Rape during the occupation of Japan
Encyclopedia
There were a high number of alleged rapes of Japanese civilians committed by Allied soldiers during the last months of the Pacific War
and the subsequent Occupation of Japan. Schrijvers states regarding rapes on Okinawa. The estimate of one historian for the entire three-month period of the campaign exceeds 10000.
, and on April 1, 1945 on Okinawa. In August 1945, Japan surrendered and Allied occupation troops landed on the main islands, starting the formal Occupation of Japan. The Allied occupation
ended in most of Japan on April 28, 1952, when the terms of the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect, ending in Okinawa on May 15, 1972.
According to retired US Army colonel Mary Ann Wright
"Thirty women were raped in 1945; 40 in 1946, 37 in 1947 and the count goes on year after year. The first conviction of a US military soldier for rape was in 1948."
that mass rape was committed by Allied troops during the Pacific War
. There are, however, numerous credible testimony
accounts which allege that a large number of rapes were committed by US forces during the Battle of Okinawa
in 1945.
Okinawan historian
Oshiro Masayasu (former director of the Okinawa Prefectural Historical Archives) writes:
According to Toshiyuki Tanaka, 76 cases of rape or rape-murder were reported during the first five years of the American occupation of Okinawa. However, this is probably not the true figure, as most cases went unreported.
In 1998 the remains of three U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa were discovered outside of a local village. Accounts from elderly Okinawans claim that the 3 marines had made frequent trips to the village to rape the women that lived there, but were ambushed and killed by dozens of villagers with the help of 2 armed Japanese soldiers who were hiding in the jungle, in a dark narrow mountain pass near a river on one of their return trips. "The Japanese soldiers shot at the marines from the bushes and several dozen villagers beat them to death with sticks and stones." According to the same article, one academic claims that "rape was so prevalent that most Okinawans over age 65 either know or have heard of a woman who was raped in the aftermath of the war."
However, despite being told by the Japanese military that they would suffer rape, torture
and murder at the hands of the Americans, Okinawans "were often surprised at the comparatively humane treatment they received from the American enemy." According to Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power by Mark Selden
, the Americans "did not pursue a policy of torture, rape, and murder of civilians as Japanese military officials had warned." A Japanese American
Military Intelligence Service combat translator with the U.S. military, Teruto "Terry" Tsubota
, convinced hundreds of civilians to not kill themselves and thus saved their lives.
, torture
and murder
at the hands of the Americans. According to Michael S. Molasky and Steve Rabson:
According to Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power by Mark Selden
and Laura Elizabeth Hein:
announced that Japan would surrender
, many Japanese civilians feared that Allied occupation troops were likely to rape Japanese women when they arrived. These fears were, to a large part, driven by concerns that the Allied troops would exhibit similar behavior to that of Japanese occupation forces in China and the Pacific. The term "comfort women
" was a euphemism
for the estimated 200,000, mostly Korean and Chinese
, women who were forced to work as prostitutes in Japanese
military brothels during World War II. The Japanese Government and the governments of several prefectures
issued warnings recommending that women take measures to avoid contact with occupation troops, such as staying in their homes and staying with Japanese men. Police in Kanagawa Prefecture
, where the Americans were expected to first land, recommended that young women and girls evacuate the area. Several prefectural authorities also suggested that women kill themselves if they were threatened with rape or raped and called for "moral and spiritual education" to enforce this view.
In response, the Japanese government established the 'Recreation and Amusement Association
' (RAA), military brothels to cater to the Allied troops upon their arrival, though most professional prostitutes were unwilling to have sex with Americans due to the impact of wartime propaganda. Some of the women who volunteered to work in these brothels claimed that they did so as they felt they had a duty to protect other women from Allied troops. These officially sponsored brothels were closed in January 1946 when the Occupation authorities banned all "public" prostitution on the grounds that it was undemocratic and violated the human rights of the women involved.
, despite Japanese fears, "the incidence of rape remained relatively low given the huge size of the occupation force". However, its incidence increased after the criminalization of prostitution; Dower states in his book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, that while the U.S./Japanese-sponsored brothels were open “according to one calculation... the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women were around 40 a day” until the spring of 1946 but after they were closed due to the criminalization of prostitution, the number rose to 330 a day.
