Rare Documents Reveal How Japan Provides Sexual Services For Allied Soldiers After Losing The War

JAKARTA - Official police documents detailing the provisions for establishing a "comfort facility" to provide sexual services to the colonial Allied soldiers after Japan's defeat in World War II have been found in Laigata Prefecture.

The document, compiled by the Tsugawa Police Station between fiscal 1945 and 1946, stipulates women's recruitment and management rules, prohibits hiring those under 17 years of age or are married, and imposes hygiene requirements, quoted from Kyodo News Aug. 20.

Although it is known that the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is now no longer operating, ordered the police across the country to establish such facilities, experts say that this is the first time detailed local regulations have been revealed, so the material is very valuable.

The ministry issued a very secret notice on August 18, 1945, just three days after Japan surrendered, instructing police across the country to cooperate with private operators in building "comfort facilities" for foreign forces.

Police documents of Niigata, which amount to about 600 pages with at least 22 pages of which refer to these facilities, were found among the historical public records stored in the prefectural archive.

The document contains notices dated September 19, 1945, from the head of the prefectural police department to local police chiefs, who set internal rules to regulate "special restaurants" that serve as such facilities.

The waiters are required to undergo a medical examination by a doctor appointed by the police chief, who shows police involvement not only in the operation of these facilities, but also in cleaning guidelines.

As recorded in the history of the Laigata Prefecture police, there are 151 such facilities in the prefecture as of October 25, 1945.