U.S. Forced Prostitution on Conquered Japanese Women After WWII

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"Police officials and Tokyo businessmen established a network of brothels under the auspices of the Recreation and Amusement Association (RAA), which operated with government funds. On Aug. 28, 1945, an advance wave of occupation troops arrived in Atsugi, south of Tokyo. By nightfall, the troops found the RAA's first brothel.

U.S. historian John Dower, in his book "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WWII," says the charge for a short session with a prostitute was 15 yen, or about a dollar.
Seiichi Kaburagi, the chief of public relations for the RAA, wrote in a 1972 memoir that the sudden demand forced brothel operators to advertise for women who were not licensed prostitutes.

"Natsue Takita, whose relatives were killed in the war, responded to an ad seeking an office worker. She was told the only positions available were for comfort women and was persuaded to accept the offer.

"According to Kaburagi's memoirs, Takita, then 19, jumped in front of a train a few days after the brothel started operations.

"'The worst victims ... were the women who, with no previous experience, answered the ads calling for 'Women of the New Japan,' " he wrote. By the end of 1945, about 350,000 U.S. troops were occupying Japan. At its peak, Kaburagi wrote, the RAA employed 70,000 prostitutes to serve them.