Recreation and Amusement Association

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The Recreation and Amusement Association (特殊慰安施設協会, tokushu-ian-shisetsu-kyōkai^?) (RAA), or more literally Special Comfort Facility Association, was the official euphemism for the prostitution centers arranged for occupying U.S. armed forces by the Japanese Government after World War II. ^[1].

The RAA was created on August 28, 1945 by the Japanese Home Ministry and a civilian organization through joint capital investment (50 million yen each) to contain the sexual urges of the occupation forces and protect the main Japanese populace from rape. The RAA's own slogan was "For the country, a sexual breakwater to protect Japanese women" (お国のために日本女性を守る性の防波堤, "For the country, a sexual breakwater to protect Japanese women"^?).

In September, the system was extended to cover the entire country. GHQ commandeered these institutions (22 places of prostitution) on September 28 because rapes by the occupation army soldiers were frequent.^{[2] [3][dubious – discuss]}

Unlike wartime "comfort women" forced to serve Japanese forces, most employees of the RAA were Japanese women, mostly prostitutes and others recruited by advertisement as well as through agents. However, there are testimonies from some women saying that they were coerced into service as bonded labor, and some Japanese sources even assert that the centers were in fact set up by GHQ's demand.^[3]

The price for a sex act was 15 yen; soldiers paid beforehand and received a ticket and a condom in return.

In January 1946, the RAA was terminated by an order to cease all "public" prostitution. The ban is traditionally attributed to the efforts of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. General Douglas MacArthur declared all places of prostitution off limits in an attempt to counter the spread of sexually transmitted diseases^[4]on March 25, 1946.

[edit] See also

• Comfort Women
• Prostitution in Japan

[edit] References

1. ^ Eric Talmadge, GIs frequented Japan's 'comfort women' .Associated Press, Apr. 25, 2007, 9:55 PM EDT
2. ^ Tadasu, Nakanishi. Nagoya Senran Monogatari, Tokyo Bungeisya: 2005. ISBN 4-8355-7606-3
3. ^ ^{a b} Yoshihiko, Amino. Tyuuse no Hijin to Yuujyo, Tokyo Koudansya: 2004. ISBN 4-06-159694-2
4. ^ The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction page 42 by Douglas Slaymaker ISBN 0-41-532225-1

[edit] Sources

• Downer, Lesley Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha, Broadway, 2001. ISBN 0-7679-0489-3 ISBN 0-7679-0490-7
• Molasky, Michael S. American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa, Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0-415-19194-7 ISBN 0-415-26044-2
• Tanaka, Yuki Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the U.S. Occupation, London, Routledge: 2002. ISBN 0-415-19401-6.
• Yoshimi, Yoshiaki Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, Columbia University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-231-12032-X
• Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, New York, Norton: 1999. ISBN 0-393-04686-9
• Tadasu, Nakanishi. Nagoya Senran Monogatari, Tokyo Bungeisya: 2005. ISBN 4-8355-7606-3
• Yoshihiko, Amino. Tyuuse no Hijin to Yuujyo, Tokyo Koudansya: 2004. ISBN 4-06-159694-2