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To those forced to become comfort women, the Asian Women’s Fund has provided atonement money donated by Japanese citizens and medical and welfare support financed by the government of Japan, together with a letter of apology from the Japanese Prime Minister. Here are some of the reactions of the recipients of these atonement projects, and a few of the comments they forwarded to the Japanese people.
Home renovations to improve living conditions
Ms. M was forced to become a comfort woman when she was 14. She is now 72. She never married, and lives with her niece’s family. Ms. M used money she received from the AWF to have the house attic renovated into a room for herself. Whenever someone comes to visit, she tells them how happy she is that, for the first time ever, after more than 70 years, she finally has a place to call her own.
Ms. B, 76, was compelled to become a comfort woman when she was 18. She lost her eyesight in 1975, and now lives with her children. But she still looks after the laundry, washes dishes, and does other light housework. She loves listening to music, and used the atonement money to have a sound-system installed, with speakers throughout the house. Now she can enjoy music wherever she is in the home.
Prime Minister’s letter evokes tears of forgiveness and closure
When the Asian Women’s Fund arranged a gathering to deliver the Prime Minister’s letter of apology and other items, Ms. R went there with her husband. She said not a word and remained with her head down, crying. Her husband composed a song on the spot, to express his feelings at that moment. After he sang it, a Fund representative asked what the words meant. He replied, “They mean, ‘I’ll never forget the kindness the Japanese people have shown my wife. When I pray, I’ll be sure to pray also for their happiness.’”
As soon as another woman, Ms. S, returned to her room from the gathering, she read the Prime Minister’s letter of apology again, this time slowly. Turning to a fellow victim, a friend of many years, she smiled and said, “The letter asks for our forgiveness. I forgive.”
At the gathering, Ms. L met Bunbei Hara, who was the President of the Asian Women’s Fund at the time. She expressed her thanks shyly, but without hesitation. On the way home she said, “Actually, I wanted the Emperor of Japan to apologize, but I met with the third most important person in Japan and got his apology. So I feel better now.” (The late Mr. Hara had served as a President of the House of Councilors, the upper house of the Japanese Diet [parliament].)
At first, Ms. K did not look at any of the Japanese people at the gathering. She refused to touch the food at the reception, and just sat with a frozen expression on her face. But when the Prime Minister’s letter of apology was read aloud to everyone present, she suddenly shouted out, “I wanted to marry and have children, but I never could!” She burst into tears, sounding very bitter. One of the AWF’s Directors rushed over to her and put an arm around the shoulders. They both cried for a while, and then Ms. K calmed down so much that she seemed like another person. She joined in the conversation, and laughed at pleasantries. She looked at the Prime Minister’s signature at the end of his letter, then passed her finger over the letters of his name, whispering out the spelling: “H, A, S, H, I, M, O, T, O.” Then she said, “When you get back to Japan, please tell this man I thank him.”
“Accepting AWF project benefits and continuing with the lawsuit – I don’t see a contradiction.”
The late Maria Rosa L. Henson of the Philippines was the first woman to accept benefits from the Asian Women’s Fund. She explained her feelings regarding that decision: “I listened to an explanation of the AWF’s projects, given by Ms. Arima, the Vice-President of the Asian Women’s Fund at the time. Right away, I said to myself that I would accept them. That’s why, in April 1996, I stated publicly that I would accept them under my own volition. Many other former comfort women and Japanese people in support groups criticized me, saying that I would never regain my human dignity without compensation from Japan itself. Even today, some people look at me with scorn. And the fact will always remain that I was raped. But I’m old now, and sick, and I have a large family and we are poor. There’s no contradiction in accepting benefits from the AWF and continuing with the lawsuit, and there’s nothing stopping me from doing both.”
Letters from the Netherlands
When medical and welfare support projects financed by the Japanese government were being implemented in the Netherlands, the Project Implementation Committee in the Netherlands (PICN) received letters from victims. The following comments from a few of those letters convey some of the feelings the victims have now:
“Thank you for what you have done for me. It has brought me closure, more than I can express. I’m also grateful for Prime Minister Hashimoto’s apology.”
“Prime Minister Hashimoto’s letter finally acknowledges a wrong, and I am very satisfied about that. I am trembling with emotion. Thank you for what you have done for me.”
“It was nice to receive financial compensation, but also important is the fact that the ordeal I had to bear when I was 15 was all finally acknowledged. I’ve had to bear the trauma ever since, and it will always remain, but it has been relieved somewhat.”
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