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.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,