Editing Occupation of Japan (section)

=== Rape ===
{{Main|Rape during the occupation of Japan}}

According to Toshiyuki Tanaka, 76 cases of rape or rape-murder were reported during the first five years of the American occupation of [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]]. However, he asserts this is probably not the true figure, as most cases were unreported.<ref>{{Citation |last = Tanaka |first = Yuki|year=2003 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4qdLb-LKtpgC&q=raped+okinawa&pg=PA112 |title = Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II  |publisher = Routledge |isbn = 0-203-30275-3 |pages = 112 }}</ref> Some historians have estimated that U.S. troops committed thousands of rapes among the population of the [[Ryukyu Islands]] during the [[Okinawa Campaign]] and the beginning of the American occupation in 1945. One Okinawan historian estimated as many as 10,000 Okinawan women may have been raped in total.{{sfn|Feifer|2001|p=373}}{{sfn|Schrijvers|2002|p=212}}

As described above, Japanese authorities had set up a large system of prostitution facilities in order to protect the population from sexual assault. According to [[John W. Dower]], precisely as the Japanese government had hoped when it created the prostitution facilities, while the RAA was in place "the incidence of rape remained relatively low given the huge size of the occupation force."{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=130}} However, there was a resulting large rise in venereal disease among the soldiers, which led MacArthur to close down the prostitution in early 1946.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=130}} The incidence of rape increased after the closure of the brothels, possibly eight-fold; Dower states that "According to one calculation the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women amounted to around 40 ''daily'' while the RAA was in operation, and then rose to an average of 330 a day after it was terminated in early 1946."{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=579}} Brian Walsh disputes Dower's numbers and states that rape was uncommon throughout the Occupation, with the number of daily rapes being much lower. According to Walsh, the increase in rapes during the termination of the RAA was brief in duration, and the numbers quickly declined thereafter.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Walsh |first = Brian |title = Sexual Violence During the Occupation of Japan |journal = The Journal of Military History |date = October 2018 |volume = 82 |issue = 4 |pages = 1199–1230 }}</ref>  Michael S. Molasky states that while rape and other violent crime were widespread in naval ports like [[Yokosuka]] and [[Yokohama]] during the first few weeks of occupation, according to Japanese police reports and journalistic studies, the number of incidents declined shortly after and they were not common on mainland Japan throughout the rest of occupation.<ref>Molasky, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-VRS0Fh73AYC&pg=PA121 ''The American occupation of Japan and Okinawa: Literature and Memory''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102163634/https://books.google.com/books?id=-VRS0Fh73AYC&pg=PA121 |date=2016-01-02 }}, Routledge, 1999, p. 121. {{ISBN|0-415-19194-7}}.</ref>