Words Unheard

A Critical Analysis of Discussions about Japanese“ Comfort Women”

Abstract

  This paper reconsiders the relationship between discussions on feminism concerning the “comfort women issue” and nationalism. For this purpose, a critical analysis is intended to examine approaches taken by previous studies on Japanese “comfort women.” Focusing on the victimhood of Japanese women, this paper attempts to reexamine the problem of the discursive forms which tend to portray the issue within a nationalistic framework of “Japanese the aggressor” and “Korean the victimized.”

  Since the 1970s, when some writers attempted to unravel the truth about the “comfort woman” system, it has been sometimes pointed out that the Japanese “comfort women” “devoted themselves to their nation” by giving consent to become “comfort women.” Since the issue became a social problem in the 1990s, Japanese survivors are often regarded as “remaining silent.” However, a close reading of historical documents reveals that there have in fact been some Japanese women who had voiced bitterly about their victimized pasts, and there is even a case in which one survivor demanded compensation.

  Taking this into considering, this paper sheds light on the victimhood of the Japanese “comfort women” and reveals that the nation itself has trivialized state violence by overlooking the sufferings of the Japanese “comfort women.” Discrimination against women, prostitutes, and the under-class and an accompanying deep-rooted nationalism propel many to dismiss the fact that a certain number of Japanese women were forced to become “comfort women.” While critically identifying this mindset, this paper suggests certain possibilities for shaping the discussion about “comfort women” in such a way as to imagine the pain inflicted upon the survivors not only in Japan, a subject which can never be adequately discussed in the context of nationalism.