By Harald Ethan Dango

Introduction

The Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) is a museum located in Shinjuku, sandwiched between Waseda and Gakushuin University campuses. It is located on the upper floors of a church building, making the location fairly hidden – you would not know a museum was in this location if you did not already know of its existence. The same could be said for the subject matter of the museum, the various kinds of abuses women face before, during, and after periods of war have not been the forefront or major concern of many peoples’ minds, even during periods of conflict like today. How has this come to be?

Cynthia Enloe, a prominent feminist scholar of International Relations, famously brought to attention the disregard for the struggles of women in society and especially in war. “Where are the women?”. It was this question that she asked that opened the floodgates in academia with respect to the role women play in the conduct of nations. Imperial Japan’s usage of women throughout the period of warfare enacted throughout Asia is a topic explored in great detail in the Women’s Active Museum of War and Peace and it shall do a greater job of informing the layman on the topic compared to any article or book.

The aim of this article is to explore some of the structural conditions and problems that Japan experienced throughout their periods of war, and the kinds of solutions they used to solve them. The Women’s Active Museum of War and Peace was the primary informant of much of the information presented in this article, additional information from other sources will be cited when they are presented accordingly. Despite the position that the government of Japan has on the issue of comfort women today, it should be self-evident to those reading that the purpose of this article is to specifically examine a problem and its subsequent solution and not to unnecessarily antagonize a nation for its history. With this said, the effects of history are still ever present – to understand why, questions must be asked.

Why did Imperial Japan believe that its soldiers needed comfort women in the first place?

Every Problem Needs A Solution

The Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace recognizes several key reasons for why comfort women have become an essential part of the military strategy of Japan. It was done in order to curb the sexual needs of the personnel of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and to ensure that they remain healthy by going to militarily approved comfort stations (defacto brothels) and therefore, militarily approved women. To prevent the spread of sexual disease and coercion on the part of women encountered in the newly conquered lands throughout all of Asia. Additionally, it was done to ensure that soldiers and personnel would not take it upon themselves to “relieve” themselves upon the newly encountered women and to instead systematically curb the needs of the men through regulated mechanisms. When it comes to the acquisition of the women needed for these operations, there were various methods in obtaining these people. Many were women taken from the territories conquered, like in the case of Wan Aihua, a Chinese woman who was taken and put into a comfort station when she was a 14 year old girl. Some were essentially sold to the Japanese in exchange for protection or resources, Shirota Suzuko (an alias), a 17 year old Japanese girl herself was sold by her family in exchange for debt relief on the part of her family. According to a collaboration with WAM and UCLA, she was first sold to the creditor (who then impregnated her and gave her gonorrhea) and eventually sold off to a comfort station in Taiwan. In her case, this is an example of a pipeline established in Imperial Japan that normalized the processes that these women experienced not just to military personnel, but also to civilians. These courses of actions were justified as to ensure that the needs and demand from the Japanese personnel is met to allow for both the army and navy to perform at its highest and most efficient capacity.

Just like with all problems and solutions, there are certain criteria and details about them that can be improved in order to increase efficiency.  Some may question the need to examine history from a retroactive lens. It is true that it is unrealistic to expect those from times past to behave in a manner appropriate in today’s context, but the purpose of doing so allows for contemporary people today to understand how and why certain behaviours and expectations became standard in the first place. There are glaringly obvious moral failures that these policies did not address or acknowledge, and the reasons for why the Imperial Japanese thought them justifiable were explored. Now, it is time to analyze how these policies were practiced and the consequences of such actions.

Certain Solutions Create Problems

The most significant problem with the solutions created was the complete disregard for the self determination for the lives of the women taken into imprisonment. They were regarded as commodities that the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy saw and used for their purposes. As commodities, they did not have the respect or rights to prevent what it is that happened to them. A popular argument that many today have is that these women voluntarily signed up for this line of work, but to what ends does this argument justify? Many of these women were children when they were first taken to the comfort stations, and impregnated, and injured or killed in this “work”. What sort of work, rightfully legitimized by a government, can possibly justify the dangers and risks involved and the characteristics of the “job” as established thus far, especially when this work is sponsored through the government and military itself?

Another problem was the normalization of the experiences and treatment of these women. It was already established that cases like Shirota Suzuko’s exist in which civilians can contribute to the comfort stations, but what of the soldiers themselves? WAM provided several testimonies of some former Imperial Japanese soldiers and what they thought of the comfort women. Suzuki Yoshio already had a wife waiting for him at home, it was due to this fact that he resisted opportunities to indulge at the comfort station. Over time, as the horrors and pressures of war and his peers got to him, he self justified his usage of the comfort women. The purpose of making stories of offenders like him known is to bring to attention not just the perpetrators of the act, but the structural conditions that led these perpetrators to justify their actions when it happened.

Cynthia Enloe, throughout all of her work, brought to attention the significance that norms play when it comes to the role of women in societies. She notes in her book, Does Khaki become you? The Militarisation of Women’s Lives that military men have to face pressures exclusive in their institution and occupation as personnel of the military. One of these pressures is the need to fit in with their “brothers”, and when comfort women and comfort stations become normalized by the government (their ultimate leading authority), abstaining from such practices (even those as vile as rape) can be indicative as a failure when it comes to being a proper member of the military. Essentially, being a soldier is not just about fighting the enemy, but by engaging in the same activities as your allies, no matter how immoral. It is with this framework in mind, that the systemic rape and imprisonment of women and girls became so integrated and common throughout the domains of Imperial Japan.

Conclusion

There are serious problems that exist in the world today, there is no denial of that. Many times, people believe that a “serious solution” is the only way to solve that problem. It is through this conception of  a “serious solution” that leads to all manner of immoral legislation being passed, regardless of if the state is democratic or authoritarian.

The systemic and organized adoption of comfort women was a bad solution, objectively. Did it halt the spread of disease? No, Shirota Suzuko had gonorrhea right before she was sold to the comfort station, meaning that any examinations held by medical personnel before and after she was sold did not care or notice that she had a sexual disease. Did it significantly curb rape and assault in the conquered territories that the Imperial Japanese held? No, WAM has many testimonies stating otherwise throughout all of the territories conquered, and the Rape of Nanjing serves as the strongest example against that argument.

Furthermore, the issue of comfort women was an ethical violation to the lives of women in the stations and out – if it did not put them under the complete domination of any man that believes it is his right to have his needs fulfilled onto them, then it normalized the practice that allowed women to become trapped in those circumstances. The Imperial Japanese decision to normalize the practice was what led to it being adopted and systemic in the first place, it allowed rape to spiral beyond the actions of a select number of certain immoral soldiers.

The government of contemporary Japan believes that the issue of comfort women is “resolved finally and irreversibly” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website, Japan’s Efforts on the Issue of Comfort Women) with the Republic of Korea in 2015. It was from this agreement with the Koreans that the government of Japan began to view comfort women as an international issue to be closed and not worth any further recognition. This article has no further commentary on the specific position of the Japanese government today, other than the argument that no issue, no matter how significant or miniscule can ever be truly “resolved finally and irreversibly”. The states themselves may have legally created agreements amongst themselves, but it is the people who determine whether or not a specific issue is worth raising again.