Title: Comfort Women Not Sex Slaves: Rectifying the Myriad of Perspectives (Second Edition)
Author: Koichi Mera
Publishing: Toplink Publishing
ISBN: 978-1949169720
Pages: 140
Genre: History
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent

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Comfort Women Not Sex Slaves is a provocative book about a forgotten chapter in World War II history. Koichi Mera has written a book that will make readers think differently about history. This book tells the story of thousands of Japanese and Korean women who were sex workers who served the Japanese military during World War II. The women were called “comfort women” and some women alleged that they were coerced into sex work to a Japanese newspaper. Many feminists and activists fought to have comfort women honored and apologized to by the Japanese and American governments. They also fought to have a statue dedicated to the women in San Francisco as well. However, Mera contends that the story of one woman was a fabrication and that the women did the work willingly. He also writes about Japanese and Korean women who took the work because it was well-paid and asserts that they were not victims of the Japanese government.

Mera writes convincingly about how some Japanese women were willing to be comfort women. He writes well about how sex work was not demeaning into those women and how history can be distorted. His academic research adds to his theories with legal documents like the Kono Document that shows the Japanese government apologized to the comfort women. Comfort Women Not Sex Slaves has newspaper articles from the New York Times about whether the women were coerced into sex work or not. Mera’s work is also supported by other documents that present a contrarian view about the comfort women of Japan.

While many may not agree with Mera’s conservative views about how comfort women were treated, Mera still presents a point of view that deserves to be shared with readers. The book may be best for readers who want to read about different points of view about gender and sexuality, especially in this #MeToo era. Comfort Women Not Sex Slaves would also be best for readers who want to read different views about Japanese history. Additionally, the book would be ideal for readers who enjoy debates about history. This book could be presented in a Japanese history class in contrast to books like The Comfort Women by George Hicks.

Comfort Women Not Sex Slaves is a book that readers will find enlightening and intriguing. Mera’s text is a book that will definitely inspire a discussion among readers and is a book that will make readers think.