Comfort Women Comforting Themselves…
I was blogroll diving and stumbeled across an entry on Chinese Chic a wonderfful blog from Down Under written by a talented and insightful Chinese-Malaysian law student.
I wept in awe and admiration for the courageous healing ritual described in Ms Peng’s post:
Taiwanese women forced into prostitution by Japan’s military more than six decades ago put on wedding gowns Tuesday to celebrate the nuptials they never had.
The women are part of a shrinking group of “comfort women” — forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military — in several parts of Asia during World War II.
After Japan ended its 50-year occupation of Taiwan in 1945, many of the women were rejected as “damaged goods” by their relatives and never found a spouse, said the Women’s Rescue Foundation, the rights group which organized Tuesday’s event.
Six women — ranging in age from 82 to 90 — came together in Taipei to put on white wedding dresses, hold bouquets and have their pictures taken.
“People of our age didn’t dare dream of having a wedding, but now the day has come, and I like it a lot,” said Wu Hsiu-mei, the oldest member of the group.
Taiwan has 28 of the women left, with an average age of 84….”
Posted 31 May, 2007 in Top Blogs, 中国, Human Rights, 中文, In the news, Photos, Japan, War, Intercultural Issues, Asian Humor
3 comments to “Comfort Women Comforting Themselves…”
Squirrel, May 31st, 2007 at 7:03 pm:
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I heard about those women and what had happened to them but hadn’t heard about this! Thanks for sharing.
Dawei, June 1st, 2007 at 11:21 am:
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What a really powerful healing ritual for those people…perhaps one sad part is that only a handful of these women lived long enough to participate in this.
Grace, June 1st, 2007 at 2:27 pm:
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Oh, this made me cry too. How wonderful.