REFLECTING [ON] THE ORIENTALIST GAZE: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF JAPANESE-U.S. GIS INTIMACY IN POSTWAR JAPAN AND CONTEMPORARY OKINAWA BY Ayako Mizumura Submitted to the graduate degree program in Sociology and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________________________ Joane Nagel, Chair _____________________________ Shirley A. Hill _____________________________ Mehrangiz Najafizadeh _____________________________ Sherrie Tucker _____________________________ Bill Tsutsui _____________________________ Elaine Gerbert Date Defended: __April 28, 2009__ The Dissertation Committee for Ayako Mizumura certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: REFLECTING [ON] THE ORIENTALIST GAZE: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF JAPANESE-U.S. GIS INTIMACY IN POSTWAR JAPAN AND CONTEMPORARY OKINAWA Committee: _____________________________ Joane Nagel, Chair _____________________________ Shirley A. Hill _____________________________ Mehrangiz Najafizadeh _____________________________ Sherrie Tucker _____________________________ Bill Tsutsui _____________________________ Elaine Gerbert Date Approved: __April 28, 2009__ ii ABSTRACT Ayako Mizumura, Ph.D. Department of Sociology, Summer 2009 University of Kansas Reflecting [on] the Orientalist Gaze: A Feminist Analysis of Japanese Women- U.S. GIs Intimacy in Postwar Japan and Contemporary Okinawa This project explores experiences of two generations of Japanese women, “war brides,” who married American GIs and moved to the U.S. in the post-World War II era, and “military wives,” who married GIs within the past twenty years and who currently live in Okinawa. My purpose is to examine, reflect on, and challenge the Orientalist gaze, which I define as Eurocentric with male-centered perceptions, interpretations, and representations of Asian women. In the context of U.S. global militarization, I argue that American servicemen stationed in Japan, Korea and other Asian nations participate in reproducing and perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes of Asian women, while women’s voices often are not heard. I use a feminist strategy and reverse the positions of those who gaze and those who are objects of the gaze to make Japanese women’s viewpoints and personal experiences central to my analysis. Reversing the subject-object orientations enables Japanese women to express their subjective views of American men under their gaze and to represent themselves in their own voices. Methods for this research include in-depth-interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and archival research in the U.S. and Japan, which I conducted between 2002 and 2005. My study shows that Japanese women have agency as critical analysts of American men and reveals that their perceptions of American GIs become more diverse and complicated as their gendered, racialized, and sexualized experiences interact with their GI partners’ race, class, and militarized masculinity. This study also demonstrates that shifts in economic power dynamics between the U.S. and Japan and globalization of hip-hop culture contributed to reshaping women’s perceptions of American GIs in contemporary Okinawa, while these younger generations of women still share specific images of American men with war brides. iii Acknowledgement My dissertation project took a long journey. It started here in Kansas in the U.S. and crossed the state line and national boundary to Okinawa in search of Japanese women who married American servicemen. Many people have become involved in my project at various stages of the process and helped me keep moving on and finish my dissertation. Without their support, my dissertation would not have been completed. My greatest debt goes to my dissertation advisor, Professor Joane Nagel, who has been closely and patiently working with me since the early stage of my graduate work in Sociology at KU. She gave me intellectual stimulation and challenge, encouragement, support, and trust that made my ambitious and adventurous dissertation research realized. I also appreciate her extensive support, warmth, and consideration during some of the most difficult times in my entire graduate years. I would also like to express my gratitude to my dissertation committee members whose expertise in different fields allowed my dissertation to become interdisciplinary. Professor Shirley Hill, my advisor from my Master’s degree in Sociology, offered comments on an early draft of my methods chapter and provided solid guidance, which greatly helped me improve the quality of my work. Professor Sherrie Tucker, in American Studies, has been tremendously supportive and her enthusiasm, insights, and critiques helped me develop and elaborate my research ideas at the early stage of my dissertation project. I am thankful to Professor Bill Tsutsui, in History, for offering historical references essential to understanding iv postwar Japan and for sharing his critical comments for revisions. Thank you to Professor Mehrangiz Najafizadeh in Sociology and Professor Elaine Gerbert in East Asian Languages and