Taiwan was under Japanese control during the Second World War. During this time, Taiwanese citizens had to support a wartime economy ("World War II Memories in Taiwan: My Grandpa and WWII”). Japan placed prisoners of war in Taiwan, and these camps contained people of all sorts of ethnicities.
The Military
Japan needed more soldiers to serve in the war, so they drafted Taiwanese men into the army.
As you can see from the uniform and goggles, this Taiwanese is a pilot serving Japan. This pilot has a forced membership to serve in the Japanese air force. Gender roles are also displayed through the fact that only men were drafted in the military.
As you can see from the uniform and goggles, this Taiwanese is a pilot serving Japan. This pilot has a forced membership to serve in the Japanese air force. Gender roles are also displayed through the fact that only men were drafted in the military.
“Comfort women” were brought from Taiwan, Korea, China, and other Southeast Asian countries and forced to be sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers (“Taiwanese History”).
Please go to this link to watch a video of the personal accounts of a former Japanese soldier and women from various countries who were forced to be comfort women: http://www.changjinlee.net/cww/index.html.
Only recently has Japan officially apologized for its actions to the comfort women. Osaka Mayor Hashimoto made a speech on May 27, 2013 in regards to his views about comfort women. He declares:
“I am totally in agreement that the use of ‘comfort women’…was an inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women… I also strongly believe that Japan must reflect upon its past offenses with humility and express a heartfelt apology and regret to those women who suffered from the wartime atrocities as comfort women. Our nation must be determined to stop this kind of tragedy from occurring again” ("Full Text of Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's Speech | The Japan Times").
Please go to this link to watch a video of the personal accounts of a former Japanese soldier and women from various countries who were forced to be comfort women: http://www.changjinlee.net/cww/index.html.
Only recently has Japan officially apologized for its actions to the comfort women. Osaka Mayor Hashimoto made a speech on May 27, 2013 in regards to his views about comfort women. He declares:
“I am totally in agreement that the use of ‘comfort women’…was an inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women… I also strongly believe that Japan must reflect upon its past offenses with humility and express a heartfelt apology and regret to those women who suffered from the wartime atrocities as comfort women. Our nation must be determined to stop this kind of tragedy from occurring again” ("Full Text of Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's Speech | The Japan Times").
An ad-like billboard of a Taiwanese comfort woman survivor.
Bomb Raids
In 1944 and 1945, U.S. planes began attacking Taiwan, dropping bombs on Taiwanese cities. These bombing raids were intended to destroy important buildings, cutting out access to supplies. However, many residential areas were bombed too. During this time, many of the Taiwanese people had to hide in air-raid shelters until the bombing stopped. Children were only allowed to go between home and school to ensure safety ("Bombing of Taiwan 1944-45”).
POW Camps
Since Japan had no space for prisoner-of-war camps, so they sent them to fourteen camps built in Taiwan. In these camps these men were treated brutally by the Japanese soldiers, given almost no food and long working hours. They were beaten and their medical needs were unattended, resulting in deaths of most of the men (“The Camps”).
Taiwanese men were also assigned to oversee these camps and were forced to treat prisoners harshly. Soldier Chien Mao-sung was one of the Taiwanese men who treated the POWs kindly because they weren’t enemies of Taiwan. However, he was forced by a Japanese soldier to slap a British POW who didn’t salute him:
“I hesitated and the officer threatened to penalize me for disobeying his order, so I decided just to slightly touch the POW’s face. The Japanese officer wasn’t satisfied and ordered me to hit hard…To this date, I still remember the anger and humiliation in the British officer’s eyes” (Lok-sin, “INTERVIEW: Former Soldier Seeks Justice from Japanese”).
Since the POWs were mistreated, almost all of them would have died if America didn’t drop the atomic bombs in 1945 that forced Japan to surrender (“The Camps”).
Taiwanese men were also assigned to oversee these camps and were forced to treat prisoners harshly. Soldier Chien Mao-sung was one of the Taiwanese men who treated the POWs kindly because they weren’t enemies of Taiwan. However, he was forced by a Japanese soldier to slap a British POW who didn’t salute him:
“I hesitated and the officer threatened to penalize me for disobeying his order, so I decided just to slightly touch the POW’s face. The Japanese officer wasn’t satisfied and ordered me to hit hard…To this date, I still remember the anger and humiliation in the British officer’s eyes” (Lok-sin, “INTERVIEW: Former Soldier Seeks Justice from Japanese”).
Since the POWs were mistreated, almost all of them would have died if America didn’t drop the atomic bombs in 1945 that forced Japan to surrender (“The Camps”).