Author: Governor of Wakayama Prefecture (Chief of prefectural police)
Recipient: Director of the Police and Security Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs; Chiefs of Police Offices in the Prefecture
Date: February 7, 1938
File: Documents for Approval, Office of the Minister of Home Affairs (1938), Vol. 1
Location: Shanghai (China), Wakayama (Japan)
Keywords: Mobilization
Annotation Source: Northeast Asian History Foundation
Click HERE to see the annotation in Korean
Image link:
http://wam-peace.org/ianfu-koubunsho/pdf/K-PDF/K_P_002-5-1.pdf
ANNOTATION
This is a letter (no. 303) from the Chief of the prefectural police of the Governor’s office of the Wakayama Prefecture to the Director of the Police and Security Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs and Chiefs of Police Offices in the Prefecture, dated February 7, 1938. The summary of the letter is as follows:
On January 6, 1938, three suspicious men were arrested in the restaurant district in the prefecture. Two of them told Policeman Minakami of the Mori Police Office, Wakayama Prefecture, that they had come to Wakayama to recruit prostitutes for the comfort stations of the Imperial Military in Shanghai. They said they were requested to procure 3,000 women, 70 of whom have already left from the Nagasaki Port under the escort of the Military Police via a vessel for official use on January 3, 1938. As their statements were suspicious, it was requested that an intelligence officer investigate the matter. The three suspects were interrogated at the police station because they were suspected of kidnapping, due to their recruitment method involving persuasion of prostitutes who were ignorant of the actual conditions at the comfort stations in Shanghai, appealing to them with misleading job descriptions, such as high income, that their “services” would be exclusively for the military, and that their food would be supplied by the military, etc.
According to the formal statement by Kanazawa, Konishi (a high executive of a company in Osaka city), Nakano (a businessman of a licensed brothel in Kobe city), and Fujimura (a businessman of a licensed brothel in Osaka city) came to the City of Wakayama with a government contractor [named so-and-so], in order to meet with Captain Araki and Mitsuru Touyama byway of Major Tokuhisa’s introduction, and they decided to send3,000 prostitutes within this year to Shanghai to boost the morale of the Imperial military in Shanghai. Fujimura Konishiwa sent 70 women to China, and at that time, the chief of the Kujō police of Osaka Fu and the External Affairs Division of Nagasaki Prefecture facilitated the process.
Fujimura brought two women Koyanagi (age 26, advance money 470 yen) and Tomie Fujito (age 28, advance money 362 yen) through Hiraoka, who knows the circumstances in the Wakayama Prefecture well. Fujimura paid the women their advance money and left them at Hiraoka’s house.
Upon inquiring at the External Affairs Division of Nagasaki Prefecture and the Kujō police office in Osaka Fu, the three suspects’ identities have been verified; while it is unclear whether the comfort station for the Imperial Army exists or not, it has been confirmed that the Kujō Police Office issued a certificate to recruit prostitutes, and the suspects were released.
The fact that the Governor (Chief of prefectural police) of the Wakayama Prefecture was instructed to make a report first before the police began an investigation on these activities indicates that the local authorities did learn about and were aware of the relationships between the military and the “comfort women” recruiting agents.
Details:
1. Situation when the office noticed the case
2. Interrogation of the suspects
3. Suspects’ whereabouts
4. Inquiries regarding the case
Sources:
WAM Collection (Police_005)
Collection of the Asian Women’s Fund, Vol. 1, p. 27-33
Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1, p. 133-135
Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, A05032040800
Note:
Although the original document was dated February 7, 1937, it’s a typo for February 7, 1938.
#recruitment #kidnapping #Wakayama #Shanghai #boost #morale #Home_Affairs #Internal_Affairs
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS
Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the annotation:
- prefecture: an administrative division or unit in Japan
- prostitute: a person, in particular a woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment
- procure: obtain something, especially with care or effort
- interrogate: ask questions of someone, especially a suspect or a prisoner closely and aggressively
- morale: the confidence and discipline of a person or group at a particular time
After reading the annotation, please answer the following questions:
1. What kind of document is this?
2. Who wrote it?
3. What year was it created?
4. What was the historical context in East Asia during the time?
5. Where was it created?
6. What's the title of the document? What does the title tell you?
7. Who's the audience of the document?
8. Use one sentence to summarize the document.
9. Based on the annotation, do you think the Japanese local authorities knew about the existence of "comfort women" recruiters and their relationship with the military?
a. Did the local authorities or the military try to ban recruiters? Why or why not?
10. The "comfort women" deniers tend to push the blame on the recruiters and claim that the government or military bears no legal or official responsibility for the "comfort women" victims. Based on this document, do you think the claim is defendable? Why or why not?
11. What other questions do you hve for this document?
12. How/Where can you find the answers?
*Questions for Students section was designed by Jing Williams, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at University of South Dakota.