Cultures for editorial comments for revisions. I also appreciate Professor Gerbert for referring me to some war brides through her personal connection. I am grateful to Professor Bob Antonio in Sociology for reading an early draft of my chapter and for sharing his insightful, critical, and challenging comments. I would also like to say thank you to Professor Chico Herbison, formally of KU African American Studies, who was willing to share his research experience and information on war brides in the Midwest. Many thanks to Michiko Ito, an East Asian Librarian at KU for her assistance in locating the copyright information for illustrations and contacting publishers in Japan. Ray Pence, my partner, sweetheart, confidant, and colleague has been offering support more than I could have done for him ever since we met in a graduate seminar in 1996 at KU. Ray always stands by me no matter what decisions I make in various situations both in my private and academic life. His support has been critical for my survival and accomplishments throughout my graduate years. I also would like to say thank you to Selma Schneider, Ray’s mother, for bringing him up to become such a wonderful and caring person, and for encouraging me to complete my dissertation. Friendship was a precious source of support and energy. I want to say thank you to all of my friends including my colleagues, dissertation peers, and old and recent friends in the U.S., Japan, and other countries. I owe a debt to Alison Sattler, who generously offered editing my chapters out of friendship. I sincerely appreciate v our long-lasting friendship, which has been fueling me with positive energy to come this far. Thank you to Zanice Bond de Perez for helping my writing at the KU Writing Center and for personally editing my chapters. I am greatly thankful to her for friendship, support, encouragement, and inspiration that helped me keep moving on. I also want to thank all of my friends including those who shared dissertation blues and struggles in the long process, yet motivated and inspired each other to pursue our goals—Yuko Koike, Eri Hirokawa, Kyoko Murakami, Veronica de Jong, Kyungwon Choe, Ophra Leyser, Monique Laney, and Andrea Weis; Akemi Winebarger, Adeline Ong, Yuko Niimi, Michiyo Doll, Machiko Fedorchuk, Yumi Ohira, Paula Winchester, Hiromi Morikawa, Nobuko Vannaman, and Kevin Chiang. Special thanks to Rie Ishikawa and Chihiro Kinjyo for providing me with invaluable information about Okinawa prior to my departure and afterwards. I was very fortunate to get to know many friendly and generous people who were willing to help me in Okinawa, where I never visited until this research trip. Masako Suzuki set up special living arrangements to accommodate my research needs and offered various support to make my life in Okinawa easier than I could ever hoped. Yoshio Suzuki put up with me as a roommate for nearly six months in Okinawa and helped me get familiar with the local community and people to establish a network. I owe their generosity for allowing me to use a cozy office space including Internet access, without which, my research project, would be unthinkably difficult. I also want to say thank you to Masaki-san for his generosity to volunteer to drive me to various historical and research sites in Okinawa, some of which I would vi never have been able to visit on my own. Thank you for people in Palmira Street who made me feel at home and part of the community. Special thanks to Koza Information Center, Pallor Lin Lin, FM Koza, Okinawa Folklore Museum, and Okinawa City Hall. Thank you to all Japanese and Okinawan women in the U.S. and Okinawa who participated in the project and shared their personal experiences with me. I learned more than I could imagine from each woman’s story. My sincere gratitude goes to Kaori Funabashi for her friendship and generosity to support my research in multiple ways in Okinawa. I want to pay special tribute to Yoshie Huston and Aiko Gouge who passed away before the completion of the project. Special thanks to Tomiko Mehl who has been my mentor in my private life and a good friend for nearly a decade. I owe her tremendously for her generosity, humor, and support throughout my graduate years. Thank you to Dr. Pamela J Botts and Dr. Linda L. Keeler; KU Writing Center; Lawrence Tea Ceremony group; East Asian Languages and Cultures, Sociology department, and Janelle Williams and Erin Dietz for providing different ways of support to finish my dissertation. This research has been partially funded by a variety of sources. I want to express my gratitude to the Sociology department for granting me the Helen Waddle Roofe Scholarship , Christopher Gunn Graduate Student Scholarship , and a generous travel grant that made it possible for me to present part of my dissertation research in Singapore. Thanks to the University of Kansas for granting me Dissertation Research Scholarship and Howard J. Baumgartel Peace and Justice Award to support my research. Also thank you to the Truman Good Neighbor Foundation for awarding me vii the Eddie Jacobson Scholarship for International Studies .