Japanese comfort women: Victim of Patriotism and Human Trafficking

Many accept the revisionist claim, that Japanese “comfort women” were licensed prostitutes and not sex slaves. Japanese military administered the comfort stations and gave orders to recruit women. These comfort stations, then, were not like brothels in the system of licensed prostitution: these “comfort women,” then, were not like those engaged in legalized prostitution. There were instances where brokers recruited “licensed prostitutes” and those working in prostitution, following military directives. Historical records exist of those “recruited” in this manner amongst the Japanese “comfort women.” Revisionists use this fact, of the Japanese “comfort women,” and expand application to all “comfort women.” Furthermore, some disavow the fact that the military ordered the recruitment of “comfort women.”

Japanese women who worked in prostitution, before recruitment, should be included as victimized by the “comfort woman” system. It is critical to recognize them as also victims of human trafficking and subjects of sexual slavery. In pre-World War II Japan, human trafficking though illegal was widely practiced. Some Japanese prostitutes who were unable to leave their situation, saddled with huge debts, became “comfort women” in the hopes of paying off the debts. Others were sold to recruiters by brokers, irrespective of the women’s will, and told, “It was for the good of the nation.” I explore the practice of human trafficking under the licensed prostitution system, and examining cases of Japanese “comfort women,” I argue that human trafficking is connected to the “comfort woman” system.