Author: Kichisaburō Nomura, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Recipient: Yoshitaka Hanawa, Japanese Consul General in Hankow
Date: December 22, 1939
File: Concerning the Limitation and Regulation of Japanese Citizens Traveling overseas to China at the Time of the Sino-Japanese Incident; Regulation in Relevant Districts in China (Vol. 1)
Locations: Hankow (China), Kagawa Prefecture (Japan)
Keywords: Installation / Overseas travel
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_F_008.pdf
ANNOTATION
This is a telegram from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Japanese Consul General in Hankow, China (no. 323, 1939). It says that the Amaya Unit of the Japanese Army in Fanchuan, Hankow, China, is recruiting 50 women in order to open a comfort station for the military. Someone has applied for travel to China for the purpose of bringing the women. The relevant town authority in the Kagawa Prefecture has notified the Ministry of Internal Affairs that they had to approve it unofficially, because it was related to a request for arranging (prostitutes). “Therefore, we ask for kind understanding on the part of the Consul General’s office in Hankow, and please give us your opinion immediately because the group will be departing within this year.”
Sources:
WAM Collection (Foreign Affairs_007)
Collection of the Asian Women’s Fund, Vol. 1, p. 131-132
Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1, p. 187-188
Sourcebook by Yoshimi Yoshiaki, p. 121-122
Note:
The file to which this document belongs is in the WAM collection. The unit name in the original document is Amano (天野), but it was corrected as Amaya (天谷) in both the Sourcebook by Yoshimi and the Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1. It is believed that it was a typo of Amaya Naojiro (天谷直次郎) in the original document. The original document was dated February 22, 1939, but it is incorrectly dated February 23, 1939 in the Sourcebook by Yoshimi; the Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol, 1; and the WAM Collection.
#transportation #Amano #Aamaya #Hankow # Kagawa #Fanchuan #Foreign_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
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. What's the purpose of this telegraph?
9. Based on this document, did the mobilization of "comfort women" need approval?
10. Who is recruiting 50 "comfort women?"
11. Based on the document, do you think the "comfort women" system was organized by the Japanese military? Find evidence from the document to support your conclusion.
12. The "comfort women" deniers tend to 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?
13. What other questions do you have for this document?
14. 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.