This was really interesting-- I'd heard of the play, but didn't know the details.
Most of my colleagues (most are male, since I work in Engineering) are married to Okinawans-- either because they're Okinawan themselves, or because they're American and, well, whatever many reasons people get married. A few are former military who were stationed here back in the day and married locally, and have since returned here to civilian jobs. It makes me twitch, this intersection of American military men and Okinawan women, especially when I hear comments like from a young lieutenant, when I first arrived, about how he really liked Japanese women and could see himself marrying one. Not a particular one, but just, "Japanese women" in general??
But then, OTOH, there are the older ones in my office, who have been married for ages, who have settled here permanently and become part of the wife's family, and it's just like any long marriage... I get the impression that Okinawa is more accepting of "mixed" marriages than Mainland-- you run into a lot of people here who have both Okinawan and American parents/grandparents.
OTOH again, there are other issues with race: the Japanese are less accepting of black Americans than white Americans. But dating black Americans is an attraction for some of the young Japanese. So... the American attraction to a stereotype Asian woman, meets the Japanese attraction to a stereotype "African" man...?
Sorry to ramble here, it occurs to me that I'm not really making a point, just noting some of my observations.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-07-21 11:20 pm (UTC)Most of my colleagues (most are male, since I work in Engineering) are married to Okinawans-- either because they're Okinawan themselves, or because they're American and, well, whatever many reasons people get married. A few are former military who were stationed here back in the day and married locally, and have since returned here to civilian jobs. It makes me twitch, this intersection of American military men and Okinawan women, especially when I hear comments like from a young lieutenant, when I first arrived, about how he really liked Japanese women and could see himself marrying one. Not a particular one, but just, "Japanese women" in general??
But then, OTOH, there are the older ones in my office, who have been married for ages, who have settled here permanently and become part of the wife's family, and it's just like any long marriage... I get the impression that Okinawa is more accepting of "mixed" marriages than Mainland-- you run into a lot of people here who have both Okinawan and American parents/grandparents.
OTOH again, there are other issues with race: the Japanese are less accepting of black Americans than white Americans. But dating black Americans is an attraction for some of the young Japanese. So... the American attraction to a stereotype Asian woman, meets the Japanese attraction to a stereotype "African" man...?
Sorry to ramble here, it occurs to me that I'm not really making a point, just noting some of my observations.