There are some such cemeteries near many cities in Southeast Asia today. They are far from the cemetery, independent pieces, often dilapidated, overgrown, and the tombstones inside are mostly very small, and the tombstones are written on Chinese, but don't misunderstand that this is the grave of the Chinese who died in Nanyang, because these tombstones are all Japanese, and they are all Japanese women.
A Japanese cemetery near Yangon, Myanmar
These tombstones bury a history that embarrasses the Japanese.
In 1974, the Japanese movie "Wangxiang" was released, telling the story of Azaki, a young Japanese girl in the early 20th century, who was abducted and sold to Southeast Asia in order to get her family out of poverty, listen to lies, and sell herself. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year, which caused great repercussions and controversy in Japan. Right-wingers in Japan even sent people to smash movie theaters and ban the film, because the tragic history of these forgotten Japanese women slapped the whole of Japan in the face.
The movie "Wangxiang" caused a poster in China
In 1978, "Wanggo" was introduced into Chinese mainland, becoming the second Japanese film to be released in Chinese mainland after "The Manhunt", and one stone stirred up thousands of waves, causing no less shock than it caused in Japan. Because of its subject matter, this film was regarded as an "erotic movie" by the Chinese who was still very conservative at the time, but the quality of the film and the extremely shocking historical story still touched a generation of Chinese.
These Japanese women, who were either voluntarily or forced to sell sex in Southeast Asia, were called "Nanyang sisters". This sad and bumpy history is destined to be forgotten and will not be found in the history textbooks of any country. However, the graves of those once alive Japanese girls still silently tell the world that history.
A Japanese cemetery in Singapore, where Japanese soldiers who invaded Singapore and Nanyang sisters who were once in Singapore are buried
Chinese writer Shen Congwen wrote a short story called "Husband", which tells the story of a "bad habit" in the Xiangxi region of Hunan during the Republican period, when rural families were generally poor, husbands would farm in the countryside, and wives would go to the city to "work" to subsidize the family. This story has the same core as "Wangxiang".
Shen Congwen is a great modern Chinese writer and scholar
So, why do Japanese Nanyang sisters go to Southeast Asia to work as prostitutes? The reason is simple, poverty is the original sin.
In 1904, the Japanese Nanyang sister in the lens of the British reporter
Nanyang sisters are mostly girls from poor Japanese families who have been trafficked to Southeast Asia, they fantasize that they can rely on their ability to bring a good life to their families, in fact, Nanyang sisters did provide a lot of funds for industrialization in modern Japan, however, their motherland abandoned them after they exhausted their youth and lives, and these Japanese women who "sold themselves for the country" became a group spurned by all Japanese.
In 1853, American warships broke into Edo Bay in Japan and forced Japan to open its doors by force, known as the "Black Ship Incident". Since then, Japan has recognized the strength and prosperity of the Western powers, and is determined to "leave Asia and join Europe", completely westernize, and transform from an agricultural country to an industrial country.
The Black Ship Incident written by a Japanese painter
In 1868, Japan experienced the "Fall of the Curtain Movement", the samurai class overthrew the decadent shogunate and supported the emperor to return to power, the Japanese emperor at that time was Meiji, he recognized the need for modern industrialization, so he set off the "Meiji Restoration" that changed the fortunes of Japan. The Meiji Restoration increased Japan's national strength in a very short period of time, a large number of railways and factories sprang up, and Japan's industrial output value increased by nearly 20 times.
Emperor Meiji
However, ordinary Japanese people still live in dire straits, especially peasants in rural areas, who have gone bankrupt and gone into extreme poverty due to forced land expropriation or usury by the government. At that time, there were many Japanese people, and in order to make a living, a large number of Japanese wanted to go to sea, and Nagasaki in Japan was the only outlet to the sea in Japan as early as the shogunate era of "closed country", and many people flocked to Nagasaki.
