'We have yet to achieve justice': Filipino sex slaves confront their attackers (WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT)

'We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured.'

The rules are simple: If you wrong someone, you apologize; even a child can understand this concept. But what if hundreds of thousands of people were wronged? What if an entire nation has been called to apologize?

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Japanese are a proud people.

Their wrongdoings are seldom talked about in their country and the government pays strict attention to all media content to ensure nothing too dark leaks through the porcelain façade it shows the world.

As reported by Aljazeera, surviving Filipino sex slaves during WWII demanded an apology from Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko for the actions of Japan's soldiers, who abducted and used over 200,000 women.

The Emperor and Empress were traveling to the Philippines in December along their "peace tour" route.

The sex slaves, called "comfort women," have been fighting over 70 years to be recognized by Japan and to receive a long overdue apology.

Emmie de Jesus, the women's rights advocate and a member of the Philippine Congress, believed Emperor Akihito's visit would be more meaningful if he stopped to meet with the now elderly victims and to listen to their stories.

"The emperor could be a very strong influence with the Japanese Prime Minister [Shinzo Abe], and could move for action with regards to the demands of the victims," de Jesus explained.

However, neither the Emperor nor Empress bothered to speak to the survivors.

"We have yet to achieve justice," Narcisa Claverina, an 85-year-old survivor, stated at a press conference. "We have lost a lot, including our dignity."

Hilaria Bustanante, 89, shared: "One Japanese soldier started to rape me while the other two held my arms and legs down. When he was done, the other one started on me - even though I was screaming because of the pain my body was in...They kept at it."

Claverina and Bustanante joined other survivors to share their stories, protest, appear in public hearings and even appear in Tokyo and Manila courts in their fight for justice, but they were refused at every turn.

Fedencia David, of the Lolas Kampanyera, a women's group to fight for "Filipino Grandmas," was only 14-years-old when she was abducted by Japanese soldiers when they invaded the Philippines.

"I saw my grandmother being raped," she told the Inquirer.

David was then raped by another soldier and only a few days later witnessed her grandmother's death at the hands of a Japanese soldier.

Lolas Kampanyera offers comfort for the women who were forced to face similar abuses and to help those who were psychologically traumatized.

In the 1930's, the Japanese troops would go on "raping sprees" in China then realized STDs were beginning to spread, so the sprees were brought to the Philippines and the Japanese Imperial Army regulated sexual activity through the comfort women.

The group has been attempting to speak to the Japanese Embassy to bring awareness to a group of women who experienced cruelty not seen in other Asian regions.

"The motivational base for ravaging the Filipino women was different," Cristina Rosello, the Lolas' volunteer psychologist explained. "Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941), the Japanese also bombed the Philippines. And they were more cruel to the Filipino women because they were perceived as women of the enemy."

Ricardo Jose, a historian at the University of the Philippines, said, "This was not something done on the spur of the moment - this was planned."

"I don't remember how many men came in," Estellita, a comfort woman who was first raped at only 14-years-old, attempted to recall. "At one point I felt a sudden pain so I fought back. The soldier held my head and banged it really hard into the table and I lost consciousness."

Jose explained "it was a living hell for the comfort women," explaining: "They simply had to wait for the next customer, they had to submit. At their most extreme, the acts of violence would involve using almost anything to penetrate the women - bottles, sticks, blunt objects."

He explained how Imperial Army doctors kept records of the names, ages and sexual health of the captives during their fortnightly visits. One such record indicated horrific conditions such as "vaginal inflammation" and "vaginal erosion."

The women who survived these filthy, humiliating, dehumanizing conditions received "sincere apologies and remorse to all of those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women" in 1993 from the Japanese government - but it wasn't enough.

The Japanese government started a fund to provide physical and mental support to the women but most believe it was too little too late.

The women in the Philippines demand a full public apology in which the Japanese government acknowledges what it allowed their troops to do and what the women went through. The government must also accept legal responsibility and provide compensation to the remaining victims.

Tokyo released a statement to the BBC, in which they said: "Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war. We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured.'

Again, the remaining ex-comfort women demand more. To apologize after the fact means nothing to them. Estellita remains one of many who refuse to back down.

"We won't stop until we get the justice we are calling for."

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