War crimes commited by Allied forces against the Japanese?

[JonS]

ordinary crimes versus war crimes ... the question of wearing a uniform in a condition of war, and commiting a criminal act against a member of a group that you are at war with soldier or civilian. US troops in germany in the 80's were not at war with Germany therefore their crimes could not fall into that category of breaching the Geneva or Hague Conventions.

I agree with that, and that's the point. The US and Aust occupation forces were no longer at war with Japan, therefore no warcrime.

That's my simple take on it.

[DXTR]

But the question is when the occupant is absolved from abiding to the geneva/hague convention? This is partly dealt with in the hague convention IV art 42. One could argue that the state of war ceased to exist when the japanese government accepted the terms of surrender and occupation, and from that it ceased to be technically from a legal point a state of war and by that a warcrime. (if one accepts my understanding of a war crime as given in the above thread). If the rapes were committed on japanese land before the japanese government surrendered then the laws of war was to be respected and crimes committed during that period could be ruled as a war crime. But once again I must point out that this view is still contested on this forum and should not be viewed as uncontested fact but just my understanding of a warcrime. But since it goes to the heart of this section I can only encourage people to followup the debate on the above mentioned thread, so that we can get closer to the root of what is a war crime.

regards