"In the
circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are
running around at the risk of losing their lives ... if you want them to have a
rest in such a situation, a comfort women system is necessary. Anyone can understand that."
—Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka and co-founder of the right wing Japan
Restoration Party
Toru Hashimoto’s
comments on May 13, 2013 are an affront to humanity. Acts of sexual violence against any man or
woman or child at any time and under any circumstance are inexcusable. No justification can be made for these heinous
acts against 200,000 women and girls in China, Korea, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan.
I have been
researching the lives of surviving Filipina “Comfort Women” of WWII since
1997. In 2001, I spent eight months
touring the abduction sites and “comfort stations” of fifteen survivors. Their testimonies reveal the grotesque
details of Japanese soldiers systematically kidnapping women and girls, holding
them against their will, and repeatedly raping, humiliating and berating them.
The “Comfort
Stations” survivors have taken me to are not bordellos. The women were kept in churches, classrooms,
government buildings, fish bins, and shacks. They were systematically
raped—sometimes more than a dozen times a day.
They were not allowed to bathe or given a moment to rest and clean
themselves. They were not all
women. There were girls without their
menses. Some were only eight, some old
women. They were treated like animals.
In 1943, when
seventeen year-old Pilar Frias resisted her attackers in Bikol in the
Philippines, one of the Japanese soldiers burned her face with a
cigarette. With the end of a bayonet, another
solider slashed her nose. Five soldiers raped Pilar Frias then tied her at the
waist to three other women and dragged the women behind them as the soldiers
patrolled the countryside. The four girls moved as one unit. When one lay down to sleep, four lay down to
sleep. If one fell, the others followed.
When one was raped, all four were raped. Repeatedly.
It is long past time
that the Japanese government takes full responsibility, makes a clear and
sincere apology and acknowledges these war crimes against humanity.
Hear Congressman Ed Royce's response to Mayor Hashimoto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3zI2KfpO0s&feature=youtu.be
Comments