The opening was attended by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou who emphasized that the
activities were not "anti-Japanese." However, he noted, "the United Nations
earlier declared this war crime behavior and Japan bears blame.
"Sixty years after the end of the war," Ma said, "Japan has continued to avoid
their responsibility. Taiwan's comfort women have still not received an
official admission of guilt or compensation."
The plight of Taiwan's Imperial Army sex slaves came to light in 1992. Since
then, TWRF has recorded 68 local cases in which local women were abducted and
forced into sexual servitude for Japanese Imperial troops.
Along with comfort women from other countries including Korea, Indonesia, China
and Holland, they have sought compensation from the central government of
Japan, even taking the battle through Japan's court system.
In February of this year, however, Japan's highest court upheld a lower court's
ruling that they could not make demands for reparations from Japan since they
were not a sovereign nation.
The women, now mostly in their 80's, have continued to fight. Some have
petitioned the United Nations for action and others have worked to tell the
world their story.
Lu Mang-mei, a 79-year-old survivor, was 17 when she accepted an offer from to
be waitress at a restaurant on Hainan Island. After she arrived she discovered
that she had been deceived. The shop was actually a brothel for soldiers, but
became her home for the next year. There she serviced more than 20 military men
every night, she says.
On Monday, the official 60th anniversary of the end of the war, the victims
will protest outside the Japan Interchange Association office in Taipei,
Japan's de facto embassy.
Lu wants compensation and an apology. Asked which one is more important she
says "both are equally necessary." With neither coming in the near future, she
is simply spreading the world about what happened to her.
Noting the controversy over the textbooks used in Japan schools, Lu said that
she wants the current generation to know what happened.
"Do you know what your great grandfather did?" she asks a hypothetical Japanese
youth. "They don't because their textbooks don't tell them."
A spokesperson for the Japan Interchange Association said that, although they
were aware of the activities, they had no comment.
"I've heard that they are planning a rally, but we have no official response at
this time," he said. "I don't know of any particular plan to meet with them."
Around Asia, former comfort women are using the anniversary to demand an
apologize and compensation, including around 200 at the Diet Building in Tokyo
yesterday.
