Night in the American Village

At the southern end of the Japanese archipelago lies Okinawa, host to a vast complex of U.S. military bases. A legacy of World War II, these bases have been a fraught issue in Japan for decades. In Night of the American Village, journalist Akemi Johnson takes readers deep into the 'border towns' surrounding the bases. Focusing on the women there, she follows the complex fallout of the brutal rape and murder of a Japanese woman by a U.S. serviceman in 2016, speaking to protestors, women who date and marry American men, and Okinawans whose family members survived World War II.