“Who Forced Them Become Comfort Women?” Excerpt from Liberty Times dated 11 July 2015

台湾 自由時報 自由廣場 11 July 2015
「誰強迫慰安婦?」  林瑤棋 (醫師)
http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/896953
自由時報が七月十一日林瑤棋氏(医師)の投稿記事

[English]*********************************************************

Excerpt from Liberty Times dated 11 July 2015

Who Forced Them Become Comfort Women?

Written by Dr. Lin Yau Chyi (medical doctor)

I read your newspaper article on the 17 issues regarding the Revised Government Guideline for Teaching of Taiwan history. On the 17th issue about “comfort women” you stated that “they were forced to become comfort women.” Since I have some knowledge in regards to this issue, I would like to point out the following.

My aunt’s husband, Mr. Yen, was running a restaurant in Shalu, but with the outbreak of the Pacific War, Taiwan suffered depression and especially restaurants and bars were seriously affected by the depression. Thus, starting around 1943, he started a broker business of comfort women, while still running his restaurant. It turned out that the broker business was so much more profitable than the restaurant business. Often he talked to my grandmother about his broker business and I was old enough to understand their conversation. Some of the conversation I remember were: “Everybody was poor, so many bar girls wanted to become comfort women when I recruited them” “I went around the countryside and recruited many daughters of poor families.” “I earned so much money being a broker.”

I am an old man of 80 years old now, but as far as I knew and saw, there was not much difference between comfort women for Japanese or for Chinese. I also can say out of my conscience that there were much more comfort women in the Republic of China (than in Taiwan during Japanese rule.) Even for 30 to 40 years after 1950, I assume there were at least some 20,000 to 30,000 comfort women in Taiwan, Penghu, Chinmen and Matsu. Many of them are still alive but they simply do not come on the surface asking for compensation.

When I was on military duty in the 50s, I saw a 17 year-old comfort girl in a military comfort station on Chinmen Island. While she was a streetwalker at Bao Dou Li in Wanhua District, she was arrested by police and sent to a comfort station. Since she was a young new-comer, she was forced to have over 10 customers a day. Those customers were strong artillerymen and she spent days crying from the pain. She was saying, “I have so much pain but I am not allowed to have any day off.” Is it correct to say that a girl like her was forced to become a comfort woman?

I once heard the following from a police officer named Tsai, who was transferred from Taipei to the countryside where I lived. “When we needed more comfort women in the military comfort stations, police along with the national defense department arrested streetwalkers and sent them to the comfort stations. Since the law of the Republic of China only grants the permit for prostituting to women over the age of 20, many young girls of 16 to 17 years old, who were sold by their families but could not prostitute legally because of being under age, had no choice but to become streetwalkers. If we wanted to arrest them, all we had to do was to go to Hwan Her South Road in Bao Dou Li. We could easily arrest more than 10 streetwalkers just in the morning. Arresting such streetwalkers was one of the good and easy police duties since we could get a reward based on the number of arrests, and we were considered to be doing good police work.”

In short, the Republic of China is guiltier than Japan in forcing Taiwanese women to become comfort women. The revised guideline should be more careful about this issue.

[Taiwanese]*********************************************************
自由廣場》誰強迫慰安婦?
2015-07-11 06:00

◎ 林瑤棋
拜讀昨日貴報A3有關微調課綱「台灣史」相關十七項較大爭議的新聞,其中有關第十七條「慰安婦」改為「婦女被強迫做慰安婦」部分,我略知其中一、二,願意提供我所知道的情形。

我的姑丈顏氏(如還健在是一一二歲)原來在沙鹿開菜店(酒家),太平洋戰爭後,台灣百業蕭條,菜店當然蕭條更嚴重,大約在一九四三年之後,他只好兼業當慰安婦的牽猴仔(仲介),當這種牽猴仔反而比開菜店好很多。

他當慰安婦的牽猴仔,常把營業狀況告訴我阿嬤,那時候我已是懂事的大小孩,他們講話內容我都聽懂。他說大家都窮,當慰安婦收入比當酒家女好很多,所以在他遊說之下(當然不是強迫),很多來應徵酒家女的都願意去當慰安婦。甚至到各鄉下去找窮人家的女兒當慰安婦,聽姑丈說,他賺牽猴仔收入頗豐。
筆者已是八十歲的老人了,所知道的或所看過的日本或中華民國慰安婦不知凡幾。我憑良心講,慰安婦最多的就是中華民國,依我約略估計,光是從民國三十九年到民國七十年代的三、四十年間,在台澎金馬的慰安婦起碼數萬人計,這些人現在大多數都還健在,只是她們不敢出來索賠而已。

我在民國四十年代當兵時,曾在金門某軍中樂園見過一位十七歲的服務生,她是在萬華寶斗里當私娼時被警察抓來軍中樂園的,因為她年輕又是菜鳥,每天遇到幾十個強擱勇的砲兵,她受不了而每天哭哭啼啼,叫痛也不能休息,這種的慰安婦不叫「強迫」,那麼什麼才叫「強迫」?