Michael S. Molasky states that while rape and other violent crime was widespread in naval port
s like Yokosuka and Yokohama
during the first few weeks of occupation, according to Japanese police reports, the number of incidents declined shortly after and were not common on mainland Japan throughout the rest of occupation.
There were 1,336 reported rapes during the first 10 days of the occupation of Kanagawa prefecture
.
Historians Eiji Takemae and Robert Ricketts state that "When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy
of looting
, sexual violence
and drunken brawling ensued. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent" and some of the rape victims committed suicide
.
(BCOF) were also often involved in rapes:
Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand troops in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
(BCOF) also committed rapes on occasion. The commander of the BCOF's official reports state that members of the BCOF were convicted of committing 57 rapes in the period May 1946 to December 1947 and a further 23 between January 1948 and September 1951. No official statistics on the incidence of serious crimes during the BCOF's first three months in Japan (February to April 1946) are available. Australian historian Robin Gerster contends that while the official statistics underestimate the level of serious crime among BCOF members, Japanese police often did not pass reports they received on to the BCOF and that the serious crimes which were reported were properly investigated by BCOF military police
. The penalties given to members of the BCOF convicted of serious crimes were "not severe", however, and those imposed on Australians were often mitigated or quashed by Australian courts.
wrote
As to Australian justice Clifton writes regarding another rape that was witnessed by a party of card-players:
on the Japanese media
, which was imposed in September 1945 and continued until the end of the occupation, including bans
on covering many sensitive social issues and serious crimes such as rape committed by members of the Occupation forces. These bans were introduced to suppress Japanese wartime propaganda and limit opposition to the occupation forces and the political reforms they sought to introduce.
According to Eiji Takemae and Robert Ricketts, Allied Occupation forces suppressed news of criminal activities such as rape; on September 10, 1945 SCAP
"issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of all reports and statistics 'inimical to the objectives of the Occupation'."
Following the occupation Japanese magazines published accounts of rapes committed by American servicemen.
Allied forces
Japanese forces
Nazi forces
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
and the subsequent Occupation of Japan. Schrijvers states regarding rapes on Okinawa. The estimate of one historian for the entire three-month period of the campaign exceeds 10000.
Background
By 1945 U.S. troops were entering and occupying territory with a Japanese civilian population. On 16 February 1945 U.S. troops landed on Iwo JimaIwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
, and on April 1, 1945 on Okinawa. In August 1945, Japan surrendered and Allied occupation troops landed on the main islands, starting the formal Occupation of Japan. The Allied occupation
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
ended in most of Japan on April 28, 1952, when the terms of the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect, ending in Okinawa on May 15, 1972.
According to retired US Army colonel Mary Ann Wright
Ann Wright
Mary Ann Wright is a former United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in...
"Thirty women were raped in 1945; 40 in 1946, 37 in 1947 and the count goes on year after year. The first conviction of a US military soldier for rape was in 1948."
Battle of Okinawa
According to Calvin Sims of New York Times: "Much has been written and debated about atrocities that Okinawans suffered at the hands of both the Americans and Japanese in one of the deadliest battles of the war. More than 200,000 soldiers and civilians, including one-third of the population of Okinawa, were killed."Alleged US Army rapes
There is no documentary evidenceDocumentary evidence
Documentary evidence is any evidence introduced at a trial in the form of documents. Although this term is most widely understood to mean writings on paper , the term actually include any media by which information can be preserved...
that mass rape was committed by Allied troops during the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
. There are, however, numerous credible testimony
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
accounts which allege that a large number of rapes were committed by US forces during the Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
in 1945.
Okinawan historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Oshiro Masayasu (former director of the Okinawa Prefectural Historical Archives) writes:
According to Toshiyuki Tanaka, 76 cases of rape or rape-murder were reported during the first five years of the American occupation of Okinawa. However, this is probably not the true figure, as most cases went unreported.
In 1998 the remains of three U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa were discovered outside of a local village. Accounts from elderly Okinawans claim that the 3 marines had made frequent trips to the village to rape the women that lived there, but were ambushed and killed by dozens of villagers with the help of 2 armed Japanese soldiers who were hiding in the jungle, in a dark narrow mountain pass near a river on one of their return trips. "The Japanese soldiers shot at the marines from the bushes and several dozen villagers beat them to death with sticks and stones." According to the same article, one academic claims that "rape was so prevalent that most Okinawans over age 65 either know or have heard of a woman who was raped in the aftermath of the war."
