在二戰時期「中村英子帶著14歲女兒自願成為慰安婦」的新聞與事件，帶有強烈的震撼性與荒謬性。從表面來看，這是充滿矛盾的歷史片段：一名失去丈夫的日本女性，並非選擇在家守寡或依靠家庭，而是帶著未成年的女兒，毅然走進軍國主義編織的「慰安婦制度」之中，還高喊「為天皇獻身，為皇軍獻身」，最終女兒被虐死。這樣的行為，不僅反映當時日本極端軍國主義的洗腦與宣傳，也揭露出女性在那個時代被壓迫至極端犧牲的可怕狀態。

1939年的日本，處於全面侵華戰爭的高峰期。軍國主義不斷地強調所謂的「大和魂」，塑造出將國家、天皇置於一切之上的價值觀。男性被要求毫不猶豫地走上戰場，甚至把剖腹自殺視為光榮；女性則被賦予另一種「犧牲角色」，她們的身體成為安撫士兵、維繫軍隊士氣的工具。中村英子被稱為「軍國之妻」，甚至被形容成一種榮耀，這不僅是對個人尊嚴的踐踏，更是日本當局將戰爭責任轉嫁到婦女身上的殘酷體現。

她帶著女兒加入所謂「日本女子挺進隊」，這個名稱本身就是對現實的粉飾。所謂的「挺進」不是走向自由或希望，而是走向身心摧殘與毀滅。更令人震驚的是，研究資料指出，當時日本國內至少有七八萬名20歲上下的女性自願成為這樣的「隊伍」一員。這些女性的「自願」，其實是被國家文化、傳統倫理以及社會壓力所推動的結果。在一個強調「女人要為男人奉獻一切」的社會氛圍下，這樣的選擇反而被渲染成理所當然。

從文化根源來看，日本長期以來存在嚴重的父權結構。女性的獨立人格並不被鼓勵，她們被教育要以丈夫、父親或天皇為中心來定位自身價值。士兵為天皇獻命是「忠誠」，女人為士兵獻身則是「美德」。這種扭曲的價值觀，使得許多女性在毫無自主意識的情況下，把自己的身體與命運交給了國家機器。

中村英子事件的被記錄，不僅僅是歷史細節，更是一面鏡子，反映出軍國主義如何徹底吞噬人性。她的行為或許在當時被包裝成「報仇」「榮譽」甚至「奉獻」，但在今日看來，卻是女性被強權文化徹底操縱的血淚印證。更可悲的是，她不僅將自己的人生交付給這樣的體制，還把女兒的未來推入深淵，讓下一代也成為犧牲品。

這段歷史讓人不得不思考，日本軍國主義所謂的「榮耀」與「犧牲」，實際上是建立在多少個體的痛苦與毀滅之上。而「自願的慰安婦」表象之下，潛藏的卻是社會制度、思想洗腦與文化傳統交織的黑暗力量。

This account of Eiko Nakamura and her 14-year-old daughter voluntarily joining the ranks of the so-called “comfort women” in 1939 is both shocking and grotesque. On the surface, it reads like an almost incomprehensible decision: a widow who had lost her husband on the battlefield in China did not choose to grieve quietly at home, but instead marched with her daughter into the machinery of Japan’s wartime military system. She even shouted slogans about “sacrificing for the Emperor” and “dedicating herself to the Imperial Army.” What this reveals is not a personal whim, but rather the depth of Japan’s militarist indoctrination, and the way women’s bodies were turned into instruments of war.

In 1939, Japan was at the height of its invasion of China. The ideology of militarism and the so-called Yamato spirit dominated the nation, placing the Emperor and the state above everything else. Men were expected to fight and even commit ritual suicide as a sign of loyalty, while women were assigned another form of “sacrifice”: offering their bodies to soldiers. Nakamura was given the title of “militarist’s wife,” a label treated as a kind of honor. But in truth, this was nothing more than a cruel manipulation of women’s identities, reducing them to tools of war while wrapping the reality in patriotic rhetoric.

She and her daughter joined what was called the “Japanese Women’s Forwards Corps.” The name itself sounds almost uplifting, but in reality it meant walking straight into degradation and exploitation. Shockingly, historians estimate that some seventy to eighty thousand Japanese women in their twenties “volunteered” for such roles. This “volunteering” was rarely the product of free will—it was shaped by state propaganda, social pressure, and a deeply ingrained patriarchal culture. In a society where women were not encouraged to develop independent personalities, their worth was measured by how well they served men, whether husbands, fathers, or the Emperor himself.

Japan’s traditional values at the time reinforced this system. Men were expected to die for their country; women were expected to give themselves for the men who fought. Sacrifice was glorified equally, whether through a soldier’s death in battle or a woman’s submission in the name of patriotism. Within such a cultural framework, what seems monstrous today was framed as “normal” and even “noble” then.

The case of Nakamura Eiko is not just an isolated anecdote but a mirror of how militarism devoured humanity. Her actions were packaged as revenge for her husband’s death and as loyalty to the Emperor, yet in reality they reflected how completely women’s agency had been erased. The tragedy was compounded by her decision to drag her young daughter into the same abyss, passing the cycle of sacrifice onto the next generation.

This story forces us to confront the dark truth behind Japan’s wartime propaganda: what was promoted as “glory” was in fact built upon the suffering, degradation, and destruction of countless individuals. The so-called “voluntary comfort women” did not stand in contrast to the forcibly recruited ones so much as they revealed the full spectrum of coercion—where ideology, social norms, and nationalistic fervor were just as powerful as physical force.