Japan's Comfort Women (25 page)

pilots perished along with 2,900 planes. Two-thirds of these planes were kami-kaze on suicidal missions. Civilian casualties were also high, and although the exact number of casualties is unknown, it is estimated that more than 100,000

Okinawans died,
i.e.
one-fourth of the Okinawan population.3

It appears that US soldiers began viewing local women as “the women belonging to the enemy” as soon as the battle against the Japanese forces took place on the soil of Japan’s national territory. It is almost certain that such a view, intensified by the bitter combat, contributed to the sharp increase in sexual

Japanese women: 1945–1946

111

Plate 5.1
An American soldier fondling the hair of an Okinawan girl. Her face shows the intense dislike she has of this behavior. Date unknown.

Source
: US National Archives crimes committed by US troops on Okinawa. Such crimes were rare during the previous battles in various Japanese-occupied territories in the Pacific region.

The above-mentioned horrific combat conditions in Okinawa must also have contributed to the escalating brutality of the US troops against “enemy civilians.”

Based on the research in oral history that he conducted over many years,
i
shiro Masayasu, an Okinawan historian and former director of the Okinawa Prefectural Historical Archives, writes:

Soon after the US marines landed, all the women of a village on Motobu Peninsular fell into the hands of these American soldiers. At the time, there were only women, children and old people in the village, as all the young men had been mobilized for the war. Soon after landing, the marines “mopped up” the entire village, but found no signs of the Japanese forces.

Taking advantage of this 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. It was no different from the “brutal acts of conquerors,” committed by the Japanese forces in China earlier.

112

Japanese women: 1945–1946

There was a communal taboo on this incident and no mention of it was made even after the men returned to the village after the war ended. Consequently it was a long time before it became public knowledge.

At the time, most of the women in the village had stopped menstruating [due to malnourishment], so only a few babies of mixed-race were born as a result of this war-time rape. This was undoubtedly the only consolation in this tragedy.

During the battle, violence against women occurred everywhere in Okinawa, although the true details will probably never be revealed.4

The above incident is reminiscent of the My Lai Massacre in which many Vietnamese women were gang-raped before being shot by members of Charlie Company.5 The women of the above-mentioned village were at least lucky to emerge from their ordeal with their lives.

According to a survey conducted by a feminist group in Okinawa – Okinawan Women Act Against Military Violence – US troops landed on Zamami Island, a small island west of the main island, and began raping women there in March 1945, shortly after they had landed. They abducted the women, carried them one by one to deserted coastal areas and gang-raped them. After being raped, the women were allowed to go. There is also a testimony that some Okinawan nurses and local women patients who had been admitted to the US Field Hospital were raped by US soldiers. One of the victims, a young girl patient, was raped by a GI in front of her father who was in the tent attending to her.6 These victims had nowhere to report the crime even if they had wished to do so, the Japanese police system of Okinawa having completely collapsed during the battle.

The rape of Okinawan women by American soldiers continued even after the war officially ended and there are many incidents in which American soldiers took young girls from civilian houses at gunpoint. These girls would later return with their clothes torn off. Some were even killed, although the perpetrators were never caught. As a result, villagers throughout Okinawa used a warning

signal of banging on pots and pans to warn of approaching American troops.

On hearing this, girls would hide until all was clear. Some women were also raped when they went to US camps to receive food hand-outs. During the first five years of the American occupation of Okinawa, 76 cases of murder or rape-murder were reported. This number was but the tip of the iceberg, as most cases went unreported.7

Fear and confusion before the landing of the Allied
occupation forces

On August 16, 1945, the day after Japan officially surrendered to the Allied nations, major railway stations in Tokyo such as Shinjuku and Ueno were crowded with women and children who were desperate to catch trains bound for remote places far from the metropolitan area.8 They feared that, if they remained in the city, they would be raped by US and other Allied troops who were expected
Japanese women: 1945–1946

113

to land soon in Japan. In adjacent Kanagawa prefecture, too, many railway stations were thrown into chaos as women tried to escape from cities like Yokohama, Yokosuka, Kawasaki, and Zushi. Yokohama and Yokosuka, two major port cities near Tokyo, were expected to be the landing places for the core of the Allied occupation forces. The authorities of the Kanagawa prefectural government were particularly concerned about the safety of women living in the coastal areas of its prefecture. Thus, they advised local councils in these areas to evacuate women and children to inland country areas as soon as possible. They also advised their own female staff and other public service workers to take refuge with relatives or friends in remote areas.9

Such fear was widespread, not only among the people in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures but in other cities, especially those cities with port facilities where the Allied troops were expected to land. For example, in Fukuoka on Kyushu Island, military officers of the Western District Army’s headquarters held a meeting with Fukuoka prefectural officials in the afternoon of August 15 and discussed how to face the unprecedented situation. At the meeting, one army staff officer proposed the immediate evacuation of women and children from the city, as he thought that the ships carrying US reconnaissance forces would likely arrive there within the following few days, entering through Hakata Bay. As the first step in this plan, all female staff of the Fukuoka prefectural government were advised to evacuate to the country. A similar situation arose in Kure, a port of Hiroshima, and in Hachinohe, a remote coastal city in Aomori prefecture, where some residents believed a rumor that 30,000 Allied soldiers would be advancing on their city.10

The fact that this state of popular disorder continued until late August is clearly illustrated by some reports of actual cases which appeared in the series of secret reports entitled
Chian JDsei
(Conditions of Public Peace and Order), prepared by the Headquarters of the kempeitai (the Japanese military police). For example, the report of August 23 includes the following cases: •

When the situation of women’s evacuation from Kaname block and Chihaya block 6 in Toshima Ward [in Tokyo] was investigated, it was found that there were 31 households [from which women have fled.]

