City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Occupying power, sex workers and servicemen in postwar Japan, Sarah Kovner

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Occupying power

bibliography

Sarah Kovner

Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

sex workers and servicemen in postwar Japan

"The year was 1945. Hundreds of thousands of Allied troops poured into war-torn Japan and spread throughout the country, altering both the built environment and the country's psychological landscape. The effect of this influx on the local population did not lessen in the years following the war's end. In fact, the presence of foreign servicemen also heightened the visibility of certain others, particularly panpan--streetwalkers--who were objects of their desire. Occupying Power shows how intimate histories and international relations are interconnected in ways scholars have only begun to explore. Although sex workers became symbols of Japan's diminished status, by earning scarce dollars they helped jump-start economic recovery. But sex workers who catered to servicemen were nonetheless a frequent target. They were blamed for increases in venereal disease. They were charged with diluting the Japanese race by producing mixed-race offspring. In 1956, Japan passed its first national law against prostitution. Though empowered female legislators had joined with conservatives in this effort to reform and rehabilitate, the law produced an unanticipated effect. By ending a centuries-old tradition of sex work regulation, it made sex workers less visible and more vulnerable. This probing history reveals an important but underexplored aspect of the Japanese occupation and its effect on gender and society. It seeks to shift the terms of debate on a number of controversies, including Japan's history of forced sexual slavery, rape accusations against U.S. servicemen, opposition to U.S. overseas bases, and sexual trafficking."--Page 4 of cover

Introduction : a special business -- "To transship them to some suitable island" : making policy in the midst of chaos -- Violence, commerce, marriage -- When flesh glittered : selling sex in Sasebo and Tokyo -- Legislating women : the push for a prostitution prevention law -- The high politics of base pleasures : regulating morality for the postwar era -- The presence of the past : controversies over sex work since 1956 -- Conclusion : beyond victimhood