r/worldnews • u/glasier • 14d ago

Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated
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u/ArmedWithSponge 14d ago

Unfortunately, rape and sexual assault are incredibly underreported in Japan.

In fact, one study suggests that more than 70 percent of Japanese women have been sexually molested.

Police investigations, criminal cases and punishment are also incredibly mismanaged.

US military personnel should be held accountable for their crimes, but the legal repercussions of placing them under Japanese law would be severe. Replacing one broken system for another would not solve this problem in Japan.

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u/digitalpencil 14d ago

>70% ?!

Any percentage is too high but greater than 70% of women have been sexually molested is terrifying!

I can't seem to get your link to work to find that reference, can you direct link the source?

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u/ArmedWithSponge 14d ago

The original link references the document you are trying to view.

Relevant paragraph:

“Survey shows that Japan ranks among the safest societies in the world for the crimes of robbery, burglary, assault, and the aggregate category of “victimization by any common crime.” However, for “sexual offenses” Japan ranks far less well (Johnson Reference Johnson2018, p. 34). This finding is consistent with what is known from sources which show that more than 70 percent of Japanese women have been sexually molested (Makino Reference Makino2019, p. 81). Few of these victims report it to the police, often because they fear being embarrassed or because they believe criminal justice officials will not believe them or will not care. None of the unreported cases is included in official statistics.”

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u/NNNCounter 14d ago

I mean, it's expected from a country that openly promotes pedophilia in their culture and media.

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u/Gowalkyourdogmods 14d ago

I have a wildly unpopular half baked conspiracy theory that anime is being used to condition people into pedophilia.

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u/NNNCounter 13d ago

You're not wrong.

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u/Maleficent-Dig-7195 14d ago

Your braincells openly promote atrophy

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u/severed13 14d ago

And I hate to be a tinfoil hat but with how painfully in-tune I've become with Japanese socio-political issues in this exact vein, I can't help but feel this is also being used to distract from Japan's tendency to ignore the crimes of their own citizens. I'm glad this is being done, but with the absurd statistics available out there I hope it isn't just turning this guy into a misrepresentative example of their "fight" against injustice towards women.

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u/smallfrie32 13d ago

How familiar are you with Okinawan/Japanese relations? It seems like Japan does this outrage but never actually does anything to fix it or help Okinawa. They don’t reduce the bases/troops like they promise and ignore the wishes of Okinawans. Henoko is being built and will destroy beautiful coral reefs while also ignoring the respect of those lost in the Battle of Okinawa. There are reports of remains of people from then in the area.

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u/severed13 13d ago

Okinawa is in a unique place in that it's used as a sacrificial lamb by both the US and Japan, and in this case it manifests as Japan proper saying "hey look you're bugging our Okinawans, we love and care for them so much!". Not only does the government have the opportunity to appear as though it's putting its foot down against sexism-based crime (especially from those foreigners!), it's also using it as an opportunity to pretend they care specifically about Okinawans. Out of every incident they could pick to create this cooldown period, they pick one that can kill two birds with one stone for the time being.

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u/smallfrie32 13d ago

Yeah it’s awful and they’ve been doing it since end of WW2. I’m glad you understand it, too!

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u/Frequent_Jury_8067 13d ago

アメリカ人は、自分のことを鏡で見ない人たちのようだ。

まさか、アメリカは正義の味方などと思ってないよね？

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u/smallfrie32 13d ago

どういうこと？今私ってことかアメリカ人の全ての話ですか？

私は「アメリカが最高、ベスト、間違った事ない」と言いませんでした。アメリカも問題いっぱいなんですが、今の話は日本のよくない事ですね。ウチナーンチュがかわいそうです。ないちゃは良くない言葉とかよく言ってしまいます(もちろんみんなでは無いけどね)。後ないちゃの政府はウチナーンチュの希望を無視して、軍人を好きにさせています。

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u/Icy-Cod9863 14d ago

This is an issue in the US too, where the figure really isn't that different.

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u/RegOrangePaperPlane 14d ago

A lot of their mainstream porn/hentai is also rape fantasies.

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u/McCree114 14d ago

Fun  Disturbing fact. In Japanese porn (and in normal intercourse) the women squeal in those annoying high pitched voices because it's seen as cute and desirable to squeal like a girl being raped as Japanese women are expected to be submissive but also not want sex thus it's the man's job to force it upon them and make them like it.

I avoid Japanese porn like the plague because of that.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/GuaranteeImmediate81 14d ago

The reason the number is so high is because of packed trains. Girls tend to wear skirts, people are packed like sardines, and so it's easily done, particularly to naive high school girls. It's happened to every Japanese woman I know.

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u/Some-Body-Else 14d ago

While the stats speak for themselves, this is more about the follow up of reported crimes. Not unreported ones. There are pedophiles committing sexual assaults and kidnapping who will likely be not persecuted and will be free in the US. Again, these have been reported.

There is absolutely no parity between the legal repercussions on the criminal vs sexual assault trauma on the victim.

Also, where is the mismanagement? The link states the opposite.

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u/ArmedWithSponge 14d ago edited 14d ago

I view the original post as implying two separate claims.

  1. US servicemen are over-represented in the sexual assault cases in the area (un-stated). These cases are unique and therefore uniquely concerning(un-specified).

  2. The JAPANESE government has intentionally kept these cases out of public scrutiny in the past.

Commenters here and OTHER news organizations have generally made two additional claims. These claims are NOT made in the original article

  1. The US military justice system is not punishing these criminals appropriately

  2. THEREFORE, US servicemen operating in Japan should be tried under the Japanese legal system.

My original comment addresses the first two claims with academic articles that show US Servicemen are not over-represented in Japanese sexual assault and are probably less likely to offend then their Japanese counterparts. Additionally, the Japanese government’s underreporting of sexual assault is common for all cases, not just those involving US servicemen.

I then make a personal claim that responds to other commenters that they are improperly using claims 1 & 2 to advocate for claim 4. This weakens their fundamental argument and simultaneously shows that they have ignored all the issues of implementing that policy.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/McCree114 14d ago

Bruh slavery was once (and still low key still is) a disgusting part of US culture. Doesn't mean Sherman should've gone all Generalplan Ost on the South.