Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory
Gao, Ming LU
(2025)
In Asian Studies Review
p.1-2
- Abstract
- In Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory, Park Yuha offers a provocative reassessment of the ‘comfort women’ issue – first proposed over a decade ago in the Korean version of this book. Situated at the heart of one of the most contentious debates in East Asian historiography, the book examines the enduring legacies of Japan’s colonial rule and its impact on the lives of Korean comfort women. Park positions comfort women within a broader imperial context, claiming that comfort women were not only self-internalised imperial subjects but also ‘compatriots’ (38; 186). She argues that conventional approaches – viewing the issue as a war crime (responsibility) – are problematic and that it should instead... (More)
- In Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory, Park Yuha offers a provocative reassessment of the ‘comfort women’ issue – first proposed over a decade ago in the Korean version of this book. Situated at the heart of one of the most contentious debates in East Asian historiography, the book examines the enduring legacies of Japan’s colonial rule and its impact on the lives of Korean comfort women. Park positions comfort women within a broader imperial context, claiming that comfort women were not only self-internalised imperial subjects but also ‘compatriots’ (38; 186). She argues that conventional approaches – viewing the issue as a war crime (responsibility) – are problematic and that it should instead be examined ‘within a different context of imperialism/colonialism’ (xii). This book presents the comfort women issue as a collective outcome, shaped by multiple factors and actors – from Japanese imperial ideology at the top to middlemen or Korean collaborators at the bottom. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d2e0c950-d3d0-401d-9baa-1509ca101ad4
- author
- Gao, Ming
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-01-29
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- comfort women, Japanese Empire, colonial history, Korean Peninsula, Japanese colonialism, Japanese studies, Japanese history, Korean History
- in
- Asian Studies Review
- pages
- 2 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 1035-7823
- DOI
- 10.1080/10357823.2025.2456187
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Gao, M. (2025) ‘Comfort women of the Japanese empire: colonial rule and the battle over memory: by Park Yuha’, Asian Studies Review, pp. 1–2. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2025.2456187.
- id
- d2e0c950-d3d0-401d-9baa-1509ca101ad4
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-17 10:25:16
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:01:47
@misc{d2e0c950-d3d0-401d-9baa-1509ca101ad4,
abstract = {{In Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory, Park Yuha offers a provocative reassessment of the ‘comfort women’ issue – first proposed over a decade ago in the Korean version of this book. Situated at the heart of one of the most contentious debates in East Asian historiography, the book examines the enduring legacies of Japan’s colonial rule and its impact on the lives of Korean comfort women. Park positions comfort women within a broader imperial context, claiming that comfort women were not only self-internalised imperial subjects but also ‘compatriots’ (38; 186). She argues that conventional approaches – viewing the issue as a war crime (responsibility) – are problematic and that it should instead be examined ‘within a different context of imperialism/colonialism’ (xii). This book presents the comfort women issue as a collective outcome, shaped by multiple factors and actors – from Japanese imperial ideology at the top to middlemen or Korean collaborators at the bottom.}},
author = {{Gao, Ming}},
issn = {{1035-7823}},
keywords = {{comfort women; Japanese Empire; colonial history; Korean Peninsula; Japanese colonialism; Japanese studies; Japanese history; Korean History}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
note = {{Review}},
pages = {{1--2}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Asian Studies Review}},
title = {{Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2025.2456187}},
doi = {{10.1080/10357823.2025.2456187}},
year = {{2025}},
}