Pride and prejudice : Japanese women in U.S. base culture and blackness

Although current literature depicts Japanese women who covet Blackness as reproducing stereotypes as they commodify Black culture, Japanese women who seek out intimate relationships with African American servicemen are, in fact, navigating complicated terrains of modernity, desire, and identity. Interviews with eight women revealed how these women see Japanese traditions as ???backward??? and U.S. military culture as a site of agency that sets them apart from ???typical??? Japanese people. They admire and identify with Blackness and adopt new sets of standards in body, family, and community. Eventually, they return to value their identity as Japanese women, yet, they are ambivalent with respect to their ethnic belonging. This study explores how Japanese women negotiate their identity\ud through their desire for American modernity and Blackness