Once strong, golden America's optimism was contageous
"They know Okinawa had a genuine connection to that old, bright and strong America," Mr. Kinjo said.
Such nostalgia was apparent on a recent evening at the steakhouse, where slightly built Japanese customers sat in oversize American booths while a jukebox played "Rock Around the Clock." One, Kazue Okimura, a 52-year-old salesman from Tokyo, said he had come for a taste of a time when not only the United States but also Japan seemed more youthful and confident.
"We want to see the remaining traces of that time," he said, sawing a rib-eye steak.
Those traces are disappearing fast. A block away from the steakhouse sits the site of the Teahouse of the August Moon, a brothel-turned-dinner theater that was once a center of social life in American-occupied Okinawa. In 1956, it became the inspiration for a Hollywood movie of the same name starring Marlon Brando.
World
Where the Songs Linger, but the Tune Is Different
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: February 20, 2012
The United States military has not controlled Okinawa since 1972, when it reverted to Japanese control, but there is still nostalgia in some places for an older America.