Young assault victim using 'comfort women' experience to drive change
(Mainichi Japan)
SEOUL (Kyodo) -- A damaging personal experience with sexual assault has led one young Japanese woman to examine her country's past, and now she is combining her own hurt with what she learns about the experiences of "comfort women" to create a catalyst for change.
Kaori Miyake still suffers from the horror of being repeatedly sexually assaulted by a male teacher when she was a teenager.
Now a 22-year-old college student, Miyake was shocked when she read the testimonials in a class at her private Tokyo school of former "comfort women" from the Korean Peninsula forced into Japanese wartime military brothels.
The stories drove her to learn more, so she decided to join a five-day Japanese university student tour to Seoul to educate herself on the comfort women issue, from the victims' perspective.
"I found the same heartache and outcry there that I feel myself," Miyake, who declined to give her real name, told Kyodo News in a recent interview.
Now, with the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault gaining momentum, she has pledged to do what she can to bring about a world in which women no longer suffer sexual violence.
Though the comfort women issue has been a longstanding point of emotional and political friction between Japan and Korea, Miyake says what hurts more than anything is watching the situation deteriorate as the number of remaining survivors diminishes.
"It is only viewed as a 'thorn' in the side of politics, and not seen as a human rights issue," Miyake said.
By participating in the tour, Miyake said she wanted to learn what elderly victims hope to achieve in their ongoing campaign for redress from the Japanese government.
Around 20 women and men between the ages of 19 and 25 took part in the tour, which was established last June through fundraising conducted by Japanese university professors.
Miyake and the other students were able to meet with Gil Won Ok, 89, a former comfort woman who was forced at the age of 13 into sexual slavery in a military brothel in China.
Gil was among many of the former comfort women who broke their silence in the 1990s and demanded a formal apology and compensation from the Japanese government.
While demanding a resolution, Gil has played a leading role in supporting women around the world who are also victims of wartime sexual violence.
"I tried my best but I wasn't able to bring about a world without sexual violence. I want you all to achieve a good world and live life to the fullest," Gil said while clasping Miyake's hand.
In a panel discussion with Korean university students, Miyake said, "There is a tendency in Japanese society not to resolutely confront sexual violence."
She also gave the example of the courage needed by women who are sexually assaulted to come forward, referencing journalist Shiori Ito, who accused television journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi of raping her while she was unconscious, only to be labeled "a liar."
"I feel like the atmosphere in society in which sexual victims are forced into silence overlaps with the attitude toward the comfort women issue," Miyake said.
In South Korea, the #MeToo movement has seen the ruin of a number of influential politicians, much like the powerful men in Japan seeing similar ramifications for their actions. Even so, there is still a severe backlash toward women who fight against sexual violence in Korean society.
"We have to keep raising our voices to be heard," said a 25-year-old South Korean female university student who campaigns to raise public awareness about the comfort women issue.
"What sexual victims hope for is that the same incident doesn't happen to someone else," said Miyake. "When a perpetrator shows remorse and indicates that he is willing to strive to stop such acts from reoccurring, the victim feels relieved. Isn't that where the real resolution to the comfort women issue lies?"
Based on her own experience, Miyake intends to study how to create a society that can prevent sexual violence against women -- not only in warzones, but at home, too.
"I want to stand by victims and become a person who confronts sexual violence head-on," Miyake said.
