Japan Aff Michigan



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Rape = Violence



Sexual exploitation of women perpetuates the violence that occurs frequently in Okinawa

Tanaka, 02-research professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute

(Yuki, Japan’s Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation, page 178) Massive


Although military violence against women is heightened to extreme levels during war, such a firm-rooted tendency towards the sexual exploitation of women by military men is not limited to wartime. The fact that soldiers are possessed of a strong propensity to commit sexual violence even in peacetime is well supported by studies of base area prostitution, including numerous criminal cases involving soldiers. For example, it is well known that sexual violence committed by US military personnel was long endemic at its Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines, which it operated until the end of 1992. It remains a serious concern for residents living near the US military bases in Okinawa and Korea. Military violence against Okinawan women continued after the Battle of Okinawa, despite a widespread clandestine prostitution that was regulated by the US military authorities. For example, in 1955, a 6-year-old girl, Nagayama Yumiko, in Ishikawa city, was abducted, raped, and murdered by a GI stationed at Kadena Base. This is only one, if the most shocking, of numerous cases of sexual crimes committed by American soldiers in Okinawa over the past half century. 34 One of the most widely publicized cases was the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl on her way home from shopping by three US servicemen in September 1995. The incident triggered massive demonstrations against the location of US military facilities on Okinawa. 35 In Korea, too, in the 20 years between 1967 and 1987, there were 72 reported cases of rape, in addition to numerous cases of physical violence against women committed by the members of the US troops stationed there. The most shocking case in Korea is probably the murder of Yun Kumi, a 26-year-old employee at one of the US military recreation clubs. She was killed by a young US soldier in October 1992. Her dead body was covered with heavy bruises, two beer bottles and a coke bottle being inserted in her vagina. 36


Rape = Racism



Racist stereotypes of Asian women are a major cause of sexual violence committed by US military servicemen

Kirk, 08-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)

(Gwyn, Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, "Gender and U.S. Bases in Asia-Pacific”, March 14, 2008, http://www.fpif.org/articles/gender_and_us_bases_in_asia-pacific) Massive



Military personnel are trained to dehumanize “others” as part of their preparation for war. Their aggressiveness, frustration, and fear spill over into local communities, for example in acts of violence against girls and women. Although most U.S. troops do not commit such violations, these incidents happen far too often to be accepted as aberrations. Racist and sexist stereotypes about Asian women – as exotic, accommodating, and sexually compliant – are an integral part of such violence. These crimes inflame local hostility and resistance to U.S. military bases and operations, and have long-lasting effects on victims/survivors. Cases are seriously underreported due to women’s shame and fear or their belief that perpetrators will not be apprehended.
Sexism and racism are the root cause of the sexual violence in Okinawa, which often goes ignored, multiple warrants

Motoyama, 08-Executive Director of the Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center in Japan

(Hisako, Off Our Backs, Volume 38, Issue 1, “Not a ‘yankees-go-home’ Solution to the Sexual Violence of the U.S. Military”, 2008, accessed via questia.com, Questia Media America, Inc.) Massive



There are some serious issues with women's rights in Japanese society that have not been highlighted in the past by the anti-bases movement. The recent series of incidents of U.S. military violence exposes the outdated penal system, the lack of mechanisms to protect and support victims, persistent prejudice about sexual violence, and a mass media that inflames attacks against victims. While we have to see problems in the U.S. military as part of what makes U.S. military violence in Asia so rampant compared to other regions, weak human rights mechanisms, persistent gender discrimination and racism within the Japanese nation against Okinawan people have also formed the foundation on which the U.S.-Japan military alliance has been maintained, by making violence against women and girls invisible and negligible. Additionally, this structure, which has been formed in the historical interaction between two nations, makes particular groups of women - such as those working on the bases or in entertainment areas - vulnerable to violence. As the U.S.-Japan military alliance is given an important role in the U.S. global military strategy, it also affects women in the Philippines, the Middle East and other parts of the world where soldiers stationed in Japan may visit for military operations or for R&R (rest and relaxation) purposes.
Imperialist soldiers commit violence against women as a result of deep rooted racism

PSLweb.org, 08 (Laci Armodei, PSLweb.org, “Okinawan Women Fight Against GI Abuses”, 3-4-08, http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8600) Massive

It is a typical trend for U.S. military personnel camped out on foreign lands to abuse the local population. Such incidents rarely surface. Violence against women is a common offense committed by imperialist soldiers. Such recurring criminal acts are not merely coincidental nor do they spring from a handful of "bad apples" such as Hadnott. Violence against the local population near U.S. military bases abroad is the direct result of the racism each soldier is indoctrinated with, and women are particularly vulnerable. The Army does its fair share to create the conditions for such crimes. The U.S. military uses 7,000 Filipinas to serve its soldiers in Okinawa. During the first Gulf War, rest-and-recreation ships were reportedly floated for the U.S. servicemen with 50 Filipino women each. As of one year ago, 900 Filipinas worked for $200 a month at "massage parlors" inside U.S. camps and bases in Iraq.
In that context, the November 2005 rape of a 22-year-old Filipino woman by U.S. soldiers in Olongapo City, Philippines may have been shocking, but was hardly surprising. When Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was found guilty, the U.S. government quickly negotiated his release into U.S. custody by threatening to suspend joint military exercises in the Philippines.


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