In ordinary comfort stations soldiers were paying a certain sum of money directly or indirectly. The sum of money was usually divided into halves between proprietor and comfort women. But it was not clear whether the sum of money was handed to women surely.


Holiday came once in a month, and rarely two days weregiven. There were comfort stations working without holidays. Going out of comfort stations was possible only with permission of the military.

The records of a prisoner-of-war interrogation conducted by the US military include the claim that, at a comfort station run by a Korean manager in Myitkyina, Burma, the women were free to go on outings, participated in sports, and had picnics, giving the impression that the comfort woman had an elegant lifestyle. However, we might take into account the fact that these were testimonies before the US military interrogators.

As the war situation deteriorated for Japan, life at the comfort stations generally became even more miserable.

The women were forced to follow the military time after time, and had no freedom whatsoever. When the Japanese military began retreating from one place to another in Southeast Asia, the women were either abandoned or destined to share their fate with defeated military. Some perished and others narrowly escaped to be protected by the United forces.