Three Resilient Bronze Lasses Lifted from San Fran's Chinatown

In the midst of San Francisco's Chinatown and the Financial District, you'll find the San Francisco Comfort Women Memorial. A statue here to honor the girls and women, tormented by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Labeled the 'Comfort Women' Column of Strength, these bronze teens symbolize the roughly 400,000 girls kidnapped from East and Southeast Asian countries during the occupation. Embodying the spirits of China, Korea, and the Philippines each one does.

Near the base, a halmoni – a Korean grandmother – stands, gazing up at these resilient figures. Constructed on September 22, 2017, by British-American artist Steven Whyte, these statues were designed with emotional impact in mind. Their likenesses were based on women found along the Central Coast. Their heads are fashioned to greet visitors with an accusing gaze and a somber demeanor. Introduction of these statues came as a snub to then-Mayor of Osaka, Japan, Hirofumi Yoshimura, who severed the sister-city relationship with Osaka and San Francisco in response.

The San Francisco Comfort Women Memorial acts as a womb for education and healing for the comfort women. It fuels conversations, interactions, and responses in the public. Privately funded by the Comfort Women Justice Coalition, they managed to raise $205,000 for the statue's installation. Unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2015, the efforts were led by retired judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata