The Best of Times the Worst of Times

Comfort women were women and girls forced into a prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan. 1 The figure of speech sympathizer women is a translation of a Japanese name ianfu ( ). 23 Ianfu is a euphemism for shofu ( ) whose meaning is prostitute(s). 4 The earliest reporting on the issue in siemens Korea stated it was not a voluntary force,5 and since 1989 a number of women have come forward testifying they were kidnapped by Imperial Japanese soldiers. Historians such as downwind Yeong-Hun6 and Ikuhiko Hata stated the recruitment of comfort women was voluntary. 7 Other historians, using the testimony of ex-comfort women and surviving Japanese soldiers have argued the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were each instantaneously or indirectly involved in coercing, deceiving, luring, and sometimes kidnapping four-year-old women throughout Japans occupied territories. 8 Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as first base as 20,000 from s ome Japanese scholars9 to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese scholars,10 but the exact numbers are still cosmos researched and debated.A volume of the women were from Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines,11 although women from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Japanese-occupied territories were used for military comfort stations. Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, and French Indochina. 12 According to testimony, young women from countries at a lower place Japanese Imperial control were abducted from their homes.In many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants. Once recruited, the women were incarcerated in comfort stations in unconnected lands. 13 A Dutch government study described how the Japanese military itself recruited women by force in the Dutch East Indies. 14 It revealed that a total of ccc Dutch women had been coer ced into Japanese military sex slavery15The Best of Times the Worst of TimesComfort women were women and girls forced into a prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan. 1 The name comfort women is a translation of a Japanese name ianfu ( ). 23 Ianfu is a euphemism for shofu ( ) whose meaning is prostitute(s). 4 The earliest reporting on the issue in South Korea stated it was not a voluntary force,5 and since 1989 a number of women have come forward testifying they were kidnapped by Imperial Japanese soldiers. Historians such as Lee Yeong-Hun6 and Ikuhiko Hata stated the recruitment of comfort women was voluntary. 7 Other historians, using the testimony of ex-comfort women and surviving Japanese soldiers have argued the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were either directly or indirectly involved in coercing, deceiving, luring, and sometimes kidnapping young women throughout Japans occupied territories. 8 Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging fr om as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars9 to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese scholars,10 but the exact numbers are still being researched and debated.A majority of the women were from Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines,11 although women from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Japanese-occupied territories were used for military comfort stations. Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, and French Indochina. 12 According to testimony, young women from countries under Japanese Imperial control were abducted from their homes.In many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants. Once recruited, the women were incarcerated in comfort stations in foreign lands. 13 A Dutch government study described how the Japanese military itself recruited women by force in the Dutch East Indies. 14 It revealed that a total of 300 Dutch women had b een coerced into Japanese military sex slavery15