However, despite being told by the Japanese military that they would suffer rape, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder at the hands of the Americans, Okinawans "were often surprised at the comparatively humane treatment they received from the American enemy." According to Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power by Mark Selden
Mark Selden
Mark Selden is a Coordinator of the open access journal The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, a Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program at Cornell University, and Bartle Professor of History and Sociology at Binghamton University. He graduated from Amherst College with a major in...
, the Americans "did not pursue a policy of torture, rape, and murder of civilians as Japanese military officials had warned." A Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
Military Intelligence Service combat translator with the U.S. military, Teruto "Terry" Tsubota
Teruto Tsubota
Teruto "Terry" Tsubota is a second-generation Japanese-American and a former U.S. Marine.-Biography:...
, convinced hundreds of civilians to not kill themselves and thus saved their lives.
Alleged Japanese Army rapes
According to Dr. Thomas M. Huber from US Army Command and General Staff College, Combat Studies Institute, Japanese soldiers also mistreated Okinawan civilians during the battle there. Rape was "freely committed" by Japanese soldiers who knew that they had little chance of surviving due to the Army's prohibitions against surrender. These alleged abuses contributed to a post-war divide between Okinawans and other Japanese.Public view
The Japanese military told Okinawans that they would suffer rapeRape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
at the hands of the Americans. According to Michael S. Molasky and Steve Rabson:
According to Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power by Mark Selden
Mark Selden
Mark Selden is a Coordinator of the open access journal The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, a Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program at Cornell University, and Bartle Professor of History and Sociology at Binghamton University. He graduated from Amherst College with a major in...
and Laura Elizabeth Hein:
Public fear and Recreation and Amusement Association
In the period after the Emperor of JapanHirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
announced that Japan would surrender
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
, many Japanese civilians feared that Allied occupation troops were likely to rape Japanese women when they arrived. These fears were, to a large part, driven by concerns that the Allied troops would exhibit similar behavior to that of Japanese occupation forces in China and the Pacific. The term "comfort women
Comfort women
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese...
" was a euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
for the estimated 200,000, mostly Korean and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
, women who were forced to work as prostitutes in Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
military brothels during World War II. The Japanese Government and the governments of several prefectures
Prefectures of Japan
The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...
issued warnings recommending that women take measures to avoid contact with occupation troops, such as staying in their homes and staying with Japanese men. Police in Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, where the Americans were expected to first land, recommended that young women and girls evacuate the area. Several prefectural authorities also suggested that women kill themselves if they were threatened with rape or raped and called for "moral and spiritual education" to enforce this view.
In response, the Japanese government established the 'Recreation and Amusement Association
Recreation and Amusement Association
The , or more literally Special Comfort Facility Association, was the official euphemism for the prostitution centers arranged for occupying U.S...
' (RAA), military brothels to cater to the Allied troops upon their arrival, though most professional prostitutes were unwilling to have sex with Americans due to the impact of wartime propaganda. Some of the women who volunteered to work in these brothels claimed that they did so as they felt they had a duty to protect other women from Allied troops. These officially sponsored brothels were closed in January 1946 when the Occupation authorities banned all "public" prostitution on the grounds that it was undemocratic and violated the human rights of the women involved.
Reported rapes by US forces
According to John W. DowerJohn W. Dower
John W. Dower is an American author and historian.Dower earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Amherst College in 1959, and a Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages from Harvard University in 1972, where he studied under Albert M. Craig...
, despite Japanese fears, "the incidence of rape remained relatively low given the huge size of the occupation force". However, its incidence increased after the criminalization of prostitution; Dower states in his book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, that while the U.S./Japanese-sponsored brothels were open “according to one calculation... the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women were around 40 a day” until the spring of 1946 but after they were closed due to the criminalization of prostitution, the number rose to 330 a day.
Michael S. Molasky states that while rape and other violent crime was widespread in naval port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
s like Yokosuka and Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
during the first few weeks of occupation, according to Japanese police reports, the number of incidents declined shortly after and were not common on mainland Japan throughout the rest of occupation.
