Donations are essential to keep Write Out Loud going    

Brutal Not Comfort

entry picture

Brutal Not Comfort

The soldiers of Nippon descended upon Asia in a vast horde of death.                               

Fighting anyone who dared oppose them, killing their enemies without mercy. Destroying everything from isolated houses to entire cities.                                        

Decades of looking inwards bred an evil military dictatorship.                                          

Only two atom bombs changed that.                                                                                       

But a story remains untold.                                                                                               

Hidden by silence and silenced by death.                                                                      

Imperial Japanese Army soldiers didn't just fight and kill, they raped as-well.                  '

Comfort Women' stolen from Asia.                                                                                

'Liberated' from Korea, the Philippines, China and elsewhere.                                              

Sex slaves shown no mercy by their unfeeling enemy.                                             

Sexual violence of the worst kind.                                                                                

Hundreds of thousands of women were raped, beaten, abused, tortured, made infertile and murdered at 'comfort stations.'                                                                                  

The Emperor's soldiers taking fully liberty with no reluctance.                                             

Nearly seventy years after Japanese unconditional surrender, no apology has been given.                                                                                                                           

Opposite the Japanese embassy in Seoul stands a statue.                                                                                  

Not of a soldier or tank but of a woman.                                                                           

People dress her whatever the weather and demonstrate there for an apology.                  

She is a reminder and a memorial to women affected by the rape of war.                            

In the private recesses of their minds, what do the Japanese diplomats feel?            

Tension remains at the highest level, almost outliving that lost generation.                        

In South Korea only a few still live.                                                                                         

Tell this story to students of history.                                                                                                     

Put it next to the Holocaust and area bombing raids so this never happens again.

ww2comfort womenimperial japanhistorykidnappedslaves

◄ A BREAK IN THE OLD ROUTINE

CELEBRATING HARVEST TIME ►

Comments

Profile image

M.C. Newberry

Sun 26th Jan 2014 16:12

Lord Russell of Liverpool wrote two books about
WW2 warcrimes that have taken their place under
the term "essential reading" - lest we forget.
One was "The Scourge of the Swastika" and the
other - "The Knights of Bushido".
The horrors perpetrated by the Japanese -
especially in their assault on China (the "rape
of Nanking" for example) are set out in plain
unadorned prose and have stayed with me since
reading both books as a young man. Like the
Nazis they took photographs of their atrocities...
bayoneting bound victims, burying folk alive..
their brutality was unspeakable and inexcusable. The mindset that allowed this may have been a
product of their idiotic belief in a divine
emperor who was in fact the pawn of a brutish
ambitious military wielding the real power...
but their unwillingness to face their behaviour
since those days disgraces them still.
They would rather forget while expecting others
to forgive.

If you wish to post a comment you must login.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Find out more Hide this message