America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy Book

This book examines the post-war transition in U.S. perceptions on Japan: How did Japan go from racialized enemy to racialized ally? The United States' foreign policy encouraged Japan to be a capitalist ally in Asia in the cold war. The U.S. was invested in Japan's economic development as a model of capitalist growth during this period. Yet, this book isn't just about American foreign policy but how American popular culture comes to align with American foreign policy goals. That is, this book examines the ways in which cultural developments within the U.S. reinforced U.S. foreign policy. U.S. popular culture reinforced two separate ways of thinking about Japan: as a submissive woman and a young boy (who could grow up to an adult).

The first chapter sets up the argument about the image of Japan as like a woman and like a child. The second chapter focuses on dissecting the racial theories underlying and contextualizing MacArthur's statement that Japan was "like a boy of twelve." The third chapter looks at how government and popular culture shifted the vision of Emperor Hiroshito. The fourth chapter looks at the treason trial of Kawakita, much less known than that of Tokyo Rose. The fifth chapter looks at Japanese exchange students in the US in the post-war period. The sixth chapter looks at the Hiroshima Maidens and the "moral adoptions" of Hiroshima orphans to contend that these projects assuaged U.S. guilt while reinforcing the image of Japan as a dependent young girl or growing child protected and guided by the parental U.S. The seventh chapter looked at Hollywood's depiction of Japan from the film Sayanora to The Geisha Boy . The wide range of perspectives she engages here is representative of other chapters. She provides a close reading of the film, alongside discussions of the politics of casting in the films, to the relationship between the films and the commercialization of Japan. The U.S.'s economic goals and the growth of capitalism (and wealth for the capitalists) are never far from Shibusawa's cultural analysis.

The overall argument is solid and convincing. Each of the case studies is engaging and could stand-alone as a reading assignment. The earlier chapters do a good job grounding the argument to allow a more detailed analysis of particular events in later chapters.