The Need for "Comfort"
The Japanese government and military felt that the soldiers needed to be comforted due the harsh conditions of war. They thought that having many women to rape and beat would help comfort them from the war. Tens of thousands of women were brought to the comfort stations from all across Asia. The majority was Korean, not only from the Korean peninsula, but from northern Kyushu as well. Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Southeast Asian women were also recruited into the ranks of the comfort women. Japanese women brought to the front from mainland Japan most often came on a volunteer basis, many of them were professional prostitutes. The Japanese women who were professional prostitutes often times carried more STDs, however, Japanese women were more desirable to the Japanese men. Because of this the Japanese women were often reserved for officers and kept at safer military bases. Next on the ranks of favored women for sex were the Korean women, then Chinese and last came the Southeast Asian women because their skin tended to be darker. However, after all is said and done, women were in such a high demand that the only thing that mattered was that they had female bodies.