Located in the southwestern region of Japan, Nagasaki is a traditional Japanese seaport city that was bombed by atomic bombs during World War II
Nagasaki was Japan's largest trade port at the time and the largest "human trafficking base", and Nagasaki had a disgraceful group called "wandering women", that is, Japanese prostitutes who specialized in selling sex to foreign merchants and sailors, and made good profits. After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government eyed this "business" and began to recruit and abduct many women from poor families to go abroad to "work".
Human traffickers will "draw pies" for these young girls with little education, and it seems that as soon as they leave Japan, they can earn back money that they will never spend in a lifetime, and Azaki in "Wanggo" decided to go abroad in order to marry his brother and daughter-in-law.
Nanyang sister
Many girls sign "deeds of sale", but what awaits them is not the clean, bright, affluent and prosperous Europe or the United States, but the humid and sweltering Southeast Asia. In 1870, Japan organized the first large-scale group of women to travel to Southeast Asia, and these girls were sold as prostitutes, and most of them never returned to their homelands.
Map of colonies in Southeast Asia before World War II
Why Southeast Asia?
In the 19th century, Southeast Asia had completely become a colony of Western powers, providing raw materials for Europe and the United States, and the colonial authorities recruited many laborers from India, Africa and China in order to extract raw materials, and more than 200,000 people in Guangdong and Fujian regions of China "went to Nanyang". These laborers are all young and middle-aged men, and most of them are bachelors, who have been engaged in high-load manual labor for a long time without any recreational activities. The colonial authorities were afraid, and in the long run, the consequences were unimaginable.
Population of Indian origin in Malaysia
So the colonial government reached a notorious agreement with the Japanese government, which was desperate for foreign exchange at the time, to require these Japanese women to work as sex workers in Southeast Asia, and the Japanese government agreed. As a result, a large number of Japanese-style brothels have sprung up in major cities in Southeast Asia, and these brothels are called "magic caves" by girls.
The first batch of Japanese women who arrived in Southeast Asia was mostly just a folk act, many were deceived, the first batch was only more than 3,400 people, but they sent back more than 1.8 million US dollars a year, and after the Japanese government tasted the sweetness, it immediately began to acquiesce, and even encouraged poor girls in the country to sell themselves in Southeast Asia.
Nanyang sister
The colonial government was satisfied with the "role" of these Japanese prostitutes, they calmed the anger of the laborers and maintained the rule of the colonists, so the colonial government not only did not collect taxes on these Japanese brothels, but also subsidized them. At that time, a Japanese woman in Southeast Asia could earn about $70 a month, more than twice the average wage in Japan and even higher than the wages of male workers in Southeast Asia, so that a woman could support a family.
Singapore
According to incomplete statistics, in 1900 alone, more than 35,000 Japanese women became "Nanyang sisters" in Southeast Asia, and in the 42 years from 1870 to 1912, more than 120,000 Japanese women were abducted to Southeast Asia, the Russian Far East, and the West Coast of the United States, all of whom became prostitutes.
Singapore is the Southeast Asian city with the highest concentration of Nanyang sisters. In 1903, there were fewer than 1,000 Japanese in Singapore, while the number of Nanyang sisters was as high as 600, and women in Japanese kimonos were seen soliciting guests in English or Mandarin mixed with Japanese. "Nanyang sisters" must be attached to Japanese brothel owners and "trade unions", otherwise they are "unemployed Nanyang sisters", illegal prostitutes, so these girls must be exploited by brothels and so-called "unions".
"Unemployed Nanyang Sister" arrested by Singapore police
Nanyang sister sent a large amount of foreign exchange to Japan, and Japan's industrialization has developed rapidly. In 1902, Japan's foreign exchange was as high as 100 billion yen, of which the money sent by Nanyang sister became the fifth largest source, so that Japanese economists at the time exclaimed that "Japan will be an industrial power that develops on women's bodies."
In 1901, the "piglet hall" somewhere in Xiamen, China
At the same time, both of East Asia's most populous countries were forced to become exporters of foreign populations, with China exporting labor and Japan exporting "prostitutes." Many Chinese workers at that time were sold to Southeast Asia, which is essentially no different from Nanyang sister, and is a historical epitome of the colonial oppression of Asian countries by Western powers.
