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Manchurian Incident
Private Agents opened the first brothels in Manchuria, but the military did not really use them. The prostitutes were Chinese women who were volunteering and chose this job themselves. -
Shanghai Incident
The war with China spread to Shanghai after the First Shanghai Incident. Because of this, the first actual comfort station was built for a Japanese naval brigade there. -
Rape of Nanking / Start of the Sino-Japanese War
The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, brought great destruction. Not only were 200-300 thousand people killed, but 20-80 thousand women were also raped (this occurred in private or public places). The number of brothels greatly increased as Emperor Hirohito established more of them for reasons stated in the essay. The brothels started gaining attention as the Vice Chief of Staff of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, Okamura Yasuji, promoted the stations to the rest of the army. -
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World War II (continued)
The women were detained in walled camps near the military barracks and were often moved to different regions with the soldiers, far from their homelands. In the brothels, they were constantly raped, abused, and beat several times a day. Some of the approximately 200,000 victims were stabbed, tortured with electric shocks, or even murdered when resisting. The "slaughterhouses", as described by a survivor, were even busier right before battle. The women ended with pregnancies and different STDs. -
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World War II
As the territory expanded, the military started forcing women and enslaving them. Some would be kidnapped, others would be tricked that they would be providing cleaning services for the soldiers, and others were "traded" to pay off their family relative's debt. Despite being promised that they would be cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, nursing for the Imperial Army, and more, they had to provide sexual services. The victims, mostly from Korea, China, and the Philippines, were severely tortured. -
End of WWII
Once the world war ended, Japan lost its international territories and tried to discard all evidence of the comfort stations by destroying them. Approximately 90% of all victims died during and after the war, due to reasons such as sexually transmitted diseases, abuse, suicide, and executions (after the war). The rest of the survivors were abandoned in foreign land, became societal outcasts, were rejected by their families and communities, suffered from physical and psychological illnesses, etc. -
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International Acknowledgement
For decades, the survivors lived with shame or hiding their past as comfort women. However, in 1981, 234 women decided to speak up about their trauma. This kept going on for the following decade, but Japan still did not admit its wrongdoings. Despite having several international disputes (especially with South Korea), Japanese officials denied such allegations. In 1990, over three dozen women groups established the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. -
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International Acknowledgement (continued)
The council demanded admittance of culpability, an apology, a memorial, financial compensation for victims, that Japanese textbooks include the realities of sexual slavery, etc. This, however, was rejected by Japan. Then, in 1991, a group of survivors filed a class-action lawsuit for compensation for human rights violations. At the same time, historian Yoshimi Yoshiaki discovered and wrote a report on archived documents. This made Japan publicly admit its actions with the Kono Statement in 1993. -
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Compensation
After Japan admitted everything, it has "tried" to pay and compensate for its crimes. Despite denying legal responsibility, it formed the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995 as an attempt to solve its past. However, the fund was shut down in 2007 after Koreans opposed it since it was supported by private citizens and not the government. Then, in 2011, the State of Peace was placed in front of the Korean-Japanese embassy. Despite Japan's weak efforts of reconciling, tension remains with South Korea today.