Author: Commanding Officer, Morikawa unit
Date: November 14, 1939
File: Jinchu Nisshi [Frontlines Diary]: the 3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment
Locations: Gedian, Wuchang, Hebei Province; Ge Rongzhen, Wuchang, Hebei Province (China)
Keywords: Installation / management and supervision
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_D_118.pdf
ANNOTATION
This document provides 16 regulations for the comfort stations, included in the Frontlines Diary, dated November 14, 1939.
An excerpt of the document is as follows: The purpose of setting up comfort stations is to relieve soldiers’ wild and brutal spirit and to boost their morale. A committee of officers has been appointed to divide the duties of carrying out “comforting” work within the 3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment under the supervision of the garrison captain. All expenses needed to run comfort stations exclusively for the military shall be covered by the operator and the business may be suspended or evicted if the operator violates the rules.
The eight rules for officers and soldiers are specified, as well as the differences in duration or hours of usage by, and the rates for, each military rank. The locations of the comfort stations are Gedian[葛店] and Ge Rongzhen [革容鎭] which are both near Wuchang, Hebei Province, China.
This record specifically shows the Japanese military’s operation of comfort stations.
Sources:
WAM Collection (Military_050)
Collection of the Asian Women’s Fund, Vol. 2, p. 327-336
Sourcebook by Suzuki, Yamashita, and Tonomura, Vol. 1, p. 171-173
Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, C13070259800
#installation #management #supervision #rules #diary #Morikawa #Gedian #Wuchang #Hebei
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS
Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the annotation:
- morale: the confidence, enthusiasm, 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 this document.
9. Use Google Map to locate Wuchang (Hubei Province in China). How far is it from Japan?
10. What was the purpose of setting up comfort stations?
11. Who was in charge of the comfort stations?
12. The Japanese government has been claiming that it 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.