A new exhibition that chronicles the stories of Taiwanese women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II, known as “comfort women,” is to open in Taipei next week.
The exhibition starts on Tuesday in conjunction with International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, according to the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, which is organizing the exhibition.
Highlights of the exhibition include artwork by Hong Kong artist Phoebe Man (文晶瑩), the foundation said yesterday.
Among the exhibits is an animation titled One Person, One Heart, along with related installation pieces by Man that are based on hundreds of messages or pictures from the public that lend support to the comfort women, with the material collected by the foundation over the past few months, it said.
The event will also showcase historical photographs and documents featuring difficulties the comfort women faced and their decades-long fight for justice from the Japanese government, the foundation said.
Clips from two documentaries on the comfort women that were produced by the foundation will also be screened at the event, with some of the women telling their own stories, it added.
The exhibition is to run through Dec. 10, which is Human Rights Day, at Bopiliao (剝皮寮), a historic area in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), the foundation said.
Over the past two decades, the foundation has been dedicated to helping Taiwanese comfort women cope with mental anguish and seek compensation from Japan. It has launched many initiatives in this regard, including documentaries and art exhibitions.
More than 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, according to the foundation.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to