Six Inch Rule: A Cultural Study of the Australian Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952.

Australia's proactive role in the post-war Occupation of Japan is a pivotal chapter in the narrative of national engagement with Asia. The literary and documentary record bequeathed by the occupying force is deeply contradictory. The official policy of non-fraternisation (defined by the 'six inch rule') was compromised by degrees of intimacy which marked the beginning of Australian reconciliation with Japan; yet the Occupationnaires relished exercising power over the despised former enemy. In an investigation of the symbiosis of military service and Asian travel within Australian culture, the projected monograph will provide a salutary case study of the neocolonial discourses of foreign occupation, and of Australian regional ambivalence.