Brutality of war As the century reaches a close and the nations of East Asia reflect upon the lessons of World War II, we find ourselves confronted by the living survivors of incidents that many of us have prematurely consigned to the history books. Sometimes these witnesses to history guide the research of historians, and sometimes their experiences flatly contradict what has been written about the past. The comfort women are one case in point.
世紀末亞洲各國對二次大戰的反省，有個特殊的現象是「活歷史現身」，也就是說「曾經親身參與過歷史的人」述說經歷，有時候他們的證言會推著歷史研究走，甚或反駁原先的歷史書寫，慰安婦歷史就是個實例。