Chinese ‘comfort women’ film Twenty Two debuts in Japan, with help from younger generation

The documentary Twenty Two, first released in 2017, features Chinese survivors of Japanese wartime sex slavery

Director Guo Ke says production was ‘race against time’ as the victims were all in their 90s, and only one woman featured is still alive today

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About 200,000 women from China, Korea, the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia were forced to work as sex slaves in Japanese military brothels in the 1930s and 1940s. Photo: SCMP

Published: 12:00pm, 24 Sep 2023Updated: 1:40pm, 24 Sep 2023

A documentary about Chinese “comfort women” during World War II has made its Japanese debut – six years after its release – with help from an international student from China.

The film, titled Twenty Two, depicts the daily lives of Chinese women who were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The documentary was released in 2017, but was first screened in Japan at the Kansai Queer Film Festival in Osaka on September 18 – the 92nd anniversary of the Mukden incident of 1931, which is seen as the start of Japan’s invasion of China.

Director Guo Ke said the Japanese debut was made possible because a Chinese university student in Japan recommended the documentary to the film festival’s organisers.

“Six years have passed. I did not expect that a Chinese student would now bring the documentary to Japan,” Guo said.

“It shows the young generation is carrying on the mission … and it never stops.”