Kimko Kaneda Essay
Kimiko Kaneda was born in October 1921 to her Korean father and Japanese mother. When she was 16 years old, Kimiko traveled to Seoul in search of better work opportunities as a housemaid for a Japanese family. At the beginning of the war, she was put on a train to Zaoqiang, China and was forced to become a comfort woman for the Japanese military. Throughout her time, she was forced to sleep with up to 20 men per day. If she did not comply with the demands of the soldiers, she was threatened and forced into submission. Kimiko recalled, “the soldier was drunk. He waved a knife at me and threatened to kill me if I didn’t do what he said.” Young girls were kidnapped from schools and forced to work in the comfort stations alongside Kimiko. Their
…show more content…
Interviews with 76 Korean victims by members of the Korean Council and the Research Association revealed that comfort women were confined to small and filthy shanties and were forced to have sex with soldiers up to 30 times a day. One woman recalled that the women were not allowed to leave their stalls except to take their weekly baths, scheduled trips to the outside at or to visit the camp doctor. She spoke, “If they needed to relieve themselves when it was not their turn to go outside, they could use their special pots.” The comfort station in Xihe, China allowed the women out for daily walks from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, however, they were only allowed in an area that was half the size of one city block. If a women refused to comply to the wants of the soldiers, they were often forcibly raped, beaten, burned, or stabbed. Following the end of the war, the Japanese soldiers abandoned the comfort women, leaving them at the stations as they returned to their homelands. Many women either died at the stations or were to humiliated to return home. Those that did go home often felt ostracized for their involvement in the system and lived with diseases and depression until their death. Ultimately, the particularly harsh treatment of comfort women has caused controversies, especially since an overwhelming majority of these women came from Japanese
Interviews with 76 Korean victims by members of the Korean Council and the Research Association revealed that comfort women were confined to small and filthy shanties and were forced to have sex with soldiers up to 30 times a day. One woman recalled that the women were not allowed to leave their stalls except to take their weekly baths, scheduled trips to the outside at or to visit the camp doctor. She spoke, “If they needed to relieve themselves when it was not their turn to go outside, they could use their special pots.” The comfort station in Xihe, China allowed the women out for daily walks from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, however, they were only allowed in an area that was half the size of one city block. If a women refused to comply to the wants of the soldiers, they were often forcibly raped, beaten, burned, or stabbed. Following the end of the war, the Japanese soldiers abandoned the comfort women, leaving them at the stations as they returned to their homelands. Many women either died at the stations or were to humiliated to return home. Those that did go home often felt ostracized for their involvement in the system and lived with diseases and depression until their death. Ultimately, the particularly harsh treatment of comfort women has caused controversies, especially since an overwhelming majority of these women came from Japanese