Author: Tetsukichi Akahori, Governor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Recipient: Shinichi Chiba, Foreign Affairs Department Director, Japan’s Government-General in Taiwan
Date: August 23, 1940
File: Concerning the Limitation and Regulation of Japanese Citizens Traveling overseas to China at the Time of the Sino-Japanese Incident; Summary of the Provisional Measures (Vol. 2)
Locations: Penglai comfort station, Qilingxu, Qin County, Guangdong Province; vicinity of Nanning city, Guangxi Province (China); Kaohsiung (Taiwan)
Keywords: Overseas travel
Annotation by Hye-in Han, Ph.D. Researcher, Asia Peace and History Institute
Image link: http://wam-peace.org/ianfu-koubunsho/pdf/K-PDF/K_F_027-2.pdf
ANNOTATION
This is Attachment 1 to the notification sent from the Director of the Foreign Affairs Department in the Government-General in Taiwan to the Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs America Division 3 (no. 162, September 2, 1940). It contains an inquiry from the Governor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan to the Foreign Affairs Department Director of the Government-General in Taiwan.
The content of the letter is as follows: a comfort station owner, who is operating a comfort station for the Hayashi Unit of Shioda Unit in the Expeditionary Army in Southern China located in Qin Prefecture in Guangdong Province, has followed the troops and is currently working near Nanning city, Guangxi Province. After his departure on June 30 and arrival in Taiwan for the purpose of recruiting prostitutes, the aforementioned business person (address of the family register is Taipei; current address is Fonglai comfort station in Qin Prefecture, Guangdong Province; 22 years old) is carrying a certificate issued by the military as attached.
After recruiting 6 prostitutes, this person submitted an application to the state of Kaohsiung for travel certificates for themselves and the 6 women to travel back to China. Overseas travelers headed to China are required to carry travel certificates containing the reasons for travel to be issued by the consular police of the region in accordance with the notification from Foreign Affairs, no. 112 (May 13, 1940); however, it is impossible for this business person to obtain the required certificates due to the remote distance between this person and the consular police. Therefore, it appears to be practical to allow this person to travel overseas with certificates issued by the provost marshal who has jurisdiction, or the commanding officer of the military unit, considering the facts that the applicants will be employed in exclusive business (for the military), and that the identities and the purpose of their travel is verified.
“I hereby request your response to this inquiry.”
In other words, the military was able to carry out expedient measures to facilitate the transportation of military “comfort women”, which shows that the “comfort women” were not under the jurisdiction of the consulate, but rather that they were a part of military supply and prioritized to meet the needs of the military.
Details:
Attachments
-Certificate issued by the commanding officer, Yoshihide Hayashi, Sioda Unit, Expeditionary Army in Southern China (June 27, 1940) (attachment no. 1)
-Travel certificate issued by the commander of the Military Police Detachment in Qinzhou, Moichi Adachi (June 27, 1940) (attachment no. 2)
-Certificate of recruitment issued by the aforementioned commander of the Military Police Detachment, Adachi (June 28, 1940) (attachment no. 3)
Sources:
WAM Collection (Foreign Affairs_013)
Collection of the Asian Women’s Fund, Vol. 1, p. 149-159
Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1, p. 267-270
Sourcebook by Yoshimi, p. 130-138
#transportation #Taiwan #Foreign_Affairs
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS
Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the annotation:
- expedient: (of an action) convenient and practical although possibly improper or immoral
- jurisdiction: the official power to make legal decisions and judgments
- prefecture: an administrative division or unit in Japan
- provost marshal: the head of military police in camp or on active service
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 main idea of the document.
9. Use Google Map to locate Kaohsiung (Taiwan) and Nanning (Guangxi Province, China). What's the distance between these two locations?
10. Regular overseas travelers must carry travel certificates. Who issued their certificates?
11. Who issued the "comfort station" owners' travel certificates? Why?
12. What does the fact that the military was able to issue travel certificates to "comfort women" recruiters tell you?
13. 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?
14. What other questions do you have for this document?
15. 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.