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Article ID: CBB076476370

Cold War Geopolitics of Population and Reproduction in Okinawa under US Military Occupation, 1945–1972 (2016)

East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Pages: 401-422
Publication date: 2016
Language: English

DOI: 10.1215/18752160-3524959

URI: http://easts.dukejournals.org/content/10/4/401

Publication Date: 2016
Edition Details: Special issue of the journal on Population Control in Cold War Asia

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Abortion Family planning Eugenics Fertility Science and politics Cold War 20th century Okinawa Japan

This article explores the Cold War geopolitics of population and reproduction in Okinawa under US military occupation from 1945 to 1972. Okinawa has been hailed as a “reproductive paradise,” owing to having the highest birth rate in Japan. However, its high birth rate reflects the Cold War history of US military occupation or, more specifically, the history of reproduction and the marginalization of the population in Japan. In postwar Okinawa, where the Eugenic Protection Law (EPL) was not implemented, the use of legalized abortion and contraceptive methods was restricted until the reversion to Japanese administration. The US Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) put forward emigration as a solution to Okinawa's population pressures and refused to enact the EPL, although the Government of the Ryukyu Islands (GRI) sought to implement the legislation. This article reveals that Cold War geopolitics placed Okinawa between national and international trends of population policy and family planning programs by highlighting the following three points: the GRI's awareness of Okinawa's population problem and enactment of the EPL, USCAR's choice in promoting emigration and “rescission” of the EPL, and a family planning campaign without state initiative in Okinawa under US military occupation.

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Included in

Article Susan Greenhalgh (December 2016) Cold War Population Science and Politics in Asia. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 469-474). unapi

Article Darshi Thoradeniya (December 2016) Altruism, Welfare, or Development Aid? Swedish Aid for Family Planning in Ceylon, 1958 to 1983. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 423-444). unapi

Article Huang, Yu-Ling (2016) Biopolitical Knowledge in the Making: Population Politics and Fertility Studies in Early Cold War Taiwan. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 377-399). unapi

Article Aya Homei (December 2016) Between the West and Asia: “Humanistic” Japanese Family Planning in the Cold War. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 445-467). unapi

Article DiMoia, John P. (December 2016) “Counting One’s Allies”: The Mobilization of Demography, Population, and Family Planning in East Asia, Late 1920s–Present. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 355-376). unapi

Article Homei, Aya; Huang, Yu-Ling (December 2016) Population Control in Cold War Asia: An Introduction. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 343-353). unapi

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