San Francisco, United States of America
The San Francisco Comfort Women memorial is a monument dedicated to comfort women before and during World War II. It is built in remembrance of the girls and women that were sexually enslaved by the Imperial Japanese Army through deceit, coercion, and brutal force. It is approximated that there were
around 400,000 "comfort women" from Korea, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian countries. The site is located near the Saint Mary's Square, at the crossroads of San Francisco Chinatown and the Financial District. The statue "Comfort Women" Column of Strength, by sculptor Steven Whyte, is one of nine and the first sculpture placed in a major U.S. city to commemorate the comfort women. In 2017, in protest of the memorial, Hirofumi Yoshimura—the mayor of Osaka, Japan—dissolved the sister-city relationship between Osaka and San Francisco that was established in 1957.
Listen to the audio guide for "Comfort Women" Column of Strength Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off