"Comfort stations" as remembered by Okinawans during World War II / / by Hong Yunshin ; translated and edited by Robert Ricketts.

• Superior document: International Comparative Social Studies ; Volume 44
• VerfasserIn: Yunshin, Hong,
• TeilnehmendeR: Ricketts, Robert,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: International comparative social studies ; Volume 44.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.
• Notes: "This book was first published in 2016 as Okinawa Senjō no Kioku to "Ianjo" by Inpakuto Shuppankai, Tokyo, ISBN 9784755402593. The English translation is an abridged version of the Japanese original publication."

"Okinawa, the only Japanese prefecture invaded by US forces in 1945, was forced to accommodate 146 "military comfort stations" from 1941-45. How did Okinawans view these intrusive spaces and their impact on regional society? Interviews, survivor testimonies, and archival documents show that the Japanese army manipulated comfort stations to isolate local communities, facilitate "spy hunts," and foster a fear of rape by Americans that induced many Okinawans to choose death over life. The rape phobia spawned by the US occupation (1945-72) perpetuated that "politics of sex" into the postwar era. This study of war, sexual violence, and postcolonial memory sees the comfort stations as discursive spaces of remembrance where contradictory war experiences can be articulated, exchanged, and mutually reassessed. Winner of the 2017 Prize for New Okinawa Literature granted by the Okinawa Times. Winner of the 2017 Best Publication Award of the Year by the Okinawa Times.".

Table of Contents

Part 1: Capital and Comfort Stations -- The Daitō Islands: Comfort Stations in a Plantation Society -- Part 2: Comfort Stations Move into the Villages -- The Okinawan War and the Comfort Stations: An Overview (1944-45) -- Iejima Airfield and Its Comfort Stations -- Springboard for Invasion: Yomitan Airfield and Its Comfort Stations -- Kadena Airfield: From Auxiliary Airstrip to "Keystone of the Pacific" -- South-Central Okinawa: Bloody Battlegrounds, Unfinished Airbases,and Comfort Stations -- Part 3: Comfort Stations on Islands "Invaded" and "Not Invaded" -- The Comfort Stations of Northern Okinawa -- Premonitions of a Ground War and the Fear of Rape -- Another Face of War: Miyakojima and the Battle against Hunger -- Epilogue: "Comfort Stations" as Sites of Remembrance.