Recreation and Amusement Association
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The Recreation and Amusement Association (RAA, 特殊慰安施設協会), or more literally Special Comfort Facility Association, was the official euphemism for the prostitution centers arranged for the U.S. armed forces in Occupied Japan after World War II.
The RAA was created on August 28, 1945 by the Japanese Home Ministry 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, the breakwater of sex to protect Japanese women" (お国のために日本女性を守る性の防波堤). In September, the system was extended to cover the entire country.
Unlike wartime "comfort women," most employees of the RAA were Japanese women and no forcible kidnapping of women for recruitment by soldiers took place. According to most sources, the women were prostitutes recruited by advertisement as well 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, albeit without proof, that the centers were in fact set up by the U.S. and the Japanese women in them were sex slaves.
In January 1946, the RAA was terminated by an order to cease all "public" prostitution. The ban is traditionally attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but was almost certainly propelled by rapidly spreading venereal disease among the troops.
See also
Sources
- Downer, Lesley Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha, Broadway, 2001. ISBN 0767904893 ISBN 0767904907
- Molasky, Michael S. American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa, Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0415191947 ISBN 0415260442
- Tanaka, Yuki Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the U.S. Occupation, London, Routledge: 2002. ISBN 0415194016.
- Yoshimi, Yoshiaki Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, Columbia University Press, 2001. ISBN 023112032Xja:特殊慰安施設協会