in article 42mEb.423962$ao4.1358666@attbi_s51, Cindy at
wrote on 12/19/03 3:08 AM:

Kevin Brooks wrote:


If you think the US was responsible for introducing an enlightened attitude
towards sex to the Japanese, you are sadly mistaken and need to review your
Japanese social history.

I read John Dower's "Embracing Defeat". Hey, you got to be proud of
your country for this service. Sex gave the Japanese fantasy,
daydreaming, and probably a lot of babies after the defeat. Pan pan
girls were able to make money off the American GIs. Strip shows were
first introduced in Asakusa and were the major success. Western women
were considered to be a sex symbol. Sex was far better than committing
suicide, after all. You didn't know that, did you?

Cindy,

Are you really arguing that the Japanese were puritan about sex prior to the
American occupation and had no prostitution? If so, how do you explain the
legal prostitution that flourished brothels supervised by the Japanese
government since the 12th century? Or how do you explain the fact that in
the first week after Japan's surrender at the end the Home Ministry moved to
recruit prostitutes to serve the expected Occupation troops? Prostitution
wasn't made illegal until the Occupation authorities officially recommended
the abolition of licensed brothels. (Source for all the above, Japan An
Illustrated Encyclopedia)