The Ama Museum, which is dedicated to Taiwanese women who were pressed into sexual slavery during World War II, is to close it doors on Tuesday next week due to unsustainable operational losses, but it plans to reopen in a new location in April next year, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation said yesterday.
The museum, located in a nearly 200-year-old two-story building in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area, was established in 2016 and is dedicated to preserving and commemorating the history of Taiwanese “comfort women” and highlighting women’s rights.
More than 2,000 Taiwanese women are estimated to have been forced into sexual slavery in areas occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war, the museum said.
Photo provided by Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation
Ama is an honorific term that many Taiwanese use to address their grandmothers and is also used to address older women in general.
The museum documents the stories of 59 Taiwanese amas — survivors of the comfort women system who after the war came forward to give testimony.
Foundation chief executive officer Tu Ying-chiu (杜瑛秋) said that the museum posted a loss of more than NT$4.07 million (US$140,947) last year, and more than NT$2.67 million in the first nine months of this year.
“The museum had cut expenses — from a monthly average of about NT$950,000 last year to about NT$600,000 this year, but then the number of visitors significantly dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
Tu said that the museum had 9,065 visitors last year, but only 1,414 visitors from January to June this year, and the numbers only went up after the foundation in July announced to close the museum.
After initial difficulties finding a new location, the foundation last week signed a rental contract for a 60 ping (198m2) unit in an office building on Chengde Road, she said.
The foundation last month launched a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of raising NT$3 million to relocate the museum, but has since reduced the target to NT$2 million, Tu said.
“The women’s stories are part of the nation’s history, so we must pass them down,” foundation president Theresa Yeh (葉德蘭) said.
Tu said that the museum plans to publish a book next year to showcase the stories through conversations between a granddaughter and her ama, to spark readers to reflect on discrimination.
The book would target young readers, from third-grade elementary-school students upward, Tu added.
Upon reopening, the museum would also introduce new thematic exhibitions, she said.
The museum hopes to further reach out to junior and senior-high schools to share the stories of the amas and discuss human rights issues, she added.
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