Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone

by Ikuhiko Hata

Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone is an exhaustive examination of the controversial issue of comfort women, who provided sexual services to Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. This book provides extensive documents and narratives by witnesses to shed light on the reality of these women who worked in the battle zone. The book also covers Japan’s political and diplomatic disagreements with neighboring nations, in particular South Korea and China, over this issue, as well as other international reactions, including the U.S. House of Representatives resolution that urged the Japanese government to apologize to former comfort women. The book is an English translation of the Japanese version first published in 1999 and reprinted several times, with additional sections covering recent developments.

Genres: History

398 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Hata is a Japanese conservative, essayist and historian with a PhD from Tokyo University

Reviews

[Mirjam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very typical of a conservative man to deny wartime atrocities against women.

[YOSHIKO · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just completed the book" Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone" by Hata Ikuhiko.

I found it to be a well-researched and documented book of the history of the comfort woman before, during and after World War II.  The author’s facts and data show the true numbers of women involved in this profession and the truth of where they came from and how they were drawn into being comfort women.

If more western people read this book or at least the information and facts are made widely known, then I think the current belief that these women were forced into this trade will be changed and the true numbers is much less than the 200,000 as is currently presented. 

[Chai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agreed with Yoshiko's review here. None of the other reviews have provided a counter to what Mr. Hata presents in his book (or maybe they haven't read it?). The later few chapters of the book delve into how the comfort women issue has been perceived over time by Koreans and Japanese. Before the 1990s, the issue was not so highly politicized in Korea until the country became democratic in 1987. When the so-called "386 Generation" (386 세대) overthrew the military dictatorship, Korean historiography shifted to a more left-nationalist leaning. Plus the fact it was the Japanese themselves that first popularized and publicized the issue. The Japanese newspaper Asahi claimed that the IJA "forced" women into being sex slaves in the 1970s. Asahi later retracted the claim in the 1999 Japanese Diet session.

As the Asahi story was gaining attention all over Korea, Japanese lawyers and activists went to Korea to help Koreans who were seeking compensation from the Japanese government on the issue. Please note here that the South Korean government waived all demands after signing the 1965 Treaty with Japan and received $800 million. The Park Chung-hee administration, instead of paying reparations to those who were affected by the hardships during the Japanese colonial rule, used almost all of the $800 million in developing his country's economy. Mr. Hata further points out that the Japanese government's reluctance to investigate the problem in the early 1990s, partly because they didn't have jurisdiction over the former Imperial Army and another part because they didn't know that such a system existed, to begin with, contributed to the misunderstanding between South Korea and Japan, where Koreans believed that Japan was insincere on the issue, while the Opposition parties in Japan (particularly the Socialist Party) believed that the Japanese government was trying to shove it under the carpet. Contrary to that, the book sheds light on the issue in an objective way, looking at the historical development of the system itself without looking at it through the modern lens.

The book traces the origin of the comfort women system in Chapters 2 and 3. In Japan, it was the karayuki-san system. Poor families from the Tohoku region sold their daughters to pimps to borrow money. Girls stayed with "madams" for 2-4 years to pay off the debts that their parents borrowed. Some thought that it was better to contract themselves out rather than live in poverty. There were many types of karayuki-san, such as geisha, drinking girls, and prostitutes, to name a few. A similar system existed in Korea during the Yi dynasty before the Japanese annexation. It was called "kisaeng". It was almost identical to the Japanese system but they did not get paid. The practice of trafficking these kisaeng women to China was well-developed before 1910. After Japan annexed Korea, WW1, and the proclamation of the League of Nations, both systems were developed into the licensed prostitution system with Korean and Japanese brokers joining hand in hand to recruit women. Later, the demand for prostitutes arose when the war with China started in 1937. Prostitutes from the rear were sent to the frontline to provide "comfort" to Japanese soldiers, while at the same time getting paid and reducing their debts, thus you have the comfort women system. The system was later developed further to "comfort" the American soldiers during the Occupation of Japan and died out eventually when the Americans finally left Okinawa in 1972. One can see that there is continuity in the system. It was clearly not a "unique Japanese invention" or "random rape".

At the same time, however, as the idea of human rights was becoming more widespread after the war, people began to look at the issue from a one-sided post-war narrative, in which the system the IJA implemented was looked at as a Japanese invention, and that no countries ever did anything like that. Young poor women were deceived. Mark the word "deceived" here. Legally speaking, deception and coercion are not the same. They got paid and once their debts is no more, they were allowed to go back home. Furthermore, the book draws vastly from primary sources. Not only from the IJA but also from the Allies' records. Likewise, the concern that the Japanese destroyed (some) of their documents can be counterbalanced by the fact that there are detailed Australian and Dutch military records. Another important thing is that some among the Korean population collaborated with the Japanese into getting their women into the system (people from the Left will call this argument "victim-blaming" but it is what it is). This fact has been whitewashed by Korea. Overall, this book is for anyone who wants to know how did the IJA actually implement the comfort system, how the issue developed over time during the post-war years and how did it shape the mentality of both nations.

