Negotiating respectability: intersubjectivity in interviews about military prostitution in US occupied Japan

This article contributes to the growing oral history literature on intersubjectivity using a case study of interviews with Japanese and American people in Yokosuka, Japan, who had witnessed or participated in prostitution activities near the US Navy base during the occupation of Japan (1945-1952). In particular, it focuses on how the author, a young female Japanese transnational interviewer, consciously chose to present herself to interviewees so as to capture their views on the 'sensitive' topic of prostitution, as well as how the interviewees perceived and responded to her. Furthermore, the case study demonstrates that the interviewees' perception of her sexuality was critical to the way in which their narratives were embedded in the complex culture of this neocolonial military occupied space.