Film Screening: Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue

The film deals with the controversies that continue to surround the history of the so-called comfort women of the Asia-Pacific War: an estimated 50,000 – 200,000 women and girls, mostly but not exclusively from Korea, who were held as sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces in Asia. While the events in question took place 80 years ago, their history remains a major stumbling block in bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea. In addition, the history of the comfort women has been taken up more broadly both by transnational feminist movements seeking to work against trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence, and by nationalist groups acting beyond East Asia’s borders. Dezaki’s film is an interesting take on the contemporary controversy, and benefits from interview access to some prominent figures on both sides of the debate (some of whom, right-wing actors widely understood as ‘historical denialists,’ have repeatedly sued Dezaki to try to stop him from distributing the film).  

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