U.S. troops used 'comfort women' after WWII

[KirinMan]

why do you deny it.
in japanese newspaer at that time , american soldeiers raped so many Japanese women
even after SF treaty , there were 1878 raping reported by american for 8 months, according to regular session of japanese House of Councillors
the woest one was raped by 27 american soldiers 1st sep 1945

Caster I have yet to read anywhere here where anyone denied the fact that US soldiers were involved in rapes of Japanese women after WWII. That isn't what this thread was about. Oh and btw it's a shame that it happened and it is also a shame that little if nothing was done about it. However.......

This thread is about the brothel's that the JAPANESE GOVERNMENT set up, and which the US military personel used for the 6 or 7 months following the end of WWII and at the begining of the Occupation period of Japan. The Japanese government set these brothel's up of their own and not from any instructions or orders coming from the US Military at the time.

Huge difference in my opinion.

Let's try to keep it on topic please

 

[diceke]

However this is not related to this thread and belongs on the Comfort Women thread, not here, I am going to ask a moderator to split this off from here and place it in the appropriate location ok.

You are right! Now I wonder why some Americans can't discuss the topic without mentioning "Japanese this, Japanese that" on this very thread? It belongs on the other thread.:?

 

[ianspikedawg]

we still have are troop in japan y

we still have are troop in japan y? we are in a new war get are men out of their and in irac

 

[caster51]

This thread is about the brothel's that the JAPANESE GOVERNMENT set up, and which the US military personel used for the 6 or 7 months following the end of WWII and at the begining of the Occupation period of Japan

because there were so many raping by American?
the order was secreat....and J-gervenment made it
isnt it a common sense that is by your logic
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RAA(Recreation and Amusement Association)
ﾋ?藩 ??窶｢w窶堋ｽ窶堋ｿ窶堙債、ﾂ「窶堋ｨﾂ坂?倪?堙娯?堋ｽ窶堙溪?堙俄?愿ｺ窶怒ﾂ鞘?板青ｫ窶堙ｰﾅｽﾃｧ窶堙ｩﾂ青ｫ窶堙娯?塗窶挌窶凖ｧﾂ」窶堙俄?堙遺?堙ｩ窶堙??堋｢窶堋､窶敕溪??窶堙闇塚??凪?堙娯?ｰﾂｺ窶堙可、RAA ﾅ?ﾂｲ窶｢窶昶?堋ｽ窶堋ｿ窶堋ｪ窶敖ｭ窶堋ｷ窶堙ｩ窶氾懌?堙姑弛ﾆ停?愴旦ﾆ辰窶堙戸廣ﾅ津??堙俄?倪?披?堙ｧ窶堙ｪ窶堙?暖ﾆ停?ｰﾆ鍛ﾆ誰窶堙?渉ｬ窶卍ｬ窶ｰ竄ｬ窶堙俄?愬ｾ窶吮?ｦ窶堋ｵ窶堙懌?堋ｵ窶堋ｽﾂ。ﾂ催?鞘?ｰ窶堙個「窶堋ｨ窶ｹqﾂ」ﾂ（窶｢ﾃ??｢ﾂｺﾂ）窶堙坂?伉≫?堋ｭ窶堙? 28 窶愿ｺ窶堙娯?禿ｩﾅ陳ｻ窶堙ｪ窶堋ｽ窶堋ｻ窶堋､窶堙??堋ｷﾂ。
however raping was kept by them

 

[ianspikedawg]

u r driving me made i can not under stand u at all

 

[caster51]

Japanese G made a RAA(Recreation and Amusement Association)with tears to defend other japanese women because of american raping

however they did not stop the raping

 

[KirinMan]

because there were no many raping by American?
the order was secreat....and J-gervenment made it
isnt it a common sense that is by your logic

Caster are you trying to say that the order to set up the brothel's by the Japanese Government were secret?

Or that the order came from the US government and it was secret? (If this is the case and the order was secret how do you know about it, if it exists?)

u r driving me made i can not under stand u at all

I am not 100% sure but I think that our friend Caster here is using a translator to write his messages in English, and it makes it rather difficult at times to understand what he is writing. He also has a habit of not responding to questions or comments made towards him for the same reason I think, he needs to translate everything from English to Japanese to read what people write here in response to him.

