Comfort Woman : a Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery Under ...

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Introduction
close tabs on the women to ensure that there were no spies among
them. For this purpose, the physical freedom of the “comfort women”
was severely restricted.
To operate the brothels, large numbers of women were mobilized
and exploited by the Japanese during the Asia–Pacifi c War. It is impossible
to know exactly how many women were involved. However,
it is estimated to be about a hundred thousand, 80 percent of whom
are believed to have been Koreans. Many women from Taiwan, China,
the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaya were also pressed into sexual
slavery. Korean and Taiwanese women were particularly targeted.
Given that these countries were Japanese colonies, the political and
economic environment made it easier for the authorities to recruit.
Many Japanese and Korean labor brokers, with support from the kempeitai
and the civil police force in those countries, sought out suitable
women. From various testimonies, including those of former Korean
“comfort women,” there is no doubt that many of these labor brokers
used dubious methods, such as deception, intimidation, violence, and
even kidnapping.
In this way, the Japanese Imperial Forces exploited large numbers
of Asian women under the pretext of preventing rape and VD. It must
be noted, however, that the provision of “comfort women” was not
an effective measure for resolving either problem. This is particularly
so in the case of random sexual violence against civilians in occupied
territories. It should not be forgotten, also, that despite offi cial justifi
cations for the program the estimated hundred thousand women
involved in the “comfort women” system were themselves victims of
sexual violence and sexual slavery.
FILIPINA VICTIMS OF THE “COMFORT WOMEN” SYSTEM
Several offi cial documents that refer to comfort stations in the Philippines
have been found in archives in Japan and the United States.
According to one of
these documents, in Manila alone, in early 1943, there were seventeen