Sexual policies and politics during the occupation of Japan  by
Jeff Kingston  Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in
Postwar Japan, by Sarah Kovner. Stanford University Press, 2012,
240 pp., $50.00 (hardcover) Love, Sex and Democracy During the
American Occupation, by Mark McClelland. Palgrave MacMillan,
2012, 252 pp., $85.00 (hardcover)  Six decades after the U.S.
occupation of Japan (1945-52) ended, two fascinating books probe
the sexual policies, politics and norms that animated and
emanated from this encounter with considerable reward from
rather different angles.  Sarah Kovner focuses on the post-1945
sex industry serving GIs, while Mark McClelland delves into how
the American presence influenced carnal attitudes and practices
among Japanese.  Kovner argues that “Sex work provides a
powerful subject to analyze social change.” She discusses the
establishment of official brothels by the Japanese government
for the occupying troops and their disbandment by American Gen.
Douglas MacArthur due to hea