 

[caster51]

GHQﾂ（ﾋ廣ﾂ坂?｡ﾂ坂?佛坦窶伉最ｽi窶氾溪?｢窶敖：General Head Quartersﾂ）窶堙 9 ﾅ椎ｽ窶堙坂?堋ｶ窶堙溪?堙架廣ﾂ坂?｡ﾅ坦窶廃ﾋ?藩??ﾅｽ{ﾂ静昶?堙個静昶?冰窶堙ｰ窶督ｽ窶氾溪?堋ｵﾂ、窶牢ﾂ坂?佛?e窶冢窶堙架?藩??ﾂ焦?窶堋ｪ窶昶?楪春窶ｹﾃ?ｽﾃ?RAA)

tthen bigining of sep 1945.
GHQ orderd it officilly as many exclusive one for american

 

[KirinMan]

Japanese G made a RAA(Recreation and Amusement Association)with tears to defend other japanese women because of american raping
(

Caster I take it you didnt even read the article, or if you did you missed this....

The orders from the Ministry of the Interior came on August 18, 1945, one day before a Japanese delegation flew to the Philippines to negotiate the terms of their country's surrender and occupation.

Don't put the blame on the initial creation of the brothel's at the feet of the US Military it is a fact that the Japanese Government set them up. There is no argument there.

The only thing the US is guilty of is allowing it's members to go to those establishments. Which I point out again here was for only about 7 months, they were placed off limits by MacArthur because of the spread of venereal disease amongst the troops and the P.R. problems that it would cause back home. The brothel's went out of business soon afterwards.

 

[caster51]

why do you deny it ?
it is a shame as you said

 

[KirinMan]

why do you deny it ?
it is a shame as you said

Sigh......Caster when have I denied "it" ever happened? Please refresh my memory.

 

[diceke]

Or that the order came from the US government and it was secret? (If this is the case and the order was secret how do you know about it, if it exists?)

You know, the evidence was destroyed by the US, shame on them!

I am not 100% sure but I think that our friend Caster here is using a translator to write his messages in English, and it makes it rather difficult at times to understand what he is writing.

I'm not 100% sure, but maybe ianspikedawg is also using a translator to write his messeges, I couldn't understand what he wrote one bit.

 

[Sukotto]

we still have are troop in japan y? we are in a new war get are men out of their and in irac

don't you see? they can more easily invade and conquer new territories if they are "forward deployed".

North Korea a threat?
get real.
It's the same in any country. Politicians demonize some "other" for fun and profit. Why would Japan be any different.

The US has over 700 known/acknowledged military bases in over 130 different countries, according to Chalmers Johnson. US foreign policy is and has been not about spreading freedom and democracy, but ensuring the flow of wealth home under the legal structure of trans-national corporations which it forces other countries to accept. Corporations have historically been a tool of empire to extract wealth. It's what they were invented for by kings.


comfort women
used by US troops are not unique to post war Japan or to only bases at Okinawa . or private contractors (mercenaries) DynCorp involved in sex trafficking in Bosnia
That type of thing is problemtic of US bases worldwide it seems.

So, yeah, close down Okinawa as a military installation, close all US military bases, close down the pentagon. time for a real peace dividend.
women and children (civilians) always suffer the most from war and militarism.

 

[sabro]

I would still object to the term "comfort women" when applied to prostitutes. The term is specific to the systematic use of sex slaves by the Japanese military. It is a euphemism they created to hide a horrible and widespread war crime perpetrated by a government against thousands of women and girls. Throwing it around like it just means prostitute diminishes and dilutes the meaning.

 

[hanachan]

The only thing the US is guilty of is allowing it's members to go to those establishments. Which I point out again here was for only about 7 months, they were placed off limits by MacArthur because of the spread of venereal disease amongst the troops and the P.R. problems that it would cause back home. The brothel's went out of business soon afterwards.

But I don't think it's "the only thing". If Comfort Women is a problem of human rights, the US is also guilty. In a point to moral responsibility, both US and Japan are not different.

Following issue was written concerned to AP news by Eric Talmadge (April 26, 2007) --- "American Chronicle, April 30 2007"
Sex Slaves for American GI's Accepted Mass Rape--ﾂ"Peacefullyﾂ"?

