Testimony of a former member of the Japanese Imperial Army – “My comrade was engaged to a comfort woman”
The video relates the experiences of Takayuki Kuraishi (aged 91), a former member of the Japanese Imperial Army, who served on the Southern Front in Vietnam and Cambodia
Mr.Takayuki Kuraishi：
During the war, I heard from a war comrade of mine that he had been engaged to a Korean comfort woman.
At that time, my comrade showed me two photographs of the woman.
He said that they loved each other and had got engaged.
She was beautiful, and he held that picture close to his chest as he went on to the battlefields.
So, it was a really pure relationship.
When listening to the story of the woman in question, she said
”I got engaged to that soldier”
Whenever, my comrade was given leave to go out once a week, he would visit the comfort woman brothel.
The woman was always waiting for him.
She always told him to “take me back to Tokyo with you as quickly as possible”, and my comrade intended to do that.
They all lived harmoniously, like a family.
Q. In Korea, they say that the comfort women were physically abused, and injected with opium..?
I never heard anything about that at the time.
This would never be allowed under the ideology of the Great Empire of Japan.
It is completely impossible. It is a story that has been fabricated in recent times.
The soldiers at that time did not have opium.
There were no doctors to do it, and I do not think that there were any syringes either.
I wonder where these nonsensical stories came from.
Ｑ What do you think of the Kono discourse?
Well, it was the kind of relationship where he had fallen in love with a comfort woman, and promised to marry her, so that is not possible.
At the time, it cost 5 yen to have intercourse once with a comfort woman.
Our compulsory savings were about 5 yen.
Converted to current money, this is about 50,000 yen (500 dollars).
So, if you went to the comfort woman brothel 3 or 4 times a week, your salary would be completely used up.
So, I thought it was stupid to waste money on such a thing, and did not go myself. Sorry, but…
the thing is that most people were not interested.
There were about 3,000 soldiers in the squadron, but unless you had a lot of spare money, you would not go.
The comfort women were saving money so they could go home as well.
They were really happy.
Q. Is it not the case that they were brought against their will and forced into such activities?
I never heard of such a thing.
I think the current President of South Korea is a bit odd.
★Testimony of the former Internal Matters Section Leader, Officer of the Governor-General of Korea.
↓If you turn the video subtitles function ON, there will be a translation in English.
