New novel exposes Japan’s darkest secret

Daughters of The Dragon – A Comfort Woman’s Story, a new novel from Minnesota-based author William Andrews, seeks to expose Americans to Japan’s forced sexual enslavement of women during WWII euphemistically called comfort women. The Japanese government, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, appears to be moving to deny the atrocity. NYTimes article on Japan's move to revisit the comfort women situation. According to a February 2013 survey conducted by MADhouse Press (SEE attached History Awareness Study), 80% of U.S. respondents said they were not familiar with the comfort woman atrocity. Yet when told about it, 90% said Japan should fully apologize and offer reparations – something the nation has never done. The situation has caused tensions between Japan and the rest of East Asia.http://news.yahoo.com/u-calls-urgent-restraint-ease-japan-korea-tensions-202228190.html;_ylt=AwrBJR7IQRZTSDAA1APQtDMD “It appears that the current administration is trying to bury the atrocity,” says Andrews. “So, I had to write about it. The surviving comfort women are dying off and Japan. Given that current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeated denied the atrocity, Japan probably never fully apologize before all the comfort women are gone. Most Americans don’t know about this atrocity. Hopefully, my book can raise awareness.” About the Novel: The Japanese take Ja-hee, a 14-year-old Korean girl, to be a sex slave, or “comfort woman” for the Imperial Army during World War II. Ja-hee suffers terribly at the hands of the Japanese and when the war is over, she must overcome her ordeal to carry on an important family legacy. But being a comfort woman shapes the rest of Ja-hee’s life as she finds and loses true love in North Korea. After escaping to the south, she’s forced to run a kijichon (brothel) for the American military in South Korea. Finally, she finds success in the cold capitalism of South Korea’s economic boom until her coworkers discover that she was a comfort woman, throwing her into abject poverty again. Through courage and strength, Ja-hee is able to overcome her past and fulfill her duty to her family. A compelling work of fiction based on carefully researched history, Daughters of the Dragon – A Comfort Woman’s Story will expose readers to the comfort women atrocity and give them a better understanding of Korea and what’s behind the current tensions between Japan and the rest of Asia. Source: PRWEB