The General’s Children: American Families in Occupied Japan

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This is the story of an invasion. Not one of men at arms, but rather an onslaught of women with babes in arms. And, other children, too, from toddlers to teenagers. They came to Japan beginning shortly after the end of World War II, to join with their military husbands and fathers in a historically unique experiment: complete assimilation with the all-too-recent enemy, an unprecedented opening of hearts and hearths to a conquered people.

Volumes have been written about the occupation of Japan, how its astounding success sped Japan’s return to the company of nations, hastening the country’s rise as a world-renowned industrial juggernaut. But not elsewhere recorded is how these American families, thousands of them, helped lay the foundation for Japan’s postwar strategic success by providing the conquered people a look deep inside America’s consumer soul. From commonplace kitchen utensils, to electronics, to automobiles…American families performing American routines in American households showed the Japanese how Americans lived–and the country responded.

A unique examination of a postwar phenomenon, written by someone who was part of the experiment as a young boy, and who here shares his feelings, memories and observations…