Interestingly, Talmadge takes some of his article from the ﾂ'official' Japanese history of the enslavement and it reads like this: ﾂ"As expected, after the comfort stations opened it was elbow to elbow. The comfort womenﾂ…had some resistance to selling themselves to men who just yesterday were the enemy, and because of differences in language and race, there were a great deal of apprehensions at first. But they were paid highly, and they gradually came to accept their work peacefully.ﾂ"
The rest of my article will definitely argue a very different point of view--that no woman accepts rape ﾂ"peacefully.ﾂ" It is a point that would not seem to need proving, but the notion that a prostitute cannot be raped because she is paid and because she asked for it and the idea that if she is Asian, it is part of her culture to be a whoreﾂ―these ways of thinking predominate among the soldiers who frequent prostitutes. Someone has to express that it is not so. Someone has to express that paying does not making rape okay. I wish I could find another person to do this since it troubles me deeply to be only one voice in a world that regards the ***** as a disposable non-entity who feels no pain.
The way journalists refuse to express the pain of the tortured in the service of some imaginary ﾂ'objectivity' betrays the extreme suffering these women endured. And it leaves the reader with the idea that a woman will accept rape by 60 men ﾂ"peacefully.ﾂ" Talmadge's article does not mention the pain the women experienced. Nor does he in any way refute the idea that the women came to accept mass rape ﾂ"peacefully.ﾂ" So, it is up to me to add the view of the ***** whose body is violated 60 times a day. There does not seem to be anyone else around to do it.
For one, contrary to the above statement, the girls were not paid highly. They were held in debt bondage, as are all sexually enslaved girls, thus little of the money would have gone to them. Even if they had been ﾂ'paid highly,' how could this in any way make constant rape palatable to them? Let alone ﾂ"peaceful.ﾂ"
As for the girls having ﾂ"some resistanceﾂ" to selling themselves to enemy men of a different race, the resistance was major: the girls cried and screamed and tried to run away when the GI's entered the brothels. Terrified of these huge men, they held onto things to keep from being pushed down and mounted. Girls who tried to escape were shoved back in by MP's.
Yoshimi Yoshiaki's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During WWII contains the following assessment of the girls' fear: ﾂ"The first comfort station, Komachien, was set up in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. It was opened as early as August 27. The women were petrified of the U.S. soldiers pouring in and began weeping. There were even some who clung to posts (holding up the roof) and wouldn't move.ﾂ"
How is crying and being terrified considered ﾂ"some resistance.ﾂ" How could the men mount the girls if they were so terrified? How else can you analyze this behavior except as rape? And I would like to ask the girls who were mounted 60 times a day if they came to accept this ﾂ"peacefully.ﾂ" I would like to ask them how their bodies felt after 60 rapes and how they managed to not bleed to death in just one day, let alone being able to withstand this day after day after day. Were they stunned into shock the whole time? Were they even aware of who was mounting them, so deep would have been the shock to their bodies and minds? Hopefully, they did what other mass raped women report doing: become numb to bear the unbearable, and become indifferent to the disgust of intercourse with serial soldier rapists.
The male view that this activity can be accepted ﾂ"peacefullyﾂ" must be countered. Did the Japanese officials who observed the girls being raped into ﾂ"acceptanceﾂ" perhaps mistake the comatose state of the in-shock body for ﾂ"peaceﾂ"? Did they mistake the expression in the rape-dead eyes for ﾂ"peaceﾂ"?

And the reason that the brothel was closed;

Talmadge writes: ﾂ"MacArthurs's primary concern was not only a moral one.ﾂ"
Actually MacArthur's primary concern was not a moral one at all. If it were, why didn't he stop the setting up of the Mass Rape Stations in August 1945? He knew they were there. He knew about the long rapelines. By failing to stop the system at its inception, he tacitly condoned the rape of these girls' bodies thousands of times by thousands of men.
In fact, according to Tanaka, the reason for closing down the brothels was simple: the GI's had given the majority of the girls VD. It did not go in the opposite direction since most of the enslaved were virgins before they screamed and cried under the heavy men and the first rapes. (It makes one ask where the GI's were raping ***** bodies before they landed in Japan. Some of the men had been in the European theatre and then were transferred over to the Pacific, so one can assume that that the starvation prostitution forced on the French, German, and Italian girls had infected them with VD as well.)

