Reaction Paper On Comfort Women

What is "feminism"? Describe how it has evolved in the United States and include the three phases.

people in the class may be very opinionated when it comes to religion, since religions are typically not very accepting of certain genders having specific roles. However, I am very connected to Judaism so it will be hard to refrain from being defensive concerning religion. I definitely do not agree with many opinions within the Orthodox community, but I think it is important that people understand the reasoning for some of their opinions. For example, many people believe that in the Orthodox community women only stay at home and are seen as inferior to men; in reality, I know many Orthodox women who work, have great jobs, and are seen as equals by their spouses. Although this subject matter may agitate me due to people’s varying opinions, I hope to take it as an opportunity to hear others’ point of views.

The main purpose of this exhibit is to inform the audience as to the injustices committed against Japanese Americans during World War II. The exhibit shows how the U.S. Constitution was ignored for a brief time of national crisis. Another purpose of "A More Perfect Union" is to celebrate the achievements of Japanese Americans. Despite the way they were treated and the conditions they lived in at the time, those living in the relocation centers lived nearly normal lives. They wrote books, painted pictures, attended school, played sports, and so on. Their achievements during wartime are also extensively depicted.

The Fifteen-Year War was a time of great turmoil and uncertainty in Japan. Various facets of the country were tested and driven to their limits. During the occupation, race and gender began to evolve in ways that had not exactly be seen before. War had a tremendous impact on every part of the life of a Japanese citizen. Both men and women began to fill roles that were completely novel to them. Race became a part of the definition of who people were. As the war progressed and American troops landed on Japanese soil for occupation, more drastic changes occurred. Economic hardship and rations befell the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. Prostitution began to rear its ugly head and rape transpired. Through memory, research, and vivid

In her novel When the Emperor Was Divine, author Julie Otsuka presents the long-lasting effects that isolation and alienation have on a person’s self- image and identity. During WWII, Japanese-Americans living in the United States were forced to move to isolated and horrific internment camps. The US government ensured they were separated from the rest of the country. This even included their own families. When the Japanese-Americans were allowed to return home after the war, the result of the isolation they experienced created irreversible damage. They continued to experience alienation, often making it impossible for them to recover emotionally, mentally and financially. Otsuka uses characterization to bring to life the traumas of the war and the effects it had on her characters, the girl, her mother and her father.

During World War II, thousands of POWs experienced isolation and dehumanization in an Japanesethe attemptefforts of the Japanese to make them feel invisible. In Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, American POW and former Olympic runner Louis “Louie” Zamperini rwas just one of the many soldiers who was dehumanized while in Japanese

I stand as an outsider looking into a very complex cultural and economic system. I try to understand the perspective of these women but it is impossible because I have not walked in their shoes. Many are resigned to their fate and I wonder if my reaction would not be the same if I were put in a situation in which there were no other options. These women cannot, for whatever reason, be angry about the humiliation and abuse that they suffer, so I feel an obligation to be angry for them and make their plight known to the world.

“We were sitting on a bus-stop bench in Long Beach when an old, embittered woman stopped and said, why don’t all you dirty Japs go back to Japan! She spit at us and passed on. We said nothing at the time. After she stalked off down the sidewalk we did not look at each other.”-Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Experiencing discrimination proved normal for numerous East Asian descendants living in the U.S during World War 2. Author of the book Farewell to Manzanar Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston lived as the victim of an immoral and unfair circumstance forced upon by the “land of the free” back in March 1942. Houston and her family are among the thousand East Asian’s forced into internment camps on March 25th, 1942.

The goal of this document is the analytical breakdown of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’sbook titled Farewell to Manzanar. The book is a recollection of her time at an internment campcalled ‘Manzanar’ when she was a child along with a few excerpts to give depth to some of theevents that took place. As noted in the p.s before the book begins, she and her husband decidedto write the story of what life was like in the internment camps and not focussing on the overallscheme of how “an injustice was done.” (Wakatsuki Houston, Foreward) since many werealready in agreement on that matter and the topic considered old and tired. The focus of thispaper will be on how the events affected her childhood, broke her family, emphasized herethnicity, and enticed

Mitsuye Yamada in her thirty-six line poem “To the Lady” (1243) tries to address the question which was asked from the lady in San Francisco about the injustice the Japanese Americans experienced in the United States concentration camps during World War II. She asked “why did the Japanese Americans let the government put them in those camps without protest?” (Yamada 1243) As Mitsuye think about the question, she rewrite her experience in an imagery conversation with the lady from San Francisco.

It is said that 42,000 civilian women were captured and interned in camps in many locations in the Far East by Japan. The sinking of the Vyner Brooke on 14th of February killed 12 of the 65 Australian Army nurses on board. The Japanese were able to capture a group of 22 nurses and the civilian women in the group , the Japanese wanted them to join a brothel (a house of prostitutes), but they refused and were put into bungalows which had dreadful and inadequate sanitation and scarce food. It was every person for themselves. Just like the male POWs, the women suffered similar consequences if they did not obey the Japanese. They were also made to stand in the stinking hot sun for extended periods of time as well as having to walk hours to collect clean water for the guards, the water that they were allowed to drink was often putrid and contaminated. A nurse who was in the AANS (Australian Army Nursing Service) and POW to the Japanese suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. In result of the traumatic experience, she weighed only 32 kilograms and had to spend 2 years in the hospital recovering. ‘Comfort Women’ was another way the Japanese exhibited racism. Comfort women were seen as no more than ‘things’ that are disposable, if one were to disobey or refuse to do as they were told, they would be either tortured or

Towards the beginning chapter four, “Cultures of Defeat” (p. 121), Dower portrayed the transformative effects of defeat as Japanese women tried to remake their identity through the world of prostitution. Before the war, traditional Japanese families created a reaction against lust, for it was appropriate for them to embrace an asexual traditional of national loyalty and family piety. However, this mindset changed. Under the Occupation, the world of prostitution became a place of sexual exploitation that allowed for a growth of interracial desire, which deteriorated racial stereotypes. For example, between Japan’s surrender and the arrival of United States forces, the Japanese

This paper is a review of the book Japan’s Comfort Women-Sexual slavery and prostitution during WWII and the US occupation by Yuki Tanaka. This book was published in 2002 by Routledge. The book deals with the thousands of Japanese, Korean, Chinese and other Asian and European women who were victims of organized sexual violence and prostitution by means of “comfort stations” setup by the Japanese military during World War II.

It is no secret that for centuries, the Japanese woman has been, to most observers, a model of elegance and graceful beauty. A picture of a kimono-clad, modest, and often silent woman has been plastered everywhere, allowing for the upmost passive subjection. If we look deeper into this image of woman, can we tell if this picture is complete? How do these women painted in representative images far in the modern world? The ideal woman in Japan is expected to be both a good wife, and a wise mother. Though these seem like reasonable expectations, there is a much deeper meaning to them that has shown signs of being outdated. During the 1800’s and 1900’s, women were subjected to society’s vision of them, and could not break free for fear of the

Comfort women, or ianfu as they are called in Korean, are females who were forced sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army (Chunghee). Some of the women were dragged off with physical force as their families wept, while others were actually sold to the army by their destitute families (Watanabe). Still other were officially drafted by the Japanese Imperial Army and believed they would be factory workers or nurses (Hwang in Schellstede 4). Some Korean village leaders were ordered to send young women to participate in "important business for the Imperial Army" (Watanabe). Many Japanese soldiers referred to comfort women as teishintai, which means “volunteer corps,” so those women who thought they would be working in a factory would not