An Anthropological Approach to the Reality and Representations of Female Soldiers of the U.S. Armed Forces and the Japan Self Defense Force.

This is a project on female soldiers employed by the U.S. military and the Japan Self Defense Force. The integration of female soldiers in the military has been one of significant issues in the recent debates on gender and related topics. With the development of the studies of female soldiers in the U.S. and other countries, female soldiers in the JSDF have been paid attention. In such a milieu I have decided to compare the situations in the U.S. and Japan by referring to main literatures and interviews with female soldiers. In Japan, the move to the integration of female soldiers in the military has caused little anger or fuss. The Japanese Agency of Self Defense simply follows the requirement of the newly introduced gender equity low. However, there are some departments or units restricted to women, such as the one for direct fighting. In the U.S. the female soldier is one of the biggest issues, and some activist groups have been committed to the full integration of women in the military and to the realization of gender equality on and off base. There are some cases that husbands have quitted the military, while wives have remained, thus the former depending on the latter. Through interviews, I wished to inquire some problems and conflicts between the wife (soldier) and her husband, or between her and other people in the military.