Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations
Tokyo Women’s Tribunal – Voices of the Women Working Behind the Scenes
(Part Two)
Interviews of Indai Sajor, Aurora De Dios, and Susan Macabuag
By Aishwarya Arumugham and Lee Jia Ying
Published on 19 January 2024
This is part 2 of a two-part blog post that discusses the rationale, organization, and impact of the Tokyo Women’s Tribunal (TWT), a peoples’ tribunal that addressed the mass rape and sexual enslavement of women by Japanese military personnel during the Second World War. It features excerpts from a series of interviews conducted by the authors with Indai Sajor, Aurora de Dios, and Susan Macabuag, three Filipina activists who played key roles in the organizing of the TWT.
Part 1 explored the ideas underlying the TWT, the influence of familial ties and secrecy on the TWT’s organization, and the TWT’s engagement with individual and state responsibility. Part 2 examines some challenges encountered by activists when organizing the TWT. It ends with our interviewees’ advice to future generations.
Question: What were some of the challenges you faced when organising the TWT?
Indai Sajor: We had to prepare sufficient evidence, and it was a challenge to locate evidence 50 years after the Second World War. We encountered enormous cultural barriers when gathering evidence. Not only did the Filipino team have their own researchers in Japan who conducted research in Japan’s archives, the team also went down to the villages to gather the stories of the affected women. When asked about their past, the women had to try to remember when the Japanese occupied their villages or provinces, when the fighting occurred, and what they were planting during that time. As such, the Filipino team had a hard time trying to put together a coherent narrative for the women. Eventually, for this case, Japanese researchers in Japan found out that the specific battalion/platoon was in this province in the Philippines during that specific time period and who did go to that certain village.
We collected evidence at three levels: First, the testimonies of the ‘comfort women’. Second, research done in the Japanese war archives. Third, the corroborative statements from families, neighbours, local archives and other historical documents. Every country’s team had their own approach. I remember that the Taiwan team was really supported by their government and the team was well equipped with historical researchers.
We did not only interview the ‘comfort women’. We also interviewed a lot of people including the former guerrilla fighters and local government officials. The court cases filed on behalf of ‘comfort women’ at the Tokyo District Court actually paved the way for the required documentation for the TWT. By the time the TWT started, we had a body of well-established evidence.
Question: When you and your team decided to hold the TWT in Japan, did you face any resistance from the Japanese government?
Susan Macabuag: While the TWT was going on in Tokyo, there were some rightist groups who marched around the area where the TWT was located. We were disturbed for a while, but police officers came and intervened. We mostly kept to ourselves in the building.
Indai Sajor: There were always pickets and rallies against us. There were bullhorns, banners and men shouting that the ‘comfort women’ were all prostitutes. Everywhere the ‘comfort women’ went, there was a small picket against them. Eventually Yayori Matsui even received death threats. She had to live in other peoples’ houses after the TWT and move around because of the death threats. While the TWT was being held, there were members of the right-wing groups standing the whole day outside the hall with bullhorns. They threatened us every time we have a presence in any area.
There was also a lot of political pressure. There was another venue that we initially wanted to use for the TWT since it was bigger. At first, the government allowed us to have the TWT there. Later there was political pressure and we were informed that the venue was already booked. We had to move to Kudan Kaikan which turned out for the best as it was near the Emperor’s palace.
Question: Was it a challenge to obtain sufficient funding for the TWT?
Aurora de Dios: There was a lack of funds. In fact, we hosted meetings in our own houses and even had to travel using our own money so whenever we were abroad, we stayed in modest accommodations like our friends’ homes.
Indai Sajor: I raised funds internationally for the tribunal. We also had other jobs, for example, I was giving women’s human rights training in Asia. It was only when the TWT began that we received institutional funding, such as from donor agencies supportive of women’s human rights. All our trips to Tokyo were funded by the Japanese support groups. The Catholic Church of Japan also played a very big role in funding the expenses of the ‘comfort women’, especially for the Filipino ‘comfort women’ since many of them were Catholics. The lawyers gave their time ‘pro bono’. They had to travel to other countries to research and interview former ‘comfort women’, funding their own trips and hotels. The money raised went to the travels of the former ‘comfort women’ and their medical needs as needed without the help of any government.
Question: Was there a sentiment of apology and remorse from the Japanese people that was not reflected at the official level?
Aurora de Dios: Yes. In fact, Japanese universities would organise study tours in the Philippines and they would visit our school, communities and they were saying that the ‘comfort women’ issue was never mentioned in their textbooks. There probably was a news blackout on this issue because commentators and announcers were not raising the issue as much as they should have been. Because of that, the Japanese public did not quite understand the depth of this issue and how Southeast Asian people invaded by Japan felt about this issue. I think that is something that the Japanese government was not very eager to correct because their version was revisionist from the very start. So it was up to the ordinary Japanese students and professors to correct that on a people-to-people level.
I think these efforts are good, but it is not institutionalised if it is not official. For example, compare this to what has been done in Germany. I am impressed that the Japanese people are doing it all by themselves individually or collectively, but I am very disappointed about the Japanese government. There were attempts by the Japanese socialist parties and initiatives coming from the more progressive parliamentarians, but these efforts did not really progress due to election results.
Question: How did the Philippines’ public reacted to the TWT? Was there more awareness of the ‘comfort women’ in the Philippines after the TWT?
Indai Sajor: Well, after the TWT, it was like a celebration back in the Philippines. I brought one of the biggest TV network in the Philippines called GMA to Tokyo and they did a whole documentary on the TWT, a series that went on in prime time in the Philippines. Victimized countries brought their own national TV networks to cover the TWT. I was interviewed by CNN, BBC and other international media network and the TWT judgment was much discussed. In the Philippines, the TWT was on the news. This made the Lolas very, very proud.
Question: Moving forward, do you have any advice for young budding activists and lawyers interested in the ‘comfort women’ issue and human rights?
Susan Macabuag: One thing to work on is the field of education. The Philippines department of education used to carry the stories of these ‘comfort women’ in history books, but now this has been done away with.
Aurora de Dios: Another way to help would be to memorialise the ‘comfort women’ issue through monuments. Till date, efforts to memorialise the ‘comfort women’ are not very successful. A memorial used to be set up in front of Manilla Bay, near the hotel where a massive rape during the Japanese retreat occurred. At first, it was welcomed by the mayor but later, it was removed due to political reasons. Specifically, the Japanese embassy insisted that it be removed. It is all very political because Japan is the biggest donor of aid to the Philippines. It is all complicated by the economic dependence of the Philippines on Japanese assistance.
Lastly, we must institutionalise the remembrance and the discussion of this issue in all of the countries that were invaded by Japan.
Indai Sajor: It is important to recognise that the work on the ‘comfort women’ issue was very legal in all aspects of its advocacy and campaign for justice, compensation and reparation from the very start. The reference point was always international humanitarian law and what was due to women as victims of sexual violence in times of conflict. This approach helped to link the ‘comfort women’ issue with international law and that made a difference. As young lawyers, you have to get involved in these type of cases. There will be more war crimes coming up and your expertise in gender justice will be much needed. There is so much to push for in international law and international humanitarian law to change it and make a difference in the countless lives of women who are victims of rape and sexual violence in war.
Part One of the Interviews.