Unresolved Comfort Women Issue

Abstract

Even though 2015 marked the 70 th anniversary of the end of World War II, legacies about the sufferings of so-called comfort women (sexual slaves) continue to remain contested and unresolved in Japan. It is the purpose of the article to examine what kinds of reference points may shape prospects of reconciliation. Though scholarship keeps focusing on apologies and compensation issues, the prerequisites for reconciliation have seldom been dealt with. The article contends that a precondition for reconciliation is the existence of a common set of basic values and principles. How can one reconcile if evil is not recognized as evil? How can one be affected by reconciliation unless one actually meets survivors? By analyzing Japanese government sources, interviews and statements, the article shows how the change of narratives from universal and principled to pragmatic has undermined both state to state and bottom-up prospects for true and enduring reconciliation between Japan and countries affected by military sexual slavery. The comfort women issue has become an issue where history has become deeply intertwined with gender, whereby gender is used to obstruct and obscure history.