The Ama Museum () is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

dedicated to comfort women in Taiwan. It opened in 2016, in Datong District,

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. The original location closed in November 2020, and the museum is scheduled to relocate and reopen in April 2021.

Name

The museum is dedicated to those who were comfort women during the

Japanese rule of Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The shor ...

. ''Ama'' means ''grandmother'' in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/ Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about ...

, referring to the advanced age of those who had survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

History

The original idea to establish the museum started in 2004. Supported by a large donation from the public in and outside Taiwan, as well as the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation (TWRF), the museum plaque was unveiled in a ceremony on 8 March 2016 in conjunction with International Women's Day. The ceremony was attended by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei fro ...

and one former comfort woman. The museum was finally opened on 10 December 2016 in a ceremony attended by

Culture Minister A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizat ...

Cheng Li-chun in conjunction with

Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

and the 25th anniversary of the efforts made by the foundation towards comfort women. Speaking during the ceremony, Cheng urged people to never forget the past and to strive for better

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

. The TWRF chair said that the museum would also be a place to promote gender equality and highlight the damages made by sexual abuse. The ceremony was also attended by one surviving Taiwanese comfort woman and advocates from Japan,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation announced in July 2020 that the Ama Museum would close in November 2020. The museum had operated at a loss since it opened in 2016, and the TWRF sold its offices in 2019 in an effort to keep the museum running. However, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

reduced the museum's income further, leading to the decision to close it. In October 2020, the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation began a fundraiser to move the Ama Museum, confirming that the original location would close on 10 November 2020. On 7 November 2020, the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation released another statement on the fate of the Ama Museum, stating that its exhibits would move to an office building near Minquan West Road metro station, scheduled to open in April 2021.

Architecture

The museum was originally housed in a renovated 90-year-old 2-story building with a total floor area of 495 m². The original location featured a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

and workshop space.

Exhibitions

At its original location, the museum permanently displayed photos, documents and videos related to Taiwanese comfort women. When it reopened, the museum planned to rotate exhibitions and introduce new ones.

Activities

In its original location, the museum hosted various workshops and seminars on topics related to human rights. In August 2017, the museum launched a campaign to pressure the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

through the

Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association The (), formerly known as Interchange Association, is an organization that represents the interests of Japan in Taiwan. In 2017, the current name was adopted. Its counterpart in Japan is the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative ...

to apologize and compensate the remaining comfort women.

Transportation

The museum's original location was accessible within walking distance south west of Daqiaotou Station of

Taipei Metro Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, which also operates the Maokong Gondo ...

. Its new location will be an office building near Minquan West Road Station.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.amamuseum.org.tw/en 2016 establishments in Taiwan Biographical museums in Taiwan Museums established in 2016 Museums in Taipei Human rights museums Women's museums +