Sexual Liberation

Abstract

Japanese and Western commentators alike have been unanimous in pointing to the radical shift in the discussion of sexual mores that took place soon after Japan’s defeat. Ronald Dore comments that “the confusion which followed [Japan’s] defeat was catastrophic to the old morality. In some cases it was catastrophic to moral restraint of any kind.”¹ Jay Rubin notes that “the Japanese were sick to death of being preached at constantly to be good, frugal, hardworking, and self-sacrificing” and were consequently attracted to “a decadence that was simply the antithesis of prewar wholesomeness.”² John Dower describes the rapid escalation of “a commercial world dominated by sexually oriented entertainments and a veritable cascade of pulp literature” that was known by the popular colloquial term kasutori or the “dregs.”³ Japanese intellectuals remarked on the rapid shift from a “spiritual” to a “carnal” culture, celebrating what Igarashi Yoshikuni refers to as the “raw, erotic energy of Japanese bodies.”⁴