Foreword, Cynthia Enloe
Preface, Sheila S. Coronel, Editor
Introduction, Yuki Tanaka
Chapter 1 My Mother, Julia
Chapter 2 My Childhood
Chapter 3 The War Begins
Chapter 4 Comfort Woman
Chapter 5 Pain and Recovery
Chapter 6 My Married Life
Chapter 7 Single Mother
Chapter 8 Going Public
Chronology
Maria Rosa Henson, 1928–1996, was the first comfort woman to go
public with her story in 1992 and fought actively until her death
for justice and reparations from the Japanese government.
Yuki Tanaka was research professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute
of Hiroshima City University until his retirement in 2015.
Cynthia Enloe is research professorin the Department of
International Development, Community, and Social Change and the
Department of Women’s Studies at Clark University.
The book's value has been increased markedly by the inclusion of
Tnaka's cogent introduction that works so well in conjunction with
Henson's gripping life experience. Comfort Woman will be a welcome
addition to courses in Asian studies as well as women's history
courses. The only problem readers may have is an emotional one.
*Journal of Global South Studies*
A compelling and moving account of one Filipina's ordeal under the
Japanese military. It is also a story of survival, and of a
lifelong quest for healing and for justice. Maria Rosa Henson
deserves praise for her honesty and courage. By revealing to us her
painful experiences, Mrs. Henson broke a fifty-year silence and
made the world aware of the brutality of war and its savageness to
women. We are greatly enriched by this story and inspired by how
one woman can overcome such epic suffering and still have such
compassion and such faith.
*Corazon C. Aquino*
Henson's book is different for two reasons: she experienced the
tragedy firsthand and therefore speaks with authority; but she also
speaks with the voice of healing, since she has lived with her
nightmare for decades and survived, both physically and
spiritually. Another amazing aspect of this book is that despite
its title, it does not focus narrowly on the sex-slave controversy.
Henson died in August 1997, but her words live on. Her example is
unforgettable.
*Japan Times*
This book makes clear that what the Japanese army did was only the
worst example of oppression against women in the long history of
colonialism and imperialism in the Philippines. It serves a
corroborative text for historians, a call to arms for feminists and
human rights activists, and, finally, a life-affirming reminder of
the indomitability of the human spirit for all readers.
*Persimmon*
Maria Rosa Henson's Comfort Woman is a straightforward, painful
account, simply told. A powerful account of a woman's life
controlled by men, both Filipino and Japanese.
*Feminist Formations*
Serves as a good introduction to readers who may be approaching the
subject of 'comfort women' for the first time. Henson's
autobiography becomes more than just the telling of the untold but
ultimately the revealing of the unseen and the unsaid. [She] is not
only able to recount the nightmare of her abduction and confinement
in a 'comfort station,' but she articulates the day to day
degradation and hardship that women are subjected to long before
and after the war is over.
*Pilipinas*
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