•

The Neighborhood Association of Chihaya block 3 in the same ward is presently planning to form a vigilance corps consisting of all male residents over 18 years old in order to protect the virtue of women and girls in their block.

•

Parents of young daughters are deeply concerned with their safety, being affected by speculative rumors such as “they will demand each neighborhood association to provide the service of young women” and “we must disguise young women as men, otherwise they will be in danger.” ( Tachikawa District)11

It seems that the Japanese government tried to restore order by using the influence of the media. From August 19 various articles related to this matter appeared in major newspapers. On August 19,
Asahi Shimbun
, one of the largest nationwide 114

Japanese women: 1945–1946

newspapers, published an article entitled “Looting and Brutality Are Not Possible.”12 This article claimed that the landing of the Allied occupation forces could not begin before the Japanese Imperial Government signed an instrument of surrender that General Douglas MacArthur was going to put forward, and that at this stage the landing places had not yet been designated. Thus, it implied that people would not need to worry about the Allied occupation forces immediately. The article also said that the collection of food and other materials needed for the occupation troops would be controlled by the Japanese government.

Thus it concluded that “
in principle
, looting and brutality, which are quite common problems on the battlefield, should not occur” [emphasis added]. It is interesting to note that the words “in principle” indicate the psychological ambivalence of the journalist who wrote this article.

On the same page, directly above this article,
Asahi Shimbun
published a message from a Catholic priest, Father Patrick Barn, addressed to the US soldiers who were expected to land on Japanese soil as members of the occupation forces. Father Barn was an American citizen who was permitted to live near Mt.

Hiei in Kyoto throughout the war without internment. In this message, entitled “To the American Soldiers Who Are Going to Land. Maintain Rigid Discipline!,”

he urged the US soldiers not to commit outrages against Japanese citizens, especially young women. He emphasized the similarity between traditional Japanese women’s behaviour to choose to commit suicide rather than be sexually violated and the Catholic spirit of martyrdom. He asked the American soldiers to respect this sensitivity of Japanese women.13

This article was the Japanese translation of his message in English addressed to the US troops, which was broadcast by the NHK ( Japan Broadcasting Commis-sion) overseas service section. His message was aired many times between August 19 and the landing of the Allied troops at Yokosuka on August 30. In fact, Aragaki Hideo, then the chief of the Domestic News Section of the Tokyo head office of
Asahi Shimbun
, arranged the broadcast of Father Barn’s speech with NHK, as he was seriously concerned about the possible violence against Japanese women by US occupation troops.14 Thus,
Asahi Shimbun
published two contradictory articles on the same page of its newspaper. One reflected the “official stance” of the Japanese government and the other reflected the real concerns of journalists.

This kind of ambivalence of the press can be found in other major newspapers, as well. For example, on August 20,
Yomiuri HDchi
, another national newspaper, published an article, “To be Driven by Demagogy is Foolish – We Would be Laughed at by the Rest of the World If We Show Too Much Confusion.” This article cited a long commentary given by Mr. Horikiri Zenjir
d
, a member of the House of Peers, who had experience in serving as a Japanese representative to the Allied Committee on the Enforcement of the Peace Treaty in Germany after World War I. According to Horikiri, the discipline of the occupation forces stationed in Germany in those days had been maintained to a high degree and no unfortunate incidents had occurred. Yet Horikiri too ended up by expressing reservations about the strict discipline of the Allied troops in the following antinomic manner:

Japanese women: 1945–1946

115

Of course it cannot be said so lightly that the Allied troops which are going to be stationed in Japan would behave in the same way. It can be expected that, in a war situation, looting and brutality are often committed when military discipline becomes slack to some extent and soldiers become truc-ulent. But this time it is a peaceful station of the well-disciplined military forces, based upon mutual agreement. Yet some mishaps may possibly occur, depending on time and circumstances. Despite all these, we must not be driven and confused by unreliable rumors and make wrong decisions.

Otherwise we would be laughed at by the rest of the world.15

Three days later,
Yomiuri HDchi
, published two relevant articles. One called for calm: there would be no possibility of Allied troops looting or committing crimes of violence against them. Directly below this column, however, they printed an article entitled “Restrain Women from Walking Alone. Let’s be Careful Not to Have a Licentious Appearance.” This article listed as many as seven important issues that people should always keep in mind when dealing with the Allied soldiers. Item 2 urged people not to flee from homes, as peace and order would be maintained by police and the kempeitai as it always had been. However, items 4 to 7 were all designed to warn Japanese women to keep themselves away from the foreign troops as much as possible. Item 7 particularly warned the women who would have to live near the camps of the occupation troops not to walk alone in a quiet street, even in daytime, let alone in the evening.16