This essay examines which armies are historically known for systematic sexual violence, focusing on German and Soviet soldiers. It contrasts their actions with the fundamentally different philosophy held by the Japanese people, including postwar atrocities committed against Japanese women during repatriation.

2016-03-19
I first learned after August two years ago that the armies historically infamous for sexual violence were the German soldiers and the Soviet soldiers.
They were a people who held a philosophy completely opposite to that of the Japanese.
That Manchukuo was a state recognized by the world at that time is a fact requiring no further commentary.
That it was Soviet soldiers and Australian soldiers who committed unspeakable acts of violence against Japanese women aged thirteen and older among those Japanese citizens attempting to return home from Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, which had been fellow states, after Japan’s defeat, was also something I first learned after August two years ago.
Through a close friend who lived in Rome and was my classmate, I knew people close to him, and thus felt him to be near even though I had not read his books, but it was Masayuki Takayama who informed me that Hiroyuki Itsuki, who appears to have been one of the repatriates himself, described these acts in concrete detail in his writings.