Overview
This is a pioneering work on ""karayuki-san"", impoverished Japanese women sent abroad to work as prostitutes from the 1860s to the 1920s. The narrative follows the life of one such prostitute, Osaki, who is persuaded as a child of ten to accept cleaning work in Sandakan, North Borneo, and then forced to work as a prostitute in a Japanese brothel, one of the many such brothels that were established throughout Asia in conjunction with the expansion of Japanese business interests. Yamazaki views Osaki as the embodiment of the suffering experienced by all Japanese women, who have long been oppressed under the dual yoke of class and gender. This tale provides the historical and anthropological context for understanding the sexual exploitation of Asian women before and during the Pacific War and for the growing flesh trade in Southeast Asia and Japan today. Young women are being brought to Japan with the same false promises that enticed Osaki to Borneo 80 years ago. Yamazaki Tomoko, who herself endured many economic and social hardships during and after the war, has devoted her life to documenting the history of the exchange of women between Japan and other Asian countries since 1868. She has worked directly with ""karayuki-san"", military comfort women, war orphans, repatriates, women sent as picture brides to China and Manchuria, Asian women who have wed into Japanese farming communities, and Japanese women married to other Asians in Japan.
Full Product Details
Author: Tomoko Yamazaki ,
Karen F. Colligan-Taylor ,
Karen F. Colligan-Taylor
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.362kg
ISBN: 9780765603548
ISBN 10: 0765603543
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 30 September 1998
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Yamazaki Tomoko has published numerous books and articles documenting the modern history of lower-class Japanese women who have gone abroad and Asian women who have come to Japan. For three decades she has conducted a study group in Tokyo which provides a forum for research on women’s history in the context of Japan’s interaction with Asian countries., Karen Colligan-Taylor is Professor of Japanese Studies and Women’s Studies at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. She earned her Ph.D. at Stanford University, focusing on the evolution of environmental literature in Japan. In her current research she continues to explore the environmental and human costs of rapid economic development.
