Speaker: Keyao Pan, Department of History, Florida International University - Speaker's Personal Website, Academia.edu, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »This paper examines how the activist foundation for the reparation advocacy for the former “comfort women” took form from the 1960s to 1990s. Using Matsui Yayori's activist and journalistic career (especially her involvement in the Asian Women’s Association) as a case study, the paper explores how these Japanese feminists formed intersectional networks at both epistemological and interpersonal levels.
On one hand, Japanese feminists developed new usages of concepts like jinken (lit. “human rights”) and Aji-a (lit. “Asia”) to locate Japan in the neoliberal order under the U.S.-Japan security, which laid bare Japan's imperialist legacies in the region. Through this holistic framework, they sought to combine the critique of issues like pollution, labor exploitation, and gendered violence, which culminated in their focus on the issue of overseas sex tourism by Japanese businessmen. This movement served as the foundation of the advocacy for former “comfort women.”
On the other hand, they actively networked with United Nations-centered programs on women's rights, such as the World Conferences on Women, and international ecumenical groups, forming transnational connections with activists across the global North and South. The paper argues that it was on these intersectional foundations that the reparation advocacy for the former comfort women achieved prominence both in the UN-centered human rights discourse and in movements about history and nationalism in Japan and within Asia. Furthermore, the paper highlights how such activism changed the connotation of terms like jinken and Aji-a and incurred the backlash against feminism and historical justice activism in Japan.« (Source: Online Program)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women, Yayori Matsui | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes