ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how museums for peace depict juugun ianfu (従軍 慰安婦), the institution of sexual enslavement by the Imperial Japanese military, euphemistically known as the “comfort women” system. The common aim among the museums presenting the military sexual enslavement phenomenon has been to highlight the history and injustices of the system. The museum exhibits include oral history testimonies of survivors and the call to redress the human rights violations. By positioning themselves as part of the “comfort women redress movement,” the museums’ presentations are counter-narratives that oppose the iconic, national identity narratives which justify and normalize the practice. These narratives also stand in opposition to a backlash and denialist movement led by historical revisionists and the Japanese right wing. The museums’ agenda of consciousness-raising and advocacy for the victims and survivors are discredited as falsehoods and distortions by these backlash narratives and public opinion against reparations and redress. By adopting a meta-witnessing perspective, the museums facilitate co-witnessing and co-constructive processes that generate new narratives to acknowledge the complexities of human nature and our collective identities, and that open meaningful pathways toward justice and a shared sense of well-being.
