LEARN MORE
Find out more about the comfort women, their history, and their legacy from the resources below. This is a list of English language books, videos, articles, and movies that I found to be extremely valuable in the research phase of my project. At the bottom is a list of organizations that promote awareness of the comfort women and seek justice for them. You can contact me for information on Chinese language resources.
History and resource list from Comfort Women Justice Coalition
My band’s educational workshop companion to the song cycle
ARTICLES
Wikipedia Article, overview
Vox article, 2015, Life as a "comfort woman": Survivors remember a WWII atrocity that was ignored for decades
Financial Times article, 2015
Jan Ruff O’Herne, one of the most outspoken English-speaking survivors and activists
The Forgotten Ones, 2001 transcript of interview with Jan Ruff O’Herne and her daughters, Carol Ruff and Eileen Mitton
VIDEOS
Archival Footage from US National Archives, filmed in 1944, 18-second motion picture. This is the only video footage known to exist of the women. Taken by a US soldier in Yunnan. The girls in the video are Korean.
The Australian Story news segment, 2007, story on Jan Ruff O’Herne
BOOKS
Chinese Comfort Women: Testimonies from Imperial Japan’s Sex Slaves (Contemporary Chinese Studies) 2016, PeiPei Qiu with Su Zhiliang and Chen LiFei. Contains translated interviews from Chinese survivors.
The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War 1997, George Hicks
FILMS
Fifty Years of Silence, Documentary Film, 1994, English - about Jan Ruff O’Herne
The Apology, Documentary Film, 2016, English with subtitles - about three survivor’s lives
Twenty-Two, Documentary Film, 2015, Chinese with subtitles - about the 22 remaining Chinese survivors (at the time of filming; many have passed since then).
Short film “Thirty-Two” was made prior to this.
Spirits Homecoming, 2016, Korean - Reuters - tops box office - historical fiction about two Korean friends
MUSEUMS
e-Museum of the Victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery
House of Sharing - South Korea (shelter for halmoni and museum)
This museum below was the starting point of my fieldwork, and I spoke with Su Zhiliang at length in Shanghai and shortly thereafter in NYC about the museum, the women, and ongoing efforts in outreach, support, justice, and educational. This is the leading research center in the world on this topic.
Comfort Women Issue Research Center at Shanghai Normal University (China) run by Su Zhiliang
other articles about this museum: China Daily, Justice for Comfort Women
REGIONAL NY ORGANIZATIONS
Womankind (New York Asian Women’s Center)
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Comfort Women Justice Coalition (SF) (http://remembercomfortwomen.org)
CARE Comfort Women Action for Redress and Education (CA) (https://comfortwomenaction.org/)
Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues (http://comfort-women.org)
Yale - STAND with Comfort Women - they have a great resource list you can access here
The Apology Campaign (Women’s Human Rights Education Institute)
The Asian Women's Fund Dignity Project
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Sexual Slavery by Japan
Amnesty International Australia’s Justice for “Comfort Women” Campaign
Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation
ARTISTIC WORKS/MEDIA
Chang-Jin Lee - photographer/artist 'Comfort Women Wanted' visual exhibit shown in NYC, Taipei, etc.
Ahn Sehong - photojournalist - Photos of 'Comfort Women' in China - The New York Times, JuJu Project - interactive map and visual history of survivors
Comfort Women Wanted - Musical - Dimo Kim - ensemble musical Off-Broadway NY