我曾聽一位原在台北市、後來調到我們鄉下的蔡姓警察說:凡是軍中樂園服務生不夠時,國防部就會同警務處抓私娼,抓到私娼就送去當慰安婦。依照中華民國法律規定,年滿二十歲始能申請娼妓執照,可是當年很多窮人家把十六、七歲的女兒賣掉,因她們年齡不到,只能當私娼。蔡先生說,抓私娼很容易,只要到寶斗里環河南路去抓,一個上午抓十幾個不成問題,有業績又有獎金,是警界的好業務之一。

總之,強迫台灣婦女當慰安婦,我想中華民國比日本還嚴重,所以我希望「微調」這條課綱要特別慎重。
(作者為醫師)

[Japanese]*********************************************************
自由時報(2015年7月11日)「自由広場」より

誰が強迫して慰安婦にしたか?

◎林瑤棋

昨日の貴紙A三面が掲載した、台湾史の改訂学習指導要領に関する十七項目の争点についての報道を拝読。その中の第十七項目目の、“「慰安婦」との記述の「女性は脅迫されて慰安婦になった」への書き改め”についてだが、私はこの問題に関して少し知るところがあり、それについて申し上げたい。

私のおばの夫の顔氏(もし健在なら今年百十二歳)は、もともと沙鹿で飲食店(飲み屋)を経営していたが、太平洋戦争(※大東亜戦争)が始まると台湾は不景気に見舞われ、特に飲食店への影響は深刻だった。そこで一九四三年ごろから、彼は慰安婦の仲介を兼業せざる得えなくなったのだが、実はこの仕事が飲食店などより遥かに儲かった。

彼は仲介業を営みながら、その状況をよくおばあちゃんに報告していた。当時私はすでに分別が付く年齢で、彼らの会話内容はみな理解できた。

彼によれば、「みな貧しかったため、私が勧誘すると(もちろん強迫ではない)、大勢の酌婦が収入のはるかに好い慰安婦に応募して来た。また田舎を廻り、貧しい家の娘の募集も行った」という。「仲介業でとても稼いだ」と言っていた。
筆者はすでに八十歳の老人だが、私が知り、あるいは見て来たところでは、慰安婦は日本のも中華民国のも似たようなものだった。

良心に従って言うが、慰安婦が多かったのは中華民国の方で、私の推定では民国三十九年(※一九五〇年)以降の三、四十年間だけでも、台湾、澎湖、金門、馬祖の慰安婦は、少なくとも数万人はいた。これらの人達の大多数は今も健在である。ただ賠償金ほしさに表に出て来ないだけだ。

私が民国四十年代(※一九五一~一九六〇年)に軍務に就いた時、金門島のある軍中楽園(※慰安所)で一七歳の女性を見たことがある。彼女は万華の宝斗里で私娼をしていた時、警察に捕えられ軍中楽園へ送られた。彼女は若く新参者だったので、毎日数十人もの強く勇ましい砲兵の相手をさせられ、それに耐えられず毎日しくしく泣いていた。「痛くても休ませてもらえないのだ」と。この手の慰安婦が「強迫」された者でないというなら、「強迫」とは一体何なのか。

私は以前、台北市から私達の住む田舎に派遣されて来た蔡という警察官から、こう聞かされたことがある。

「軍中楽園で女が不足する時はたいてい、国防部が警務処(※警察)とともに私娼を捕え、慰安婦として送り込んだ。中華民国の法律によれば、娼妓の許可証がもらえるのは満二十歳からだが、当時の多くの貧しい家庭は一六、七歳で女児を売り、そして年齢の足りない彼女たちは私娼になるほかなかった。私娼を捕えるのは簡単で、寶斗里の環河南路に行きさえすれば捕まえられた。午前中に十数人捕まえるのも問題ではない。業績にもなったし奨金ももらえ、警察官にとっては好い仕事の一つだった」

要するに、台湾人女性を強迫し慰安婦にしたというなら、日本より中華民国の方が深刻な状況だった。指導要領の改訂は、この問題では特に慎重であるべきだ。(医師)

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