There were 1,336 reported rapes during the first 10 days of the occupation of Kanagawa prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
.
Historians Eiji Takemae and Robert Ricketts state that "When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
of looting
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
, sexual violence
Sexual violence
Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, although in most countries there has been little research conducted on the problem. Due to the private nature of sexual violence, estimating the extent of the problem is difficult...
and drunken brawling ensued. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent" and some of the rape victims committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Reported rapes of British Commonwealth Occupation Force
According to Takemae and Ricketts, members of the British Commonwealth Occupation ForceBritish Commonwealth Occupation Force
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force , was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952...
(BCOF) were also often involved in rapes:
Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand troops in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
British Commonwealth Occupation Force
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force , was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952...
(BCOF) also committed rapes on occasion. The commander of the BCOF's official reports state that members of the BCOF were convicted of committing 57 rapes in the period May 1946 to December 1947 and a further 23 between January 1948 and September 1951. No official statistics on the incidence of serious crimes during the BCOF's first three months in Japan (February to April 1946) are available. Australian historian Robin Gerster contends that while the official statistics underestimate the level of serious crime among BCOF members, Japanese police often did not pass reports they received on to the BCOF and that the serious crimes which were reported were properly investigated by BCOF military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
. The penalties given to members of the BCOF convicted of serious crimes were "not severe", however, and those imposed on Australians were often mitigated or quashed by Australian courts.
Testimony of an Australian officer
Allan Clifton, an Australian officer who acted as interpreter and criminal investigatorCriminal procedure
Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.-Basic rights:Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the...
wrote
As to Australian justice Clifton writes regarding another rape that was witnessed by a party of card-players:
Censorship of Japanese media
According to John Dower, Allied Occupation authorities imposed wide-ranging censorshipCensorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
on the Japanese media
Japanese media
The communications media of Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on the capital contribution from existing radio networks at that time...
, which was imposed in September 1945 and continued until the end of the occupation, including bans
Ban (law)
A ban is, generally, any decree that prohibits something.Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some see this as a negative act and others see it as maintaining the "status quo"...
on covering many sensitive social issues and serious crimes such as rape committed by members of the Occupation forces. These bans were introduced to suppress Japanese wartime propaganda and limit opposition to the occupation forces and the political reforms they sought to introduce.
According to Eiji Takemae and Robert Ricketts, Allied Occupation forces suppressed news of criminal activities such as rape; on September 10, 1945 SCAP
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II...
"issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of all reports and statistics 'inimical to the objectives of the Occupation'."
Following the occupation Japanese magazines published accounts of rapes committed by American servicemen.
See also
- War rapeWar rapeWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
- 1945 in Japan1945 in JapanEvents in the year 1945 in Japan.1945 was the last year of World War II and the first year of the Allied occupation.-Incumbents:*Emperor: Hirohito*Prime Minister: Kuniaki Koiso, Kantarō Suzuki, Prince Higashikuni, Kijuro Shidehara...
Allied forces
- Allied war crimes during World War II
- Rape during the occupation of Germany
- Occupation of Japan
- American mutilation of Japanese war deadAmerican mutilation of Japanese war deadDuring World War II, some United States military personnel mutilated dead Japanese service personnel in the Pacific theater of operations. The mutilation of Japanese service personnel included the taking of body parts as “war souvenirs” and “war trophies”...
Japanese forces
- Three Alls Policy (Sanko sakusen)Three Alls PolicyThe Three Alls Policy was a Japanese scorched earth policy adopted in China during World War II, the three alls being: "Kill All", "Burn All" and "Loot All" . In Japanese documents, the policy was originally referred to as...
- Japanese war crimesJapanese war crimesJapanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust and Japanese war atrocities...
- Bataan Death MarchBataan Death MarchThe Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
- Manila massacreManila massacreThe Manila massacre refers to the February 1945 atrocities conducted against Filipino civilians in Manila, Philippines by Japanese troops during World War II.-Description:...
- Sook Ching massacreSook Ching massacreThe Sook Ching massacre was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese military during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered on 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. Sook Ching was later...
- Nanking Massacre (Rape of Nanking)Nanking MassacreThe Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing , the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second...
- Korea under Japanese ruleKorea under Japanese ruleKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....
- Bataan Death March
Nazi forces
- Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in World War II