I've noticed, first of all, that people from the West who neither have read the book nor spent a great amount of time researching this issue deeply tend to fall into the highly politicized controversy portrayed by the mainstream media. The reason, as I see it from a perspective of an Asian person who grew up in Asia and was educated in the West for many years, is that there's definitely a conflict of visions integrated into the issue. I would say it is sort of East vs. West. The tendency to prioritize Christian collective guilt above everything else has contributed to the thinking that Japan is insincere or has never "done enough" to pay its dues (Christian mentality (plus "Han" mentality) also exists in South Korea as well). In their mind, Japan needs to be 100% "reeducated" like what Germany went through in the 50s and 60s. The problem here is that (a) that's a Eurocentric view of justifying imposing Western ideals on Japan, (the victor imposing values on the loser) which is against international laws and as a libertarian myself, against the "let live" principle; (b) the attempt to "reform" Japan would just fuel more resentment among the Japanese towards the Occupation forces. Further, look at what Germany has got itself into now, I doubt the Japanese want to commit seppuku to their own national pride and culture. Whereas in Asia, we tend to think of it as a natural process of human conflict. Things happened and the Japanese have done everything in their capacity to pay their dues. In the Buddhist way of thinking, what Japan did was just like what all other nations had done in the past. Singling out Japan is just pure absurd. There's no difference. Why? Because people have been always suffering. The only way to overcome this suffering is to "let it go" and "hold no more grudge" against others. This is the basis for why no Southeast Asian countries have ever used the issue and other war crimes Japan did as a political tool like China and Korea. Third, some people look at the issue from a modern perspective. It should be noted here that women (especially young girls) were seen as property in Asia at that time. It was stated clearly in the Meiji Constitution that women were men's property. Trying to put the woke mind and post-war Europerspesptive way of thinking into investigating the issue won't get you anywhere. Keep these aspects in mind, you Western readers -- The book is well-versed and easy to read in English, thanks to Prof. Morgan's proficiency in academic Japanese.

I'm not saying the Imperial Japanese Army didn't do it. What I'm saying, according to primary sources provided in this book, is that Korea exacerbates the issue to keep milking Japan by declaring that hundreds of thousands of Korean women were "kidnapped" whereas, as records show, more than half of the comfort women were Japanese women. As the Korean government keeps milking this issue, some Japanese nationalists come up with their "enough is enough" and "no more bowing to Korea" kind of attitude. I would be surprised if there were no reactions from the Japanese side though. That said, if you've read the book and other books that deal with this issue objectively, you can see that this entire comfort women issue has been too ridiculously politicized to the point that questioning means that you are pro-Japanese imperialist.

So, keep in mind, if you come from a woke mind, you won't like this book. If you're an open-minded progressive, you will understand the comfort women issue more thoughtfully and thoroughly how did it get to this point. It's up to you to believe in the wartime records or believe in the heartbreaking images of "peace statues" being erected all over the world.

p.s. other reviews accusing the author of being conservative are plain wrong. Hata is considered to be the most sophisticated historian on the matter who is specialized in using primary sources unbiasedly. By the way, he is often accused by right-wing commentators in Japan to be a traitor for speaking "the truth". He is also the former chairman of the Asian Women's Fund.

[Alice Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply researched and genuinely illuminating study

Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone is an exceptionally thorough and carefully documented work. What stands out immediately is Ikuhiko Hata’s commitment to grounding the discussion in primary sources—military records, administrative documents, eyewitness accounts, and postwar diplomatic correspondence. Instead of repeating familiar narratives, Hata reconstructs the system as it actually functioned within the wartime environment, drawing on material that is often overlooked or misunderstood.

This English edition is invaluable because it brings a vast body of Japanese scholarship to a wider audience. It also includes updates on the international debates that have continued into recent decades: disagreements between Japan, South Korea, and China; shifting political positions; and the reaction from institutions such as the U.S. House of Representatives. Hata approaches these developments not as political drama, but as part of a long and evolving historical conversation.

The book’s greatest strength is its insistence on nuance. It avoids simplistic, one-dimensional portrayals and instead presents the system in all its complexity—logistics, regulation, recruitment structures, battlefield realities, and the ways memory and politics transformed the issue long after the war. It’s the kind of work that rewards readers who want context instead of slogans, documentation instead of assumptions.

Whether or not one agrees with every conclusion, the evidence-based approach makes this an essential resource. For researchers, students of East Asian history, or anyone trying to understand how this controversy developed over time, Hata provides a foundation that is both rigorous and remarkably informative.

An important, eye-opening book—highly recommended.

[Gerald Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hata doesn’t write to reassure the reader or to fit neatly into an accepted moral script. He writes like a historian who believes that complexity matters more than applause. Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone forces you to slow down, question assumptions, and sit with evidence that doesn’t always point in the direction you might expect...

Hata avoids emotional manipulation and instead leans heavily on documents, testimonies, and institutional records. That approach won’t satisfy readers looking for a single, clean narrative of victim and villain, but it’s exactly what makes the book valuable. History, especially on subjects this charged, is rarely clean.

I respect authors that take intellectual risks. Writing about the comfort women system from any angle that departs from the dominant narrative takes real courage, and Hata clearly understands the professional and personal costs of doing so. You don’t have to agree with every conclusion to recognize the seriousness of the work.

[Zea Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.. I didn’t expect this book to hit me so hard. I felt like opening a chapter of history that’s usually too uncomfortable to talk about. Hata doesn’t preach, he just lays out the evidence, clearly and calmly, even when it challenges what we think we know.

The women in these pages feel real, not just symbols or headlines. There were moments I had to pause, just to absorb the humanity behind all the data. These women’s lives weren’t simple, and Hata treats that complexity with respect. He doesn’t paint them as symbols, but as real individuals caught in impossible circumstances.

[Camille Cress · Rating 5 out of 5]

What struck me most about this book is its honesty. It doesn’t sugarcoat or hide behind easy narratives. The truths here are uncomfortable, but they matter. I felt a mix of sorrow and anger reading about what these women went through, yet I also felt grateful that their experiences are preserved on the page. This is one of those books that forces you to really see history, not just glance at it.

[Aaron Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because we should look at history from all sides, not just one, and its important to be fair and calm when talking about serious things from the past.

[Ellie Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It traces deep historical roots, challenges politicized claims, and urges us to see beyond modern guilt-driven perspectives. A must-read for those seeking real context.