Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of women has long been a contentious issue between
Seoul and Tokyo.
Fuelling anger on the Korean side is the Japanese government's attitude,... that there's nothing
more to discuss.
So... we thought we'd hear from people in Japan who beg to differ with their government's
stance.
Oh Soo-young files this report from Tokyo.
Marking the decades-long cries for recognition, reparation and healing,... the Statue of Peace
outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul represents the women and girls forced into sexual slavery
by Japan in the early 20th century.
The statue has inspired similar models around the world,... but its meaning is lost on many
Japanese.
"I haven't learned much about it, but I've heard about it on TV."
"I remember hearing about it briefly at high school.
But they don't teach it these days.
I think that's wrong."
"It's not in the curriculum.
I haven't been taught about it.
I think we need to learn more about history to move past conflict."
"It seems most of the Japanese public aren't aware of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement
of women.
Here in Tokyo, there are a number of people working to change that."
Tucked away in a room at a small publishing house in Tokyo.. a young girl waits to see
daylight.
Yuka Okamoto, a writer and publisher, was entrusted with a duplicate of the statue of
peace,... by the sculptors of the original.
"It's been two years, but we haven't found a place for her.
We're worried the conservatives will clamp down on us."
Moved by a victim's testimony in 1991,... Okamoto joined local efforts to raise awareness
of the sexual slavery issue in Japan.
"Because the issue has been erased from most school textbooks-- young people don't know
about it.
And the Japanese media pumps out biased reports that stir up distrust and the misconception
that the statue is anti-Japanese."
She digs for historical evidence and resources and publishes the findings through printed
and online contents.
By building a better understanding among the Japanese public, she hopes some day the girl
in her backroom can sit in the sun.
"The offender has no right to tell the victims to remove the statue.
If anything, Japan is more in need of it, so it never forgets the past."
Preserving memories before they are forgotten,...
A museum in Tokyo,... holds records from nine countries where women were forced into so-called
'comfort stations'.
"Tokyo denies evidence that women were forced into sex slavery, claiming the issue was settled
with the countries.
So we collect official documents, journal entries and personal testaments for our database
available for anyone to access."
Under pressure and even threats from right-wing groups,... the activists here believe that,
as Japanese citizens, it's their duty to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
"It's a human rights issue-- a case of gender-based violence-- which applies today in warzones
all over the world.
We must not forget the terrible acts of our ancestors to warn the world against it."
However, they are in a race against time to collect more evidence and testimonies,...
as many victims and witnesses have already passed away,... and the traces of the events
continue to be erased from Japan's history textbooks.
Yang Jing-ja, a Korean-Japanese translator,... sometimes wonders if she's fighting a losing
battle.
For more than 20 years,... she's led a civic group that calls for Tokyo to fully acknowledge
its past atrocities.
This is a military journal.
It says, "wherever the Japanese soldiers conquer, they rape the women again and again.
So they need to set up a sexual 'comfort' station as soon as possible."
That's what it says here.
Along with other evidence,... Yang turned the records over to Japanese authorities in
2014.
Did you get a response?
A year later, they gave it back.
They just said, "We return your documents."
What keeps Yang going,... is the enduring spirit of the Korean victims.
"When granny Song Shin-do, a victim, lost her 10-year-long court case against the Japanese
authorities, our team wept and wept.
But do you know what she said?
She said 'I'm okay.
My heart is still unbroken.'
The Japanese government may be unmoved.
But we have seen the victims come out of their shells and transform over the years.
And that changed us.
Seeing their humanity and goodness despite everything.
We must pass their message to the next generation."
Mirei Yamagata, an actress and dancer in her thirties,... speaks to her generation.
She first encountered the sex slavery issue, when she was cast to play a Korean victim
in the early days of her career.
"I wondered how to get into that mentality of woman who underwent that terrible experience
but also I felt a strong responsibility as a Japanese woman to play the role of a Korean
comfort woman."
Years later, after visiting a residence for the victims in Korea,... she was inspired
to create her own solo piece, which she performed in Japan and Taiwan.
"The moment they were put in these comfort stations, their lives could not go back to
normal.
I wanted to make the piece a requiem for them, to soothe their souls, give them a place where
they could live the life they couldn't have."
Beyond political and cultural differences,... Yamagata hopes to inspire humanity.
"We need to look at this issue as a big mistake by mankind.
I think it's very important that at least in schools, people get taught more about it.
To understand the psychology or the situation of why these events occured and what's going
to prevent that from happening again."
Settling the past does not mean to forget and apologies mean nothing without an admission
of wrongdoing.
It's by no means a political agenda.
It's a human issue that weighs heavy on the conscience of those who choose to ignore it.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News, Tokyo.
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