Okinawan women may have been raped

[Sam H.]

"As many as 10,000 Okinawan women may have been raped, one scholar estimates. Rape was so prevalent in the months following US subjugation of the island that most Okinawans over age 65 either know or have heard of a woman who was raped in the aftermath of the war. Marine Corps officials say they have no records of such mass rapes, but books, diaries, newspaper articles and other documents refer to rapes by American soldiers of various races and backgrounds. Apparently few if any Okinawan women reported being attacked out of fear and embarrassment, and those who did were ignored by the US military police."

This comes from a revisionist history site on the web. In all my readings of the Pacific war, I have never heard even a rumor of this tale. My father was at Okinawa in 1945-46 and never heard of any such allegations.

Is there any truth to this allegation? Or is this just another revisionist theory?

[Mark V]

Don't know about such incidents during WW2 and immediately after it, but...

Sexual attacks and harassment of Japanese women in Okinawa is an fact of modern days also (ofcourse they could be called single incidents - but still), and to my knowledge large majority of locals wan't to kick the Americans h... out of their island. They are not welcome anymore.

Mark V

[Tom Houlihan]

There are some who have brought shame to the escutcheons of both the Navy and Marine Corps in Okinawa. While those incidents were terrible, I never heard, even while there, of anything resembling that allegation. Prostitution, for money, food, or some other commodity, I wouldn't doubt. The rape epidemic seems a little far-fetched, though.

[Mark V]

There are some who have brought shame to the escutcheons of both the Navy and Marine Corps in Okinawa. While those incidents were terrible, I never heard, even while there, of anything resembling that allegation. Prostitution, for money, food, or some other commodity, I wouldn't doubt. The rape epidemic seems a little far-fetched, though.

Tom,

I didn't use term "rape epidemic" - on the contrary - i used term "separate incidents". There is an huge difference.

BTW. I would be much more carefull, and not even suggesting that those cases are related to prostitution without hard evidence (which you don't have). That is centuries old, and humiliating suggestion used by large majority of rapist (and unfortunately also the society and even authorities) in this world about rape victims...

Mark V

[Peter H]

The revisionist site that has that article(Journal of Historical Review)mentions another source as its reference...but nowhere is the 10,000 rape case figure even mentioned in that newspaper source.All that was verified was that three or so rear echelon Marines terrorised one hamlet and were subject to some rough justice by the villagers,death in fact.

[David Thompson]

The posts on German POW fatalities in US and UK POW camps now have a thread of their own,

"One Million German POWs killed by US/UK?" at:
http://www.thirdreichforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=27723

[David Thompson]

The article on this subject, by Mark Weber, may be found at:

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v19/v19n5p25_secret.html

Weber does not cite to any named source for his claim ("Marine Corps officials say they have no records of such mass rapes, but books, diaries, newspaper articles and other documents refer to rapes by American soldiers of various races and backgrounds.").

[Tom Houlihan]

Mark,

I wasn't trying to twist your words. My interpretation of the "10,000" rapes strikes me as more of an epidemic problem. I guess that's just my take on it.
Being a law enforcement officer, I would never knowingly 'enable' a rapist, by giving him an excuse. What I was referring to with the prostitution comment was a situation where a woman didn't have something she needed, and a GI had an abundance of it, and they worked out a trade. I'm not saying it was right or wrong, but it's something that wouldn't surprise me.
If you, or anyone else, for that matter, took offense, I humbly apologise. Sometimes, there's a disconnect between the brain and the fingers...

Tom

[Mark V]

No problem Tom,

I do apologise my own reaction.


Mark V

[R.M. Schultz]

"…Rape was so prevalent in the months following US subjugation of the island that most Okinawans over age 65 either know or have heard of a woman who was raped in the aftermath of the war…

And how many who were actually raped have come forward?

[max.power]

I'm an Australian who grew up on Okinawa and I gotta say that it isn't a huge majority of Okinawans who want all the Americans out...It's a vocal minority. A lot of Okinawans are employed by the American military and civilian forces (not just as low-skilled jobs, higher-up jobs like engineers, too) and the Yanks pay a lot of rent for their bases, and pump a huge amount of money into the local economy...as for the crimes committed by Americans on the island, there certainly is no excuse, but the media can blow some of them out of proportion...given how many tens of thousands of Americans are on Okinawa, there are given to be a few horrible crimes (again, i'm not condoning it!). But compare the number of crimes against those committed by a comparable population of Japanese or Okinawans, and maybe you'll understand what I mean.

As for World War 2 memories, most Okinawans I've talked to have harsher feelings against the Japanese, most are grateful to the Americans for their treatment after the war (Okinawa wasn't originally part of Japan, it had closer links to Japan, as part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, until the Japan took it over)...On a side note, did you know that Karate was invented on Okinawa, to aid resistance by the farmers against the Japanese conquerors? Man, I'm getting off-track here, aren't I.

Well, I hope I've made a bit of sense here, let me know of any concerns and I'll try to clarify them. Cheers.

[max.power]

d'oh, in my last email, I meant that "Okinawa used to have closer links to CHINA, as part of the Ryukyu Kingdom"...not JAPAN