Rape during the occupation of Japan

The government used this claim to justify orders to soldiers and civilians in areas which were invaded by Allied forces to fight to the death or commit suicide.

[2] According to Calvin Sims of The New York Times: "Much has been written and debated about atrocities that Okinawans suffered at the hands of both the Americans and Japanese in one of the deadliest battles of the war.

[4] Okinawan historian Oshiro Masayasu (former director of the Okinawa Prefectural Historical Archives) writes: Soon after the U.S. marines landed, all the women of a village on Motobu Peninsula fell into the hands of American soldiers.

Taking advantage of the situation, they started "hunting for women" in broad daylight and those who were hiding in the village or nearby air raid shelters were dragged out one after another.

[6] Peter Schrijvers finds it remarkable that looking East Asian was enough to be in danger of rape by American soldiers, as for example happened to some of the Korean sex slaves that the Japanese had by force brought to the island.

[3] Professor of East Asian Studies and expert on Okinawa Steve Rabson said: "I have read many accounts of such rapes in Okinawan newspapers and books, but few people know about them or are willing to talk about them".

The article goes deeper into the matter and claims that the villagers' tale – true or not – is part of a "dark, long-kept secret" the unraveling of which "refocused attention on what historians say is one of the most widely ignored crimes of the war": "the widespread rape of Okinawan women by American servicemen".

[10] The main reasons for the women's silence and the low number of reported rapes was, according to George Feifer, the American role as victor and occupiers, and feelings of shame and disgrace.

[10] Several factors contributed to few telltale American rape-induced pregnancies coming to term; many women had become temporarily infertile due to the stress [dubious – discuss] and malnutrition, and some who did become pregnant managed to abort before their husbands returned.

[10] According to Thomas Huber from the United States Army Combined Arms Center, Japanese soldiers also mistreated Okinawan civilians during the battle there.

[13] Having historically been a separate nation until 1879, Okinawan language and culture differ in many ways from that of mainland Japan, where they often were discriminated against and treated in the same manner as Chinese and Koreans.

In 1944 heavy American air-bombings of Naha had left 1,000 dead and 50,000 homeless and sheltering in caves, and US naval bombardments contributed additionally to the death toll.

During the fighting some Japanese troops mistreated Okinawan civilians, for example taking over the caves they sheltered in and forcing them out into the open, as well as killing some directly who they suspected of being American spies.

[24] These officially sponsored brothels were ordered closed in January 1946 when the Occupation authorities banned all "public" prostitution while declaring that it was undemocratic and violated the human rights of the women involved.

[25] Dower wrote: "According to one calculation, the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women amounted to around 40 daily while the R.A.A was in operation, and then rose to an average of 330 a day after it was terminated in early 1946".

[28] Ian Buruma states that while it is likely that more than 40 rapes took place each day, "most Japanese would have recognized that the Americans were far more disciplined than they had feared, especially in comparison to the behaviour of their own troops abroad".

Occupation of Japan would have been one of the worst occurrences of mass sexual violence in the history of the world" with more than 700,000 rapes, something which, he claims, is not supported by the documentary evidence.

Japanese police records and journalistic studies indicate that most violent crimes committed by GIs occurred in naval ports such as Yokosuka during the first few weeks after the Americans arrived in 1945, and that the number declined sharply thereafter.

[39] In contrast, Walsh states that while there was a "brief crime wave" during the early phase of the occupation, consisting mainly of thefts (either outright or forced exchange of items after SCAP demonetized its newly issued military script at the behest of the Japanese government) and assaults on police (to steal their weapons, mainly as souvenirs), "there was, relatively speaking, little rape" during this period based on reported cases.

[40][33] Walsh does mention one "shocking allegation" of a gang rape perpetrated by 27 American soldiers that was reported directly to SCAP on 3 September 1945 by the Japanese government's Central Liaison Office (CLO).

[43] The source was a 15 September 1945 letter from Lieutenant General Arisue Seizo to SCAP General Headquarters which stated that the Japanese Government recorded 1,326 (1,336 is apparently a transcription error) criminal incidents of all types involving American forces for a 12 day period (not 10), of which an unspecified number were rapes; Lt. Gen Seizo also wrote "We believe it is a matter of mutual congratulation to be able to inform you that, as a result of sincere and adequate steps taken by you, there has been a distinct decrease in the number of unfortunate incidents which have frequently taken place in the early part of the occupation of the Allied Forces...In regard to the nature of these incidents, the classification would run in the order of looting of Arms, robbing of articles, appropriation of automobiles, robbing money and others.

[44][45] Historians Eiji Takemae and Robert Ricketts state that "When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy of looting, sexual violence and drunken brawling ensued.

[46] In contrast, Walsh quotes an undated Sapporo police report which stated "The advance of the American army into Hokkaido was more tranquil than in other locales" as further evidence that mass rapes were not observed but were assumed to be happening elsewhere.

[50] Walsh cites American documentation of the abduction and rape of a 10 year old Tokyo girl by two American servicemen as evidence that negates the charge that the Occupation authorities countenanced sexual violence: The “doctor’s preliminary report stated that she was badly torn and lost considerable blood.” In fact, one of the most damning pieces of evidence against the culprits is that one of them had blood on his trousers that matched the girl’s blood type and neither of theirs.

They liaised with Japanese police, identified that these men were likely the same two who had been involved in an earlier disturbance at a teahouse, used that information to identify the vehicle that they used, called in forensic examiners to dust for fingerprints and determine blood type, got someone to administer a lie-detector test, and extracted a complete confession from one of the subjects...The seriousness with which American authorities treated sexual violence was undoubtedly one reason that the rate of sexual violence during the Occupation was low, especially in comparison to that of other occupying armies in the mid-twentieth century.

For instance, the final article which included any discussion of rapes by Allied forces in the Asahi Shimbun (published on 11 September 1945) stated that none had taken place.