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The Soundproofed Superpower: American Bases and Japanese Communities, 1945–1972

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2016

Sarah Kovner
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Abstract

American military bases and the protests they have elicited have had a major impact on Japanese political culture. But after the end of the formal Occupation, and outside the territory immediately affected, the cultural consequences of the U.S. military presence are much less clear. This article offers a synthetic analysis that integrates diplomatic and social history and relates the strategies of U.S. policymakers to those of anti-base activists. It shows how much the base system has changed over time and how protests have long focused on the same issues, especially sex work and sexual violence, territorial disputes, and nuclear weapons. In each case, Washington and Tokyo worked together to insulate Japanese society, which made it easier for Japanese men and women to tolerate the bases and easier for U.S. servicemen to live within them.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 75 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 87 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2016 

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