territory, but when Australian reporters and commentators need to give the comfort women an Australian relevance, these women are never mentioned. Their experiences are not used to provide evidence on the recurring debates about whether the comfort women were coerced or free and whether they were recruited, shipped and employed by private contractors rather than the Japanese military or government.

From late 1942, Australians knew that the Japanese had shipped women to Rabaul, where they worked in brothels catering for Japanese troops. Japanese captured on the Kokoda Track and elsewhere described the brothels, and New Guineans and who had been in Rabaul talked about them. Australian military and civilian prisoners saw the brothels, and a few of those Australians observed them over a long period. Japanese who served in Rabaul have left reminiscences about the brothels, and one Korean woman has testified that she worked in Rabaul. As result, there is scattered material on perhaps 3,000 comfort women in an Australian Territory, but when Australian reporters and commentators need to give the comfort women an Australian relevance, these women are never mentioned. Their experiences are not used to provide evidence on the recurring debates about whether the comfort women were coerced or free and whether they were recruited, shipped and employed by private contractors rather than the Japanese military or government.

Draws on field research to analyze the evolution of the international redress movement that has emerged in response to the forced recruitment of "comfort women" as sexual laborers for Japanese soldiers during WWII. It is argued that, while the Netherlands brought criminal charges against Japan immediately after the war, Asian countries took much longer to respond. The emergence of the Japanese-initiated Asian Woman's Fund (AWF), which raised money for compensation of victims, is described. The government of the Philippines accepted the AWF's compensation offer; however, it was rejected by Korea, Taiwan, & Indonesia, who viewed the offer as a way for Japan to shift its responsibility for reparations. Considered is whether the Indonesian, Taiwanese, & Korean position is justified. D. Weibel