Photos of Comfort Women
I kept this photo above my desk
as I wrote DAUGHTERS OF
THE DRAGON. It's of a young
comfort woman liberated in
southern China.
Comfort Station 1943.
These stations were run by
the Kempei -tai, the
Japanese Army military
police. Estimates vary but
it's thought the Japanese
had up to a thousand of
these stations during WWII.
Another photograph of comfort
women liberated in south China. At
right is the same young woman as
in the top photo. These girls were
as young as thirteen when they
were taken from their homes.
Japanese soldiers lining up for
the services of comfort women.
They believed they needed to
purge themselves so if they
died in battle, they could enter
the afterlife pure.
This photograph breaks my
heart. It's of a former comfort
woman telling her story in
2009. Most comfort women
were too ashamed to admit
they were used in this way,
even though the vast majority
were forced into it.