 

[KirinMan]

But I don't think it's "the only thing". If Comfort Women is a problem of human rights, the US is also guilty. In a point to moral responsibility, both US and Japan are not different.

Are never going to admit that Japan was guilty of anything? Do you need the security of knowing that "some" other country did something similar but not the same thing to make your conscience feel better that it just wasn't "us"?

If one uses 100 as a percentage of guilt, take into account (Comfort Women)the sheer numbers of females and number of years, nearly 20, manner of recruitment, etc etc v.s. the US using prostitutes in brothel's set up by the Japanese for only 7 months,

I would say the level of guilt to pass around would be what about 90% of the guilt belongs to Japan and 10% to the US. What about you?

Sure the US servicemen were guilty of rapes then, but that doesnt include the women in the brothel's.

If it were, why didn't he stop the setting up of the Mass Rape Stations in August 1945? He knew they were there. He knew about the long rapelines.

What do people do in a brothel Hana? Play poker?

 

[Han Chan]

I would say the level of guilt to pass around would be what about 90% of the guilt belongs to Japan and 10% to the US.

This is nonsense! A rape is a rape. Merely because you can find somewhere in the past history where more rapes were committed you can not claim to be only be 10% guilty. With this kind of argument you could kill someone and after claim that you are less than 1% guilty compared to Pol Pot.

Don't get me wrong: I earlier stated that US soldiers were somewhat more disciplined that for example the Sovjet soldiers. I also think that the number or rapes committed by US soldiers were less than by japanese, but the question of guilt can not be made relative according to number.

I think that the number of rapes committed by US soldiers occupying Japan in 1945 and the years immediatedly after were relatively low, but each rape is a serious crime.

Accepting that wrongs were committed by both sides is the first step towards mutual understanding. Starting a argument over percentage of guilt is simply not helping the discussion.

 

[KirinMan]

This is nonsense! A rape is a rape.

Sorry about that, the actual percentages are meaningless I agree, I was attempting to make a different point however.

Our friends here that are posting comments like, the US is just as guilty because they use the brothel's too....and that kind of thinking is to me at least, an attempt to justify what the Japanese did, or were guilty of.

I am sorry I wasnt actually expecting anyone to take it that seriously and I should have explained that better, my mistake here.

Another point I have been trying to get our Japanese friends here to agree to is that the two issues are totally different and should not be confused with each other.

 

[Han Chan]

Another point I have been trying to get our Japanese friends here to agree to is that the two issues are totally different and should not be confused with each other.

I agree. Relating these two issues can only lead to a blame-game. I find that the only fruitfull stance is to accept that women were violated in the past. I think that showing compassion for the women who were violated is the only decent thing to do.

I think we can agree that women were violated in the past by soldiers from both sides, and that it was wrong and regrettable. Then, finally we can progress to the more important issue: How do we move forward?

I think that we should all start by taking the Geneva Conventions serious. If we do, there will be no more rape by occupying forces and no more mass killing of innocent civilians.

 

[KirinMan]

I agree. Relating these two issues can only lead to a blame-game. I find that the only fruitfull stance is to accept that women were violated in the past. I think that showing compassion for the women who were violated is the only decent thing to do.
I think we can agree that women were violated in the past by soldiers from both sides, and that it was wrong and regrettable. Then, finally we can progress to the more important issue: How do we move forward?

And right now it seems as if the "blame" game is what everyone wants to concentrate on, and imo nothing positive will happen until everyone admits that the "guilt" needs to be spread around.

It doesnt really matter what percentage of guilt each country has, what matters most is that all accept that wrong was done. Until all accept their own responsiblity there is no way that any forward or anything positive can come of this. That is of course my opinion.

My biggest thorn of contention is that the Japanese posters on this thread continually refuse to accept the fact that within their own "history" their government is guilty as charged. I admit that the US has responsibility in regards to this issue of utilizing and raping Japanese women through the brothel's that the Japanese government set up. However I have yet to hear a Japanese member here admit that the Japanese government at the time is culpable with regards to the issue brought forth on the "other" thread.

The US military was wrong....what about Japan?

