American Service Men in Japan/OKINAWA

[dogsbody70]

Are the American service men allowed to mix with the local people. Are they allowed to get married to a Japanese woman?

I wonder how many mixed race children are born-- half American Half Japanese etc?

[Sinestra]

There is no law against it people are free to socialize and marry whomever they want. A fair amount of mixed children are born every year though i dont know the statistics

[dogsbody70]

I wonder what you may think of this article re okinawa and the children of American forces.

American soldier in Okinawa: “Only a minority think we’re monsters” | The Observers

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

I wonder what you may think of this article re okinawa and the children of American forces.

American soldier in Okinawa: “Only a minority think we’re monsters” | The Observers

I had already read that article and that has nothing to do really with the questions that you stated. That article speaks about the issue with the base, not the everyday lives and interactions really with the soldiers and civilians. I know and have spoken to plenty of people who are in the military who married a native Okinawan my best friend did so.

[dogsbody70]

what happens when the American returns home or is posted to another country?

Where ever Military are posted usually many children are born.

I remember when in UK during the war, so many soldiers etc returned to their own country leaving their wives/ girl friends back here expecting them to bring up a child on their own. I guess this sort of thing happens everywhere-- certainly mixing the races.

Madam Buttefly in a way-- tells the romantic story-----but also the loss.


I hope your friend has a long and happy marriage.


thinking about it--War-- or prevention of war-- Occupation etc-- must have an enormous impact on the population and mixing of races.

[Nyororin]

I think that there aren`t many children born outside of relationships. It isn`t hard to prevent pregnancy in Japan, and I can`t imagine anyone not knowing.

I would say that it seems the majority of marriages between those posted in Japan and Japanese women end with the wife travelling to the next post or back to the US.

So there really isn`t a huge community of mixed race children.

[dogsbody70]

So it looks as though there will be self control if always managing to prevent pregnancies.

we have ways to prevent them too but unfortunately too many children are born to young teenagers in particular and apparently our record for transmitted sexual disease is too high.


I was brought up in childrens homes here in UK. many of the other children who were placed in Homes were mixed race and had a very hard time of it.

Many women were left here with their babies-- so many were placed into the care system or adopted. It was really hard for those children growing up here then.

I had a good friend who married a Canadian air man-- she had a child-- but Her husband went to war-- he did survive but never returned to the UK.


So many children searching for their Bio Dads.

I just wondered if there would be restrictions for the American Military on those bases in Okinawa and elsewhere.


Many women here inthe war-- WW2-- Fell in love with the Americans and canadians, They seemed far more exciting than their own English men. Of course most of the men were abroad fighting for their country.





I wonder how well the japanese or Okinawans get on in another country away from their friends and families. It cannot always be easy can it.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

So it looks as though there will be self control if always managing to prevent pregnancies.

we have ways to prevent them too but unfortunately too many children are born to young teenagers in particular and apparently our record for transmitted sexual disease is too high.

The thing is though, it's not just that it's easy to prevent pregnancy in Japan (self-control doesn't come into it, it's just that contraception is very easy to obtain), there's no guilt culture or moral obligation to keep the child if you get pregnant. The rate of foreign-fathered pregnancies and actual births of mixed race children might well be staggeringly different as abortions aren't taboo in Japan at all.

[dogsbody70]

*Ummm isn't it irresponsible not to worry what happens to babies.

No obligation? that does seem very odd to me.

Well actually unless the girl or the man always carries contraceptives or the girl has injections against pregnancies surely self control does always come into it.

Are both partners always prepared?

So from what you are saying perhaps there are many abortions?

[Nyororin]

I think that there is a level of self control involved in a casual relationship with a foreigner, more so than in a normal relationship, simply because in most cases marriage isn`t an option.
Even in a casual relationship between Japanese, if all else fails marriage is something to fall back on... And there are plenty of "baby = wedding" marriages out there. But this isn`t necessarily possible with a mixed race relationship, and even if it is considered a possibility by those involved - it may not be by the family of the girl. Getting pregnant is one thing and has enough stigma on it`s own... But getting pregnant by a foreigner, particularly military who have the (often deserved) reputation of just playing around and heading off? That`s an entirely different level.

In most cases, I would guess they avoid pregnancy, and if it happens - as Columbine said - there is little stigma attached to abortion.

Changing the subject a bit - I know that during the occupation there were countless relationships, very often with promises to send over for the Japanese girlfriend after returning to the US, that ended with a woman left alone with a baby... And no contact ever again. There was even a famous orphanage dedicated just to the children of these relationships that had tons of children - and they were just those whose mothers either died or were so destitute that they could not even feed themselves. There were countless more I am sure that were not given up to the orphanages.