How do the Japanese and Okinawans remember Occupation? How is memory constructed and transmitted? Michael Molasky explores these questions through careful, sensitive readings of literature from mainland Japan and Okinawa. This book sheds light on difficult issues of war, violence, prostitution, colonialism and post-colonialism in the context of the Occupations of Japan and Okinawa.

Through careful analysis of literary texts and attention to writers and works long excluded from Japan's postwar literary canon, this book introduces fresh perspectives on the occupation era.

"In reaching his conclusions about U.S. foreign policy. Sarantakes uses recently declassified documents to craft a careful consideration of America's larger strategic purposes. His examination of the American administration of Okinawa and the problems it posed for relations between the two nations focuses on their interaction "on the ground" in the Ryuku Islands. Several factors caused the Americans to falter, while Okinawan and Japanese resistance helped speed along the return of the islands."--BOOK JACKET.

Following its defeat in World War II, Japan was placed under the control of SCAP GHQ headed by General Douglas MacArthur. Initially, the Occupation promoted policies of demilitarization and democratization. A new Japanese constitution which pursued pacifism was established. However, as the Cold War intensified, policies switched in the direction of economic recovery, and it was contended that Japan should take the anti-Communist pro-America path. In 1951, at the height of the Korean War, the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty were concluded as a fixed set. Winner of the 2015 Yomiuri Yoshino Sakuzo Prize for academic writing on politics, economics, and history, this book provides a wide view of the seven years of the Occupation of Japan which led to the 'postwar system' that has continued into the twenty-first century. --

This collection provides a multidisciplinary study of postwar and contemporary Okinawa. The contributors analyze the unique social and cultural transformations that have occurred outside the context of American military control or US–Japan relations.

Uniquely Okinawan explores how American soldiers, sailors, and Marines considered race, ethnicity, and identity in the planning and execution of the wartime occupation of Okinawa, during and immediately after the Battle of Okinawa, 1945–46.