Recreation and Amusement Association

The Recreation and Amusement Association , or more literally Special Comfort Facility Association, was the official euphemism for the prostitution centers arranged for occupying U.S. armed forces by the Japanese Government after World War II. .They are, like Comfort women, defacto sexual slaves.

The RAA was created on August 28, 1945 by the Japanese Home Ministry and a civilian organization through joint capital investment (50 million yen each) to contain the sexual urges of the occupation forces and protect the main Japanese populace from rape. The RAA's own slogan was "For the country, a sexual breakwater to protect Japanese women" .

In September, the system was extended to cover the entire country. GHQ commandeered these institutions (22 places of prostitution) on September 28 because rapes by the occupation army soldiers were frequent as real troubles.

Unlike wartime "comfort women" forced to serve Japanese forces, most employees of the RAA were Japanese women, mostly prostitutes and others recruited by advertisement as well as through agents. However, there are testimonies from some women saying that they were coerced into service as bonded labor, and some Japanese sources even assert that the centers were in fact set up by GHQ's demand.

The price for a sex act was 15 yen; soldiers paid beforehand and received a ticket and a condom in return.

In January 1946, the RAA was terminated by an order to cease all "public" prostitution. The ban is traditionally attributed to the efforts of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. General Douglas MacArthur declared all places of prostitution off limits in an attempt to counter the spread of sexually transmitted diseaseson March 25, 1946.

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