Japanese Activists’ Perspectives on the Comfort Women Issue

As former comfort women, i.e., those who survived sexual slavery under the Japanese military in World War II, filed lawsuits against the Japanese government from Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and other Asian countries, how do Japanese researchers and activists perceive this heated issue and position themselves in the debate/activism? This online seminar brings two distinguished Japanese scholars to shed light on the issue of comfort women in East Asian politics.

About the presenters:
Aya Furuhashi is an associate professor in the faculty of education at Iwate University in Japan. Her research topic covers gender and postcolonism. Her recent works include Jedaa Bunseki de yomu joseish nyumon (Introduction to Women’s History through Gender Analysis (Chapter contribution, Iwanami Shoten, Japan, 2011) and Kioku de kakinaosu rekishi: lanfu sabaibaano katari wo kiku (History Re-Written by Memory: Listening to the Narratives of Former Comfort Women Survivors (Translation, Iwanami Shoten, Japan, 2020). She will talk about her work with Taiwan’s comfort women in Japanese. Sara Park will interpret for her.
Sara Park is lecturer of Japanese Studies at Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki. She has conducted research and published academic articles on the comfort women issue from Japanese female activists’ perspectives. In her research, she has visited NGOs working on comfort women issues in Taiwan.
This event is part of Spotlight Taiwan Helsinki project sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Cultures.

The deadline for registering for the webinar is March 1, 2023.

Register here.