OKINAWA MAIN ISLAND AND OUTLYING ISLAND GROUPS Kunigami village Kourijima Iejima Ōgimi village Nakijin village Higashi village Yagajijima Ōjima Motobu town Minnajima Haneji village Iheya village Sesokojima Nago town Kushi village Gushikawajima Izenajima Onna village KUNIGAMI DISTRICT Kerama Islands Misato village Kin village Zamami village Goeku village Yonagusuku village Gushikawa village Ikeijima Yomitan village Miyagijima Tokashiki village Henzajima Ikemajima Chatan village Hamahigajima Irabu village Miyakojima Islands Ginowan village Katsuren village Kita Daitōjima Urasoe village Irabujima Hirara town NAKAGAMI DISTRICT Simojijima Shuri city Nakagusuku village Nishihara village Tsukenjima Gusukube village Mawashi village Minami Daitōjima Tarama village Haebaru village Ōzato village Kurimajima Naha city Oki Daitōjima Shimoji village Sashiki village Okinotorishima Uozurijima Kudakajima Chinen village Yaeyama Islands Kubajima Tamagusuku village Tono shirojima Gushikami village Kochinda village SHIMAJIRI DISTRICT Hatomamajima Mabuni village Taketomi village Kyan village Oōhama village Makabe village Iriomotejima Kumetorishima Takamine village Aguni village Kohamajima Kume Island Itoman city Taketomijima Ishigaki town Kanegusuku village Torishima Kuroshima Tomigusuku village Haterumajima Gushikawa village Oroku village Aragusukujima Nakazato village Tonaki village Yonaguni village Map 2.1 The administrative units of Okinawa Prefecture (1916) <UN> Chapter 2 The Okinawan War and the Comfort Stations: An Overview (1944–45) The sudden expansion of military comfort stations (ianjo) after 1944 proved controversial in Okinawan society. About two-thirds of the women forced to staff those venues were Koreans, and their presence was resented by many islanders. Before examining the reaction of Okinawans, however, I will con- sider what the ianjo represented for the colonized women forced to staff them. Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. Koreans viewed the sexual violence imperial forces practiced against Korean women during the Asia-Pacific War as a direct consequence of Japan’s usurpation of their national sovereignty. To Koreans generally, a woman’s body was the representational expression of a greater “ethno-body,” and the massive mobilization of comfort women (ianfu) after 1938 was a grievous affront to Korean ethno-national identity. The Japa- nese military sequestered the ianfu in specially established rear-area facilities in part to avoid a nationalist reaction in occupied Korea, often embedding them in army and navy units. The comfort station was a mechanism for trans- forming Korean women into sexualized objects. They became military prop- erty, alienated not only from their physical bodies but from the ethno-body, as well. 1 Chōsen Pī and the Debate over Public Morals A fierce anti-Japanese consciousness is spreading rapidly caused by wide- spread accounts of rape by Japanese soldiers. Those acts have generated unexpectedly serious anti-Japanese sentiment. 41st Infantry Regiment: Staff Daily Activity Report, July 1938 1.1 Comfort Stations The system of Japanese military comfort stations expanded rapidly following Japan’s assault on China in the summer of 1937.1 The invasion led in December 1 The “comfort-station” concept was first tested in Shanghai during the cantonment of impe- rial troops in 1932. Okuma Yasuji, deputy chief of staff of the imperial army’s Shanghai Expe- ditionary Force, was the first high-ranking officer to promote the creation of sex facilities, © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���� | doi:10.1163/9789004419513_004 <UN>.