Osaka activists rally monthly since 2005 to honor “comfort women” and fight Japan’s denial of WWII sexual slavery history.
Beijing, China, July 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On the first Wednesday of every month since 2005, rain or shine, a determined circle forms outside Osaka Station. Holding portraits of silver-haired women and signs reading “Let us build a society together where peace and human rights prevail, preserving the memory of history,” members of a Japanese civil group raise voices that Tokyo has long tried to silence. As Japan marks 80 years since its World War II (WWII) defeat, this citizen-led movement battles historical amnesia while time runs out for the remaining victims.
The civil group Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue, Kansai Network – began by petitioning local assemblies to adopt resolutions urging Japan’s government apologize and compensate survivors of Imperial Japan’s military sexual slavery system. Initially a regional effort, this initiative soon merged with nationwide activism. In 2010, the organization joined forces with other activists across Japan to establish the Japan Nationwide Action for the Resolution of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue, Pang Chong-ja, representative of the organization, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
Today, its core group of 15 organizers – mostly aged 60-70, with younger supporters joining monthly assemblies – continues to sustain a fragile bridge between vanishing survivors and Japan’s forgetful present.
According to the organization’s website, one of their main activities is the Osaka Wednesday Rally. What began as a fragile gathering of 20 activists on a pedestrian bridge outside Osaka Station has grown into a sustained act of defiance against historical erasure. By June 2025, the rally had reached its 225th iteration, with crowds swelling to 60 — a testament to resilience where crowds reached 60.
When introducing the origin of the activity, the civil group said on its website that organizers believed that they “couldn’t keep asking elderly survivors to relive trauma,” so they began holding Wednesday Rally – notably shifting from speeches to street theater and live music.
The organization has confronted obstruction from right-wing hate group members and the Japanese authorities. November 2009 brought orchestrated assaults when a group stormed the footbridge, spewing hate speech. Yet the organization later reclaimed the bridge through sheer determination, facing down both extremists and complicit authorities. After relocating monthly across Osaka’s terminals, they finally established a long-term rally point in 2015, according to their website.
“Since its inception, we have firmly opposed hate speech and activities targeting victims of Japanese military sexual violence, and we have consistently resisted pressure from the [Japanese] government and police authorities without yielding,” Pang said.
“Over the past 15 years, we have invited victims [comfort women] from various countries to hold testimonial gatherings in South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Timor-Leste on multiple occasions,” Pang told the Global Times.
When recalling the unforgettable episode during their activities, Pang said her most searing memory remains Kim Bok-dong, a survivor who confronted Osaka’s then-mayor Toru Hashimoto in 2012-13 after he callously declared wartime sexual slavery “necessary.” According to Pang, Kim faced down politicians who demanded “evidence” of her trauma. Another then survivor, Gil Won-ok, sang at the network’s 10th anniversary in 2019 despite declining health. According to multiple media reports, Kim died in January 2019 in South Korea at the age of 92. Gil died in February 2025 in South Korea at the age of 96.
Such testimonies, painstakingly recorded in recent years, now form an urgent archive. “Early testimonies weren’t preserved,” the civil group acknowledged. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they streamed documentaries of survivors’ accounts during online vigils – a digital lifeline to counter government-sanctioned erasure.
With only a few survivors alive worldwide, the organization now supports Indonesian victims through the Nationwide Action group, sending aid and visiting survivors.
But systemic barriers persist. “Japan’s government hides history,” Pang asserted. “Young people are robbed of the truth,” Pang said, blaming textbook sanitization and media censorship in Japan.
Although the representative reveals deeper wounds during their long-term activities: public indifference, hope emerges. “Some young activists link wartime sexual violence to modern gender discrimination,” Pang noted.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The organization said they would hold on August 16 a nationwide action commemorating the August 14 International Memorial Day for “Comfort Women.” Also, they are mulling an activity in November to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
“We have persistently addressed issues such as the Japanese government’s inflammatory remarks and pressure to remove ‘Peace Statue’ and ‘Comfort Women’ statues in various countries, protesting and making formal requests each time,” Pang told the Global Times.
“We will continue to engage in this struggle without yielding,” the representative said.
This story first appeared in Global Times:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202506/1337249.shtml
Company: Global Times
Contact Person: Anna Li
Email: editor@globaltimes.com.cn
Website: https://globaltimes.cn
City: Beijing
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