Japan Aff Michigan
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Prostitution LinkOkinawa base contributes to widespread unreported prostitution and rape Fukumura 7 doctoral student in the Department of History at UC Santa Cruz (Yoko, 2007, “ Okinawa: Effects of long-term US Military presence”, www.genuinesecurity.org/partners/report/Okinawa.pdf) Military Prostitution and Violence Against Women and Children In the past, as many as one in thirty Okinawan women were employed as prostituted women for the U.S. military in “A sign” bars.�� Entertainment districts were built close to military bases immediately after the war. In some cases U.S. military authorities returned land taken for bases to Okinawan planners for purposes of building entertainment areas.�� In 1969, at the height of the U.S. War against Vietnam, the Okinawan police estimated that 7,362 Okinawan women were working in prostitution though others estimated this number to be 10,000 or more. Before reversion in1972, the discussion of an anti-prostitution law was brought up in the Okinawan government assembly on two separate occasions, but nothing was done because of the large economic benefit contributed by these women—larger than the agricultural industry (pineapple and sugarcane combined).�� The women were coerced into prostitution through economic hardship, given the lack of meaningful alternatives. Although counted as part of the underground economy, their wages made a significant contribution to the Okinawan economy. Today, some 7,000 Filipinas (and the number may be much higher), whose home economy is far weaker than that of Japan, are the prostituted women—on entertainment visas—for U.S. military personnel in Okinawa, even though prostitution is illegal in Japan.�� On September 4, 1995, a 12-year-old girl was returning home at 8:30pm after shopping in a neighborhood store near a U.S. military base. Abducted by three U.S. servicemen in a car, her hands, eyes, and mouth bound with duct tape, she was raped, dumped out of the car, and left by the side of a road. Her assailants—two Marines and a sailor—had rented the car inside the base, purchased duct tape and condoms, and left the base with the purpose of abducting a woman and raping her. This incident was one more in a long history of violence against women that has continued in Okinawa throughout the postwar period. However, there were several things different about this case that resulted in a massive outpouring of grief and anger by Okinawan citizens: 1) The victim pressed charges; 2) The rape occurred during the Fourth UN Conference on Women in Beijing where violence against women was declared a human rights violation—this inspired confidence in Okinawan women, especially the large contingent that attended the UN Conference; 3) The rape occurred during the 50th anniversary year of the end of World War II, a time of reflection on 50 years of U.S. military presence in Okinawa; and 4) The age of the victim made it very clear that such violence claims victims without distinction.�� 3 The rape of this girl was reported worldwide, but most crimes by U.S. troops (including rape, assault, and murder) are not. Official reports estimate more than 5,394 military crimes against Okinawan people from 1972 to 2005, with 533 of them heinous crimes (1972-2004). Arrested military personnel suspected of committing these crimes numbered 678.���� These crime figures are a conservative estimate as many crimes are not reported, perhaps especially violence against women. The bases are also associated with drug use and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mixed-race Amerasian children fathered by U.S. troops have often been abandoned by their fathers and experience discrimination from local people. Rape LinkUS troops Rape Japanese girls Sendagaya 4-26-7 (Member of the Japanese communist party writing an article about the terrible things US troops do in Japan in an article titled “The Problem of US military bases in Okinawa”) In September 1995, a school girl was abducted and raped by three U.S. soldiers. The Okinawa prefectural police demanded that the suspects be handed over to Japan, but the U.S. Forces refused to do so. This incident roused the anger of the prefecture’s people and rallies were held in October with 92,000 people participating from across the prefecture. They strongly demanded the eradication of crimes by U.S. soldiers, the revision of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and the realignment and reduction of the bases. Security LinkUS security trades off with the security and rights of women in Okinawa Kirk*, Matsuoka**, and Okazawa-Rey***, 97--*Ph.D. in political sociology from the London School of Economics, founding member of the East Asia-US-Puerto Rico Women's Network Against Militarism, chaired the Women's Studies Program at Antioch College (1992-1995), Jane Watson Irwin Visiting Chair in Women's Studies at Hamilton College (1999-2001), Rockefeller Fellowship in Women's Studies (University of Hawaii, 2002), **Assistant Professor in the Urban and Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College, ***Ed.D. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Director of Women’s Leadership Institute and Visitng Professor in Women’s Studies at Mills College (2002-2005), founding member of the International Network of Women Against Militarism) (Gwyn, Martha, and Margo, Off Our Backs, Inc., Volume 27, Issue 9, “Women and Children, Militarism, and Human Rights: International Women’s Working Conference”, October 97, accessed via questia.com, Questia Media America, Inc.) Massive Takazato argued that the U.S. military presence does not protect local people but endangers them and that there is a need to redefine security for women and children. Officially security is thought of in terms of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, with a Status of Forces Act which sets out details of U.S. military operations in Japan. But what is true security, and how to achieve it? For example, in 1996 an interim report on babies born to women living near Kadena Air Force Base showed that these babies have significantly lower birthweights than those in other parts of Okinawa, which local people attribute to stress and noise generated by the base. The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in no way protected the 12-year old girl who was raped; also in May 1995 a 24-year old woman was beaten to death by a GI with a hammer in the doorway of her house. Women's lack of security is directly linked to this Security Treaty. 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