Groups urge recognition of war crime

A woman places a flower to commemorate deceased comfort women during a 2012 ceremony held outside Japan's representative office in Taipei, Taiwan. David Chang / For China Daily

'Learn from the past'

Another lola, who goes by the name Virgie, stepped out from the crowd at the embassy and demanded not only action over the war crimes, but also for the Japanese government to put an end to aggression.

"We've been demanding justice for so long. Abe must learn from the past and resolve this crime against humanity," she said.

Virgie and a dozen other lolas demanded not only an apology, but also legal redress and compensation.

According to Lila Pilipina, none of the women has received any assistance from the Japanese or Philippine governments despite years of struggling before international and local courts, telling their stories to the media and taking to the streets to make their voices heard.

"That is the sad reality," Extremadura said. "We cannot go to the legal arena, we cannot go to Congress. So the streets are the only places open for us."

In 2010, the Philippine Supreme Court denied the comfort women's petition to hold the Japanese government accountable for crimes committed during the war.

Extremadura said the Philippine government was satisfied with an apology made by the then-Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2002. In a letter, Koizumi said the sexual slavery was "a grave affront to the honor and dignity of a large number of women".

Between 80,000 to 200,000 women in South Korea, China and the Philippines are believed to have been forced into sexual slavery.

Koizumi's apology was later rendered meaningless when in 2007, during his first term as prime minister, Abe issued a controversial statement saying that women were not forced to be sex slaves because "there was no evidence to prove there was coercion".

In May 2013, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto sparked protests by saying sex slaves played a necessary role in providing relief for Japanese soldiers during the war.

Extremadura responded to Hashimoto's comments by saying Japan simply "cannot rewrite history by justifying such wrongful acts and thus exonerate its crimes against women".

Lila Pilipina has for years fought for the inclusion of the comfort women's experience in the country's history textbooks. But not a single line has been devoted to their story.

High school students graduate with little or no knowledge of the abuse the women endured during the Japanese occupation.

However, they heard tales last month, because March was "women's month" in the Philippines, when it is customary for television stations to air stories about the lolas.