Diary+2+Han+Baik+Kim

Dec 14, 1937 Indeed, I have learnt a lot from my time in Chang Chun. I used to be an insecure soldier, not knowing what I was doing in China. I questioned my faith in the emperor. As I stared at the dying bodies of men in my arms, all I wanted to do was go back home to my family and friends. But I realized that I had been too naïve and not patriotic enough. The world I know now revolves around Japan, as I am proudly its pawn, always willing to sacrifice my life for a greater good. I feel not a bit of shame admitting the fact that I have started to enjoy the presence of comfort women. Now, I am in Nan King. And yesterday, I have stepped another milestone in truly contributing to our army. I have reached a totally different level of patriotism. In an era of imperialism, Manchuria by itself did not provide enough resources. I will do my best to expand Japan’s hegemony. We attacked Shanghai. Then, we attacked Nan King, China’s capital, and Chiang Kai Shek abandoned this city like a coward. Many of his soldiers changed to civilian clothes, so we were forced to “breed out the herd.” But we decided to have some fun in the process. And thus, we decided to play some games. First we thought it was unfair that we were stuck with the same comfort women all the time – why can’t we be awarded with some variety of choices? So we had some fun with the local women that were in Nan King. From teenagers to old women… It was all for fun; I even took pictures for memories sake. Some of my friends thought that it would be funny to force some of these lowly Chinese people to commit incest in front of us. It was hilarious at the time. Then, we went around trying to behead as many of them as we could. I got like fifty heads down. At that point, one of our soldiers asked me, “Why are we doing this?” And we first looked at each other then just laughed. It was a rhetorical question. Ah, the fun we had – I’m not sure if I’ll ever have as much fun again. However, the single most memorable thing that happened today was raping this teenager. I don’t know why I only raped one girl – I guess I just have more of a conscience or something… I didn’t even cut her breasts, stick any objects in her, nor did I kill her. In that way, I guess I’m still a good man, looking out for the best interests of inferior human races such as the Chinese. I only raped a girl.