A large number of "Nanyang sisters" not only sent money to Japan, but also helped Japanese companies to open up the market in Southeast Asia, relying on Japanese brothels, a large number of Japanese-style grocery stores, factories, photo studios and hospitals bloomed everywhere in Southeast Asia, and the Japanese army also intentionally or unintentionally planted a large number of Japanese spies between Nanyang sisters, infiltrating all walks of life in the Southeast Asian colonies.
After entering the 20th century, Japan's national strength has greatly improved, and it even dares to compete with the old imperialist powers in Europe and the United States. In 1905, he defeated Tsarist Russia and won the Russo-Japanese War, and the militaristic ambition of foreign expansion began to expand wildly. However, in the eyes of the British and French, "Nanyang sister" is Japan's eternal black material.
This hurt the national pride of the Japanese very much, and selling spring industry itself was a dishonorable thing, but Japan exported more than 100,000 "Nanyang sisters", and gradually, Japan began to dislike these poor women who paid silently. In 1910, countries around the world concluded a treaty to formally outlaw prostitution, and in 1914 the British colonial authorities expelled 14 Japanese brothel owners, much to Japan's embarrassment.
Many Japanese women have also opened their eyes in Southeast Asia and no longer always wear kimono
After the end of World War I, Europe was broken, the control of Western powers in Southeast Asia was not as good as before, Japan's financial capital began to frantically export to Southeast Asia, and a large number of Japanese-funded enterprises appeared in Southeast Asia. In 1919, Japan officially announced the abolition of "prostitutes", and was even unwilling to recognize the "Japanese identity" of these Nanyang sisters, claiming that they were all smuggled out to sell sex and had nothing to do with the Japanese authorities.
Japan's mainstream media called these girls "the shame of the empire."
The weather vane of Japanese society is changing rapidly, and the Nanyang sisters, who were envied by everyone in the past, have become rats crossing the street, and even their families, who have received the greatest favor, are reluctant to recognize them. The most pitiful thing is that Nanyang sisters often send all their income to their families in Japan, leaving nothing for themselves, and now the Japanese-style brothels in Southeast Asia have been banned, they have lost their source of livelihood, living on the streets, many girls have contracted venereal diseases, and died alone in a foreign land thousands of miles away in hunger and cold.
After her death, Nanyang sister can only be buried with the help of other sisters or the help of a kind brothel owner.
These Japanese women, who crushed their lives and dignity, exchanged capital for their country, and sent money for their families, were eventually abandoned by their homeland and history. Most of them are not accepted by their families, cannot return to their hometowns, and because of their disgraceful history, they cannot even find their husbands, and they can only die alone.
Even if some Nanyang sisters return to Japan by chance, they will encounter the tragic situation of "six relatives not recognized", they will be driven away by their families, they will not be able to live in the houses they bought with the money they sold themselves, and their deeds will be "publicized" by the government, so that everyone can not find a job or a husband. Some Nanyang sisters will want to marry overseas Chinese or Indian workers, but often they are not satisfactory.
From 1870, when Nanyang sisters first set foot on Southeast Asian soil, to 1920, when the Japanese government officially banned "prostitution", in the past 50 years, more than 120,000 Japanese girls have crossed the ocean to do the most humiliating things, but the end seems to be destined to be tragic.
These poor Japanese girls were eventually despised and forgotten by everyone, even though they had paid with their lives for the country. Many Nanyang sisters, who have suffered from the cold eye, will even choose to leave Japan and return to Southeast Asia, and their only will before death is often surprisingly consistent - the tombstone is back to Japan.
The reason is simple, not because of shame, but because they remember hatred and hate this motherland that regards them as grass.
Although the Japanese government and society have not recognized and covered up the existence of these Nanyang sisters, the 1974 movie "Wangxiang" still exposes all this for the world, but most importantly, the wordless low tombstones hidden in the layers of weeds in Southeast Asia still silently narrate everything.