ABSTRACT
What has ‘America’ meant in everyday terms for the people of East Asia since the end of the Second World War? What indeed does it continue to mean for us in the present day? Would it not be possible to review the relationship with America, built up especially during the period of the Cold War, from a comprehensive regional perspective, taking into account the level of people’s everyday consciousness and culture besides military and politico-economic aspects? At least as concerns such countries as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, ‘America’ has had a uniquely strong and significant presence, which it has not had in quite the same way in any other region, whether South Asia, West Asia, Europe or South America. Most of these countries of the Pacific Rim were once under either temporary or long-term Japanese military occupation. They have since been incorporated into the American sphere of influence as bases for the activity of the American military and multinational corporations. As seen from the perspective of American Cold-War strategy, there can be no doubt that the Pacific Rim area, extending from Japan to Indonesia, formed a continuous space for the establishment of hegemony in Asia. Looking at the everyday consciousness and cultural practices among the people living in this region, does one find a similarly distinctive presence of ‘America’? Is there also a spatial continuity whereby the cultural responses to ‘America’ are similar throughout the region?
