San Francisco formally adopted a resolution Tuesday calling for the city to build a memorial to commemorate the "comfort women" who were forced to provide sex at Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.
The memorial has been hailed by supporters as an important step in educating local residents about past — and current — human-rights abuses against women, including domestic violence and human trafficking. However, it's likely to further complicate relations with Osaka, San Francisco's sister city, where Mayor Toru Hashimoto has been staunchly opposed to the memorial.
In a unanimous vote, the 11-member Board of Supervisors passed the resolution to build the memorial on public land to remember what it says were an estimated 200,000 women and young girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific islands.