Catoneinutica wrote:a) "And boy, it's really true! I was at Immigration last week getting my re-entry permit, and the place was a regular EastAsiaFest 2007!"
Man, ain't that the truth, I was there the other day and it was wall to wall!
On the topic of military marriages, the famed "sensou hanayomesan", which started appearing during the latter days of the occupation, started a lot of these great stories. It was first a paradox, in that the media and the J-people on the street were convinced that only bar hookers and free lance streetwalkers married the heitai. This would later be countered in shows on TV where they would show the plight of the poor innocent J-gal that because of marriage, was torn from her wonderful country, when her big nose was transferred back to the states and promptly left her and her half children for a blond with big tits. Then by virtue of having changed her citizenship, no money and no support from the US government because of prejudice, she was stranded.
They would occasionally try to nicely tie these two stereotypes together, by having a show with a J-gal who made it back to Japan, but by virtue of her language and demeanor was immediately recognizable as a leading player in the mattress-back trade, describe what the hairy barbarians "could always" be expected to do to the poor unsuspecting J-brides!
I have no idea what the exact statistics on divorces in the military are, other than they are high, given the frequent movement, frequent separations of varying lengths where the military member is deployed or assigned to some remote location. During the considerable time I spent in the military, I have seen the divorces from the Japanese spouses, some even like the stereotypes, but on the other hand, I also saw a lot more very, happy and successful marriages to Japanese that don't make the media, because, frankly, they would be boring to the J-audience and maybe even, unbelievable, since the divorce minded, inconsiderate hairy big noses are much more fun to hear about and more fit the image that J-audiences have been taught.
It is not until recently that some programs have began to show some international marriages in a more favorable light, but, these a generally, limited to those J-gals that a married to well-heeled guys who could best be described as filthy rich.
I have assumed that the reduction in the large number of the "bad example" syndrome for international marriage shows, or TV spots, that has occurred in recent years, has to do with the higher mobility of young Japanese who are traveling abroad more and more. They are finding in this travel that not all J-brides are living in dregs of poverty as once predicted and/or promised. Still, I'm sure that you couldn't convince the inaka ojiisans and obaachans of this fact. Once hairy and foreign, always hairy and foreign!