 

[diceke]

Our friends here that are posting comments like, the US is just as guilty because they use the brothel's too....and that kind of thinking is to me at least, an attempt to justify what the Japanese did, or were guilty of.
I am sorry I wasnt actually expecting anyone to take it that seriously and I should have explained that better, my mistake here.
Another point I have been trying to get our Japanese friends here to agree to is that the two issues are totally different and should not be confused with each other.

Interesting. Is the word "different" synonymous to the word "trivial"?

The US military was wrong....what about Japan?

Are we discussing Japan now?

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

France dared to refuse to help and the French people got all the dirt been thrown over them. No more French fries and more of that nonsense, because they refused to fight together with the U.S. against the Iraqi.

In 1987 the U.S.S. Stark was attacked by an Iraqi Mirage while patrolling waterlanes in the Persian Gulf in order to keep trade routes safe during the Iran-Iraq War. The Mirage fired an Exocet air-to-sea missile which struck the ship, killing and wounding more than 50 American sailors and setting fire to the hull. Both Mirages and Exocets are made in France and were sold by the French to the Iraqi government.

That's why dirt was thrown in their face. Saddam Hussein had been buying French ordinance and materials right up until the second war. The French didn't want to lose a source of income. Even Time Magazine had articles all about the money trail that existed between Saddam and France (as well as Russia).

It wasn't because the French "dared" anything. Besides, the French have no right to judge the United States when they still own 1/4 of the supposedly "liberated" Comoros Islands and have a habit of arranging the assassination of any anti-French leaders who fight for more independence of their nation. Apparently Neo-Colonialism isn't dead yet.

Sorry but I can't agree with you, I mean with : "It is between the U.S. and Iraq".

I don't agree with this statement either. I'm trying to point out other people's hypocrisy. Note my statement of "according to that rhetoric." It is rhetoric I had already stated that I do not accept. Hence, I don't believe that it is "just between the U.S. and Iraq."

He said the opposite, that others could/should be involved and discuss issues like this.

Read my second response to Elizabeth. I think you both misread me here.

GEL I apologize if I wasnt clear here, as "gaijinalways" points out and as I should have clearly stated everyone should get involved and help to find a amicable conclusion to this issue.

Again, I don't disagree with you. I think you guys misunderstood me.

in japanese newspaer at that time , american soldeiers raped so many Japanese women
even after SF treaty , there were 1878 raping reported by american for 8 months, according to regular session of japanese House of Councillors

the woest one was raped by 27 american soldiers 1st sep 1945

What exactly are you trying to prove? That American soldiers are as horny and (possibly) racist as any other nation's? That many of them are uneducated brutes? That a few bad apples will ruin everything for everybody else, and make a bad name for everyone? Because that's about all that your statements seem to imply. There is no evidence for comfort women. Rape is not prostitution, it is something much different, and actually, far worse.

why do you deny it ?

Deny what? Caster, you fail to state your premise every chance you get, instead throwing out random facts and bits of information from which you draw some vague and amorphous conclusion that somehow in your mind, exonerates Japan and condemns the United States and/or Allied countries. Or, at least, that's your typical modus operandi.

If you think American soldiers raping Japanese civilians is an atrocity, I'd agree. Yes, it is! Those guys deserve to be court-martialed and thrown in the stockade for as long as they would had they raped an American civilian.

If you think that American soldiers sleeping with Japanese prostitutes is an atrocity, well, I urge you to wake up and smell Real Life and accept that wherever there are soldiers (no matter what nation they are from), they will be sleeping with prostitutes.

If you think that Americans set up a "comfort women" system comparable to the one the Japanese set up in Korea, well, I don't accept that, and consider the two arrangements to be completely different.

Now I wonder why some Americans can't discuss the topic without mentioning "Japanese this, Japanese that" on this very thread?

Maybe because some of us are tired of a number of people turning threads that are supposed to be about Japan into "let's all hate the U.S." threads.

In addition, I didn't try to turn this into a Japan-bashing session. This thread compares U.S. actions in Japan to Japanese actions in Korea by its very existence and the use of the buzzword "comfort women". I'd argue with Obeika that this thread shouldn't be split because these differences are an integral part of the thread.

North Korea a threat?

Not since we siezed their assets. Now they are crying to get their hands on some $20 million, which is pocket-change when it comes to government budgets.

