MANILA, April 5 (Reuter) - She sits patiently on a plastic chair, under the hot summer sun, in a place used by Japanese soldiers to imprison and torture American and Filipino soldiers more than 50 years ago.

Maria Rosa Henson, 68, does not seem to mind. The sun will soon set, the cool evening breeze will start, and the memories will be recalled -- but this time there will be less pain.

Henson was waiting in Manila's Fort Santiago for the launch of her book about her experiences as one of thousands of Asia's so-called  "comfort women," who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

She was 14 when Japanese soldiers occupying the Philippines raped her near her family home in Manila.

A year later, Henson, helping the Filipino guerrilla movement by carrying food and medicine, was captured by Japanese soldiers and kept in a small room inside a rice mill near the garrison in the northern province of Pampanga.

For the next nine months, Japanese soldiers and officers lined up outside the room and took turns raping her. Her only respite was when she was allowed a few hours' sleep or given a meagre meal.

Soldiers who were not sexually satisfied would tie her up and beat her until she lost consciousness.

Even when she was sick, she was raped. Once when she had malaria, a Japanese soldier became angry, banged her head against the wall until she passed out, then raped her.

She was rescued by Filipino soldiers in January 1944 but fell ill and did not regain consciousness for two months. When she finally woke up, Henson gradually remembered everything. But something was wrong.

"I wanted to speak, but I couldn't move my lips and my tongue," Henson said in an interview.

Today, she slurs and has to wipe the side of her mouth every time she speaks. But "Lola (grandma) Rosa," as she is fondly called, is alive, and says her spirit and her soul are intact.

Fearing society would reject her, Rosa -- like the overwhelming majority of comfort women -- kept her experiences a secret, although she told her mother.

Nearly 50 years later, in 1992, an appeal was made over radio for comfort women to come out in public to press the Japanese government for compensation.

Henson became the first Filipina to go public. Her example gave many others, some now in their 70s and 80s, the courage to speak openly of the horrors they experienced.

To date, more than 150 Filipina comfort women, as well as other Asian comfort women, have told their stories and are demanding justice from the Japanese government.

After initial Tokyo denials, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, during the 50th anniversary last year of the end of World War Two, apologised for his country's role in the war.

But Murayama said the apology did not mean Japan would consider compensation for victims.

Instead, a private fund, the Asian Peace National Fund for Women, was set up. The comfort women, however, are rejecting this as a means of redress, saying Tokyo must "pay legal reparations" to survivors.

Not all Japanese share Tokyo's view. A Kyoto University professor encouraged Henson to write her autobiography, which took her two years.

Recalling what happened was easy but painful. Each night, as she would write a few pages, Henson would break down and cry.

"I felt that it was very fresh... it was near me, those days 50 years ago were just in front of me," Henson told Reuters at the launch of her book, "Comfort Woman - Slave of Destiny."

She showed the handwritten manuscript to journalist and publisher Sheila Coronel of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism last year.

Coronel, whose office has published books on politics and the environment, was struck by Henson's writing and honesty.

"It was very honest... as you go through the book, what becomes important, what remains with you is how one woman could get the strength to survive so much," said Coronel, who confined the editing to grammar and style.

The book launch included a short drama presentation based on Henson's first visit to Tokyo for a public hearing on comfort women and on the plight of Filipina migrant workers in Japan, many of whom work as prostitutes.

The event ended with a reading from Lola Rosa's book that left many listeners in tears.

"I'm sorry... I apologised to Lola Rosa, I'm really sorry," cried Hideko Takemoto, one of about 10 Japanese in the audience.

Henson hopes her book will eventually be taught not just to Filipino schoolchildren, but to Japanese students as well.

"I want that the young generation may have an awareness of the evils of war so that it will not be repeated again," Henson said.

Has she forgiven the Japanese soldiers who abused her?

"Yes, because if I will not forgive, God will not forgive me," Henson said.

Source:
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/JapanIncorporated/1895-1945/comfort9.txt