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Paper short abstract

This paper examines decolonial feminism in Japan through the Japanese military “comfort women” issue, arguing that it compelled Japanese feminism to confront Japan’s colonial rule and war responsibility, while asking how this unfinished engagement can be sustained in the present.

Paper long abstract

This paper re-examines the development and positioning of decolonial feminism in Japan, focusing on the issue of the Japanese military “comfort women.” Decolonial feminism has developed internationally as a theoretical framework that critiques the modernity and colonialism embedded within feminism, while centering the experiences and knowledge of women who have historically been placed in subordinated positions. In the context of Japanese feminism, however, this perspective has rarely been articulated in a sustained and systematic manner.

In recent years, publications and scholarly interventions by Ainu women and Buraku women have made visible renewed efforts to interrogate colonialism and structures of discrimination within Japanese society from feminist perspectives. These debates have generated growing demands for Japanese feminism to engage with decolonial feminism as a theoretical and political task, and the paper situates itself within this contemporary context.

While practices resonant with decolonial feminist concerns—such as support for migrant women workers and activism by Zainichi Korean women—have existed, they have often remained marginalized within mainstream feminist discourse. As a result, engagement with Japan’s colonial past and war responsibility has remained limited.

Against this backdrop, the paper marks the emergence of the Japanese military “comfort women” issue in the 1990s as a decisive historical moment that compelled Japanese feminism to confront decolonial questions. This issue not only concerns sexual violence against women but also fundamentally calls into question Japan’s colonial rule and war responsibility. Until Korean women began to address the issue publicly, it was not proactively taken up as a feminist issue within Japan.

This paper does not approach decolonial feminism as a definitive or final framework. Rather, it conceptualizes decolonial feminism as an unfinished project that emerged through this historical confrontation and continues to be reconstituted through the interplay between historical experience and present-day practices. From this perspective, the “comfort women” issue remains a central task, as the responses it generated were never fully realized. The issue continues to demand feminist practices that resist forgetting and sustain ethical commitments to the dignity of survivors. Through this analysis, the paper considers how Japanese feminism can continue to engage with decolonial challenges.