63 years later/9 years later

notice only one person smiling

this is all over a week ago, so i won't remember details with accuracy, but would feel bad if i didnt mention the documentary 63 years later the japanese government found out that the vast majority of a regimen they had sent to eastern russia had caught an std this would obviously pose a problem for a government that had larger military ambitions so they began to try and find a solution there eventual solution was "comfort women" the japanese took this on as an official policy, using it to monitor the women the soldiers slept with and as a reward for soldiers who showed valor

where the comfort women were varied from in-town brothels to on-base sights the estimates seem to be between 200,000-500,000 women the majority of the women sent all over the japanese military empire were korean women this made sense as korea was colonized very early by the japanese war machine the other countries that contributed significant amounts of women were the phillipines and taiwan, tho any country that was conquered by japan added to the totals

women were held in horrible conditions, often not being fed, and were raped nightly one women (of the 5 interviewed) tells of how she was beaten because she became pregnant when the japanese soldiers were refusing to use the government issued condoms

the movie itself is well done and is aiming for a western audience to add pressure on the japanese government as they have never really fully apologized to the victims and the international community there is a 'michael moore moment' when the president of japan issues a kinda apology to george bush (the 2nd) who then accepts it

the whole thing is unsettling and makes you cry i dont have too much to add if you want to read more about the apology and how japan views things, read this

to learn more about what is being done in korea, read this

an article dealing with Lila Pilipina, the group set-up in the phillipines (no website) read this


i was gonna write about bamboozled (2000) which i recently watched again maybe i will another day let me say this, the movie is still good and relevant