The American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa

This book is an exploration, through literature, of Japan's experience of American military occupation. It provides textual analysis and discussions of post-war history, and juxtaposes literature from men and women, by writers from mainland Japan and Okinawa. The author examines whether Japanese womens' writing provides a counter-history to predominantly male narratives of the occupation, and also how Okinawan writers represented their region's distinct experience of American military occupation and what Okinawan literature teaches us about historical memory in Japan today. American forces still remain in Okinawa today and are a source of political controversy. Through careful analysis of literary texts and attention to writers and works long excluded from Japan's post-war literary canon, this book introduces fresh perspectives on the occupation era.