ILOILO CITY ? A Filipino grandmother, who died last year without getting justice as a ?comfort woman?? one was forced to become a sex slave of Japanese soldiers in World War II ? will be honored in an hour-long musical in Japan.

?The Story of Lola Masing? is about the life of Tomasa Salinog, a native of San Jose, Antique, and one of the Filipino women who sued the Japanese government in 1993 for its role in abducting young women for its soldiers? sexual pleasure during the war.

?Her story will live in the musical,? said Rie Arima, 35, assistant director of Constitution Musical production, which aims to educate the Japanese to learn about their Constitution in a more creative way.

The show will open on April 29 in Osaka, May 5 in Tokyo and June 8 in Yamanashi. It will count on the support of lawyers and a hundred volunteer performers chosen from the public. It will feature eight songs, including ?Bayan Ko,? which will be rendered in Filipino and Japanese.

When the ?comfort women? lost their case in Japan, the government refused to pay them reparations and apologize for the war atrocities, although a private fund was set up to give money to the victims. Salinog refused to accept P500,000 from the fund because she wanted ?justice, not charity.?

Arima

Salinog died at 78 on Good Friday 2007, two weeks after she wrote Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, asking him to publicly acknowledge the wartime government?s responsibility. She was.

Rie Arima will play Salinog in the musical. To prepare for her role, she traveled to Antique early this month to visit Salinog?s cream bungalow and the house where the Japanese colonel who abducted her lived.

Salinog?s house is now being rented out, while the colonel?s old haunt was torn down many years ago, leaving only its stone steps. But lots of stories and some photographs gave Arima insights on the horrors that the Filipina lived through, as well as her determination to demand justice. The photographs are among the exhibits at the Lola Masing Center for Culture and Peace at the old Capitol in San Jose, established by the provincial government last year.

?I was shocked to learn history. Now I understand it,? said Arima, who came with her husband, Soichiro Koriyama, a photojournalist, and their two-year-old son Riku.

In the musical, Arima is expected to sing a poignant song about Salinog, a self-taught seamstress, and her sewing machine.

The show will educate many Japanese on the lessons of war and peace, she said, adding that it was what she and the producer and director, Norubo Tanaka, wished for. Rehearsals are in progress and at least 10 performances have been scheduled in the three Japanese cities.

Salinog emerged to tell her story in 1992, when a group of Japanese lawyers went to Iloilo City to interview Filipinas who said they were sexually abused by Japanese soldiers during the war. She told the lawyers that she had already moved on, but the memories of rape and violence had haunted her.

?I found out that Lola Masing is a strong woman and her story inspires me,? Arima said. A veteran stage actress, Arima started acting when she was 18. She has been a member of the Haiyuza theater company since 1991. She has performed in over 300 staging of ?Shakanai Hitsugi Uta? all over Japan.

She is also the director of Japan Peace Committee and believes in using the theater to spread the message of peace and an end to discrimination and wars.