Embracing...?

I've been reading John Dower's Embracing Defeat - Japan in the Aftermath of World War II as required reading for my modern Japanese literature seminar. We're dealing with the literature that arose after the war as a response to Japan's surrender, occupation and the travails thus entailed. If you haven't read it, and you're interested, I would highly recommend it - it's an absolutely fascinating book, wonderfully well written, accessible and absorbing even to the non-Japan specialist, and belongs on the shelf of every would-be academic on Japan.

The relevance of which is probably debatable, but seeing as this is my blog I thought I would use if for a little bit of self-indulgent rambling. One of the most interesting parts of the book concerns sexual mores and their dynamics in the immediate aftermath of the war. No doubt influenced by the behaviour of their own troops abroad in WWII, the Japanese authorities set up what were in effect brothels to cater for the GI's needs (later shut down by SCAP), assuming that the incoming army would have a gargantuan sexual appetite. And one of the most noticeable figures in a Japan still plagued by shortages of even basic staples was the pan-pan, a prostitute who dressed in Western-style and often catered exclusively to GIs. The effect of this on the Japanese male psyche can well be imagined, especially former Japanese soldiers - hitherto "decent" women throwing themselves at the strapping, healthy, wealthy GIs initally out of need to sustain themselves, but increasingly in later years, as Dower notes, simply out of curiosity or wanting to make money.

My point in bringing all of this up is that it seems very much on reflection that the above history still exerts a considerable influence on gaijin-Japanese male-female relations even today. I can't claim to be an expert on this - I've never even so much as kissed a J-girl - but we can, I think, see echoes of it in Miyagi Prefectural Assemblyman Kanno's comments before the 2002 World Cup that measures would need to be taken to deal with unwanted pregnancies resulting from rapes committed by foreign "hooligans". Do remnants of the consciousness of the Occupation in some part account for the seeming popularity of Western men in Japan, or is it simply the grass being greener? Does it still hold true for general attitudes towards gaijin, especially white males? What do they represent to your average J-girl? Is this the root of the undercurrent of competitiveness that I tended to feel when socialising with younger J-guys?

Of course, it works both ways as well, and I think the image of the seductive, pliable Asian woman stems at least as much from the US's time in Japan as it does from Vietnam's experience (me love you long time, and all that). Still. All in all, there's no real point to this; I just wanted to put down some thoughts I'd been having this evening, since I know for some of you this is at least semi-relevant.

And in other news, I just realised that K and I have been dating for 4 months now. That's my second-longest relationship ever. Blimey.