Six former "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery in World War II and a group of women's rights activists renewed their protest against Japan by staging a march and roadside skits yesterday.
``This will be our last protest and it will be up to the young people to keep up the campaign,'' said Tsai Kuei-ying, a diminutive 81-year-old, standing outside Japan's representative office with 20 younger supporters who released yellow balloons to pray for peace.
Tsai is among 30 survivors from an estimated 2,000 Taiwanese women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese troops.
Tsai and several other frail and aging former "comfort women," accompanied by activists from the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, demanded an official apology from the Japanese government, and reasonable compensation for the suffering they endured during the war.
"Although the campaign this year comes to an end after this final demonstration, we will never stop quickening our pace in pursuit of truth and justice, because ... these suffering ladies have less and less time to wait," said Chen Shu-li (
The group marched from Liu Kung Park along Fuxing South Road to the Interchange Association in order to deliver a letter to the de facto Japanese embassy's chief officer, Ikeda Tadashi.
The demonstration was joined by a few surviving former Taiwanese comfort women and volunteers from all over the nation, holding protest placards and yellow balloons.
Two university students participating in the demonstration and majoring in social work said that they knew the comfort women's stories from their lectures in university and from history textbooks, and that they decided to join the activity after seeing publicity materials on the foundation's Web site.
Although young people throughout the world get their knowledge of history from textbooks, foundation chairperson Liao Ying-chih (廖英智) said there are more than 20 schools in Japan that use textbooks which avoid mentioning women who served as sex slaves to Japanese troops, and distort the nature of Japan's military aggression.
"We ask for official recognition of the existence of the sex- slave system, a [formal] apology and also restitution by the Japanese Government," Liao said. "Furthermore, we hope that a museum or memorial hall can be built to enshrine this miserable history, and that the truth be stated fully and accurately in all textbooks."
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