p1605 -
"Dialogue for Peace with the Grandmas": An online educational project with the former "comfort women" in the Philippines
Michiko Fukuda
This paper introduces an online educational project “Dialogue for peace with the grandmas”, which is about the “comfort women” issue targeting Japanese university students.
The “comfort women” system was an organized sexual crime against women in Asia Pacific region committed by the Japanese Military during WWII.
The former “comfort women” and their supporters have been demanding an official apology, legal compensation from the Japanese government, and the inclusion of the issue in school textbooks. However, discourses to deny/distort the fact about the issue are still rampant in Japan. The young generation in Japan has very limited sources in learning the issue.
The project launched by the presenter and a Filipino “comfort women” survivors’ organization Lila Pilipina is a new approach to reach Japanese youth. Besides, it can reduce physical and financial burden of the survivors compared to traveling to Japan.
During a session, a classroom in Japan is connected to Lila Pilipina office in Manila through Skype for live testimony sharing by a survivor and Q & A session.
The post-class questionnaires (2015) show that the students came to have sympathy, sense of respect towards the survivors, and sense of ownership of the issue. And they began to understand the relation between militarism and objectification of women, and continuity of this structure.
Aside from introducing the impact of this project, the challenges and the future prospect will be discussed.