Recreation and Amusement Association

The Recreation and Amusement Association (特殊慰安施設協会) (RAA), 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.

Founding
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), officially to contain the sexual urges of the occupation forces, protect the main Japanese populace from rape and preserve the purity of the Japanese race. The official declaration of 19 August 1945 stated that "Through the sacrifice of thousands of 'Okichis' of the Shōwa era, we shall construct a dike to hold back the mad frenzy of the occupation troops and cultivate and preserve the purity of our race long into the future..." The RAA's own slogan was "For the country, a sexual breakwater to protect Japanese women" (お国のために日本女性を守る性の防波堤).

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

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 (US $1 in 1945, US$  in 2024 ); 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 diseases on March 25, 1946 as by then more than a quarter of all American GIs in the Japanese occupation forces had a sexually transmitted disease.