Documents indicate that after WWII GIs used Asian Women Coerced into Prostitution

Parent Cafe
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<p>From an AP story:</p>

<p>" Historical documents show American GIs used a “comfort women” system
• Brothels used despite reports of Asian women being coerced into prostitution
• Tens of thousands of women employed to provide cheap sex to troops
• Gen. MacArthur placed brothels, other places of prostitution off limits in 1946 "</p>

<p>"American historian John Dower, in his book “Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WWII,” says the charge for a short session with a prostitute was 15 yen, or about a dollar, roughly the cost of half a pack of cigarettes.</p>

<p>Kaburagi said the sudden demand forced brothel operators to advertise for women who were not licensed prostitutes.</p>

<p>Natsue Takita, a 19-year-old Komachien worker whose relatives had been killed in the war, responded to an ad seeking an office worker. She was told the only positions available were for comfort women and was persuaded to accept the offer.</p>

<p>According to Kaburagi’s memoirs, published in Japanese after the occupation ended in 1952, Takita jumped in front of a train a few days after the brothel started operations.</p>

<p>“The worst victims … were the women who, with no previous experience, answered the ads calling for `Women of the New Japan,”’ he wrote.</p>

<p>By the end of 1945, about 350,000 U.S. troops were occupying Japan. At its peak, Kaburagi wrote, the RAA employed 70,000 prostitutes to serve them. There are also suspicions – though there is not clear evidence – that non-Japanese comfort women were imported to Japan as part of the program."</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/25/comfort.women.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/25/comfort.women.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“coerced” such a nice word…</p>

<p>Why do men act like that? It sad that a man’s physical “needs” take precident over the health and welfare of others in so many cases,as if its a given they deservce to have sex whenver they want no matter how those women got to be there</p>

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<p>My father, bless his soul, was a military MP in WWII and, after recovering from wounds, was unofficially placed in charge of brothels used by U.S. servicemen in Wales. </p>

<p>He didn’t come out rich (as was apparently the plan for him), but came home with a great collection of war memorabilia.</p>

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<p>“Why do men act like that?”</p>

<p>Uh oh, I feel something coming…</p>

<p>As for why they act like that…well I’d go with hardwiring and history. Women have always been subjected to men. The 40’s aren’t today (most of the world isn’t even on the same page as the West). </p>

<p>The best part about that whole ordeal is that China wants Japan to say sorry for things that happened 60 years ago…most of the people running the government weren’t even alive back then lol.</p>

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<p>“forced brothel operators to advertise for women who were not licensed prostitutes.”</p>

<p>So, I wonder what it took to get your prostitute license? Did they frame it and hang it up on the wall like beauticians do???</p>

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<p>In today’s world: licensed prostitute = “escort service” employee ;)</p>

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<p>This is not funny, and I am surprised some think it is</p>

<p>Becoming a prostitute by “choice” is different from being forced into it, and the “choice” well, some choice</p>

<p>Imagine if this was your grandmother who had to service these men out of no choice or plan of their own, so some horny men can get a “release”</p>

<p>Seeing a prostitute who was forced into it, and that still takes place today in this country, guess we should just laugh it off</p>

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<p>I think somebody is trying to soften the recent debate about the Japanese Army enslaving Chinese and Korean women into serving the Japanese Army. The topic is getting lots of attention lately due to some pending international treaties and such. Might as well throw off the wolves by distraction.</p>

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<p>Rape and war go hand in hand. Even in modern times it still occurs. Look at Africa.</p>

<p>

<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6532573.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6532573.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I am a military brat. As a young child, I lived in Japan during the American Military Occupation. Here’s my understanding of what happened. It may not be accurate, but it’s probably more accurate than most accounts.</p>

<p>Japan occupied Korea during World War II. During the occupation, it forced many young Korean women into prostitution. Some of these were sent to Japan. They were raped to “initiate” them. Then some of them “serviced” more than 100 Japanese soldiers a day, each and every day.</p>

<p>At the end of World War II, it became apparent that the Japanese were losing. The Japanese government/military assumed that the US occupying forces would do what Japan had done in Korea. The Japanese military rounded up prostitutes. The numbers weren’t high enough. They went back out to find more unattached poor girls to make prostitutes. Many Japanese soldiers “initiated” poor Japanese girls, especially those without parents and most especially those who had committed petty crimes, theft of small items, etc. They were told they were going to play an important role. They would “save” respectable (read wealthy) Japanese women from being raped. </p>

<p>So, these “hospitality” businesses were set up by the Japanese government BEFORE surrender. When the US army occupied Japan, these young women did what they had been told they had to do. American military men assumed that these were prostitutes. Yes, many men visited these brothels—just as many military men did exactly the same thing in Germany where prostitution was legal. </p>

<p>McArthur and others looked the other way for a while…until they learned that some of the young women in these brothels were coerced into prostitution. Then the brothels were declared off -limits. (Very, very few of the German women in brothels were coerced into it. The brothels were never declared off-limits.) </p>

<p>Look, I don’t like prostitution. But quite seriously, very few American GIs raped Japanese women. The “comfort stations” were organized by the Japanese government and were modeled on those Japanese soldiers used in Korea. Indeed, some of the prostitutes were Korean women who had been imported to be used by Japanese soldiers.</p>

<p>It’s the Japanese government that organized the comfort stations and the Japanese government that coerced women into being prostitutes. They were actually quite proud of themselves right after the war since the number of Japanese women raped by American soldiers was a lot lower than the number of women Japanese soldiers raped when they occupied Korea and the Phillipines. </p>

<p>Oh…and as to prostitute licenses–in Germany, at least, they carried them. They proved that the women had been tested and found free of VD. I forget the rules, but prostitutes had to be regularly tested and if they had a VD they were treated until it was cured and couldn’t serve any clients while they were being treated. (Oh, those innocent, pre-AIDS days!)</p>