 |
Women made to become comfort women - Taiwan |
|
 
|
In the Japanese colony of Taiwan during World War II, many men were conscripted as either soldiers for the Japanese army or civilian laborers for the military. At the same time, women were summoned by the military or police to work in places like hospitals, kitchens and factories. In those days, if Taiwanese people disobeyed the Japanese military and police, they would be putting their lives at grave risk. 
The women were either sent overseas, to Hainan, the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Burma and other places, or sent somewhere in Taiwan, to facilities attached to military ports or munitions factories. Many of them were forced to work as comfort women. In a number of cases, women were victimized while their husbands or fiancés were away, conscripted into the army. Almost none of these victims could tell their husbands what had happened after the men returned from the front. They were burdened by the secret for decades.
|
Native-Taiwanese volunteer soldiers,their wives and Japanese policemen who lead them; courtesy of Michihiko Yanagimoto |
|
|
|
A case of a Native Taiwanese
At that time, my fiancée had been drafted by the Japanese military and sent to the south. I was helping my father's business at home. One day, the Japanese police called and told me to come because they had a job for me. They said that I would be preparing meals and mending torn clothes for the soldiers. I did not want to go, but the police said that all men and women must come because the country was at war then and that everybody must follow the General National Mobilization Law. So I went to work. I saw many Japanese soldiers. There were some other women like me, too. We got up in the morning, washed our faces and cooked breakfast to feed the soldiers. We washed their clothes and mended torn clothes. Then, at night, we were called and confined to a room.--it was a terrible job.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Japanese Military and Comfort Women >Women made to become comfort women - Taiwan