By the way, conquest usually involves direct rule. Japan rules itself, and is currently becoming more-and-more isolationist. As for protecting our commercial empire, go read Thucydides 5.84.1 to 5.111. And stop quoting Noam Chomsky. Those are obviously not your words.

So, yeah, close down Okinawa as a military installation, close all US military bases, close down the pentagon. time for a real peace dividend.

You really don't know much about war, peace, or global politics. I can't see how the United States shutting down its entire military-industrial complex will promote peace, especially in places like Africa, where wars are raging that have nothing to do with the United States. Where's your "peace dividend" now, sparky? It's really easy for slightly post-pubescent and barely educated armchair politicians to go around making axiomatic claims with only flimsy facts, faulty reasoning, and lots of cool, anti-Bush-bandwagon buzzwords to back them up. It seems that every idiot with a high school diploma or a Bachelors in something apparently thinks they know everything there is to know about life, politics, and war, despite the fact that greater minds then theirs have wrestled with these concepts since the dawn of recorded history.

 

[caster51]

If you think American soldiers raping Japanese civilians is an atrocity, I'd agree. Yes, it is! Those guys deserve to be court-martialed and thrown in the stockade for as long as they would had they raped an American civilian.
If you think that American soldiers sleeping with Japanese prostitutes is an atrocity, well, I urge you to wake up and smell Real Life and accept that wherever there are soldiers (no matter what nation they are from), they will be sleeping with prostitutes.
If you think that Americans set up a "comfort women" system comparable to the one the Japanese set up in Korea, well, I don't accept that, and consider the two arrangements to be completely different.

at first, american raped many japanese women.
they were not prostitute at all. they were just housewives, students and kids
it is like" if you dont like raping, make a brothel with silent Compulsion."

ﾋ?藩??窶｢w窶堋ｽ窶堋ｿ窶堙債、ﾂ「窶堋ｨﾂ坂?倪?堙娯?堋ｽ窶堙溪?堙俄?愿ｺ窶怒ﾂ鞘?板青ｫ窶堙ｰﾅｽﾃｧ窶堙ｩﾂ青ｫ窶堙娯?塗窶挌窶凖ｧﾂ」窶堙俄?堙遺?堙ｩ窶堙??堋｢窶堋､窶敕溪??窶堙闇塚??凪?堙娯?ｰﾂｺ窶堙可、RAA ﾅ?ﾂｲ窶｢窶昶?堋ｽ窶堋ｿ窶堋ｪ窶敖ｭ窶堋ｷ窶堙ｩ窶氾懌?堙姑弛ﾆ停?愴旦ﾆ辰窶堙戸廣ﾅ津??堙俄?倪?披?堙ｧ窶堙ｪ窶堙?暖ﾆ停?ｰﾆ鍛 ﾆ誰窶堙?渉ｬ窶卍ｬ窶ｰ竄ｬ窶堙俄?愬ｾ窶吮?ｦ窶堋ｵ窶堙懌?堋ｵ窶堋ｽﾂ。

japanese comfot women dicided with tears to dedend raping other japanese women.
it was called breakwater of sex, raping
Japanese RAA sent them as like that with Banzai eith sad tears.
however thay did not stop raping at all.
they(american) were never arrested.
many women were raped in front of MP
they pressed Japanese newspaper not to report it

 

[KirinMan]

at first, american raped many japanese women.
they were not prostitute at all. they were just housewives, students and kids

This statement is not entirely true, Caster some Japanese women were raped after WWII noone is denying that fact. It is sad also it was wrong and those that were guilty hopefully were brought to justice, however I doubt that is what happened.
Yet the brothel's that were set up by the Japanese government were used from the very first night that the US Military started it's occupation of Japan on August 28th of 1945.

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

japanese comfot women dicided with tears to dedend raping other japanese women.

Why is it Caster that you refer to the Japanese women as "Comfort Women" but call the Korean, Chinese, Indonesian and Phillipino women "prostitutes"?

 

[Goldiegirl]

caster51 rapes occur on everyside in every war that ever took place on this planet. So what is your point that you are trying to make. I don't think anyone here would deny that soldiers rape women. I think you are trying to justify Japan's ruthless treatment of thousands of women (that weren't Japanese) because other countries soldiers raped women. The difference is the Japanese LET their women be used, whereas comfort women were not Japanese and the Japanese government or military had no right to force foreign women to have sex with their soldiers.