Black Market Intimacies: Introducing a Transpacific History of Sex, Money, and War

 Black Market Intimacies: Introducing a Transpacific History of Sex, Money, and War

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Jeongmin Kim’s Black Market Intimacies: The Transpacific Sexual Economy of the Korean War (Stanford University Press, 2026) reframes how we understand the Korean War not only as a military conflict but as a deeply gendered and commercial moment in East Asian history. At its core, the book reveals how illicit exchanges of money and commodities—often tied to sexual encounters between Korean and Japanese women and U.S. soldiers—provided the material foundations of regional economies in Korea and Japan during and after the war. Rather than treating these transactions as marginal “side effects” of war, Kim shows that they were central to the formation of what she calls “U.S. military base capitalism” in post–World War II East Asia.

Kim, an assistant professor of history at the University of Manitoba, challenges the conventional view that black‑market and sexual economies exist outside formal economic and legal structures. Instead, she traces how markets for transactional sex and military‑related goods were tightly interwoven with official military supply chains, currency systems, and occupation policies. Drawing on multilingual archives—Korean, Japanese, English, and U.S. military records—she pieces together a transnational web of everyday transactions: Korean women bringing Camel blankets and whiskey to Seoul markets, Okinawan women trading U.S. military payment certificates, and countless other women who moved between sexual labor and intermediary roles in the circulation of war supplies and currency.

By doing so, Kim moves beyond Cold War archives’ tendency to reduce sexual economies to categories of “prostitution” and “violence.” Her work recovers the lived experiences of women whose labor—both sexual and commercial—was essential to sustaining U.S. military presence and local livelihoods. In this way, Black Market Intimacies offers an “intimate and global” history of the Korean War, one that forces readers to rethink the supposed opposition between “sexual intimacy” and “market economy” under conditions of war and occupation.

The book also speaks to a broader field of scholarship on war economies, gender, and military capitalism. In Europe, several related works explore similar themes of gendered labor, black markets, and military occupation, though usually in different contexts. For example:

• Occupied Women: Gender, Collaboration, and Resistance in the Nazi‑Occupied Territories(ed. Claire Eldridge and Claire Langhamer) examines how women’s bodies and labor were politicized under Nazi occupation.

• The Wages of War: Sex, Money, and the American Occupation of Germany by Maria Höhn looks at the sexual economy around U.S. bases in postwar Germany.

• Love, War, and Circumstance: Women and the Second World War in Europe by Sarah Ansari and Elizabeth Buettner traces how women’s work, intimacy, and survival strategies shaped wartime and postwar economies.

• Military Brothels in the Occupied Soviet Union by Laura J. Hilton and others investigates state‑regulated sexual economies in Eastern Europe during and after WWII.

These European‑focused studies share Kim’s concern with how war and occupation reshape gendered labor markets and intimate relations, even if they do not replicate her transpacific, Korean‑War‑specific frame. Together, they suggest that Black Market Intimacies is part of a growing global conversation about the intimate economies of militarism, one that connects East Asia to wider patterns of war, sex, and capitalism in the twentieth century.

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Siam and Occupied China: Wartime Livelihoods under Divergent Japanese Spheres

 Siam and Occupied China: Wartime Livelihoods under Divergent Japanese Spheres

During World War II, everyday life in Siam was constrained but generally more stable and less dangerous than in many parts of Japanese‑dominated China such as Shanghai and parts of Guangdong under the Wang Jingwei collaborationist regime. Limited destruction, continued local administration, and better protection of rice agriculture allowed Siamese livelihoods to remain comparatively more secure than those of many civilians in coastal China’s occupied zones.thesecondworldwar​

Siam under wartime alliance

• Siam retained its monarchy, bureaucracy, and a Thai-led government, which gave local authorities room to negotiate demands, manage rationing, and shield parts of the rural population from the harshest forms of coercion.thesecondworldwar​

• Although there were air raids, infrastructure strain, and inflation, much of Bangkok and the countryside avoided large-scale devastation, and rice production continued, so most people faced hardship rather than outright collapse of daily life.thesecondworldwar​

Shanghai under occupation

• Shanghai, as a major port and industrial center, suffered layers of disruption: prior Nationalist–Japanese fighting, then direct Japanese control with the Wang Jingwei regime providing a limited civilian facade, exposing residents to insecurity, policing, and black-market dependence.thesecondworldwar​

• Urban livelihoods were highly vulnerable to shifts in Japanese military priorities; blockade, bombing in earlier phases of the war, and strict controls on movement and commerce left many families reliant on unstable wage work and rationed or illicit food supplies.thesecondworldwar​

Guangdong’s occupied zones

• In coastal and urban areas of Guangdong under Japanese influence and the Wang regime’s nominal authority, communities faced requisitions, forced service, and tighter military surveillance, with weaker local capacity to negotiate or soften policy.thesecondworldwar​

• Compared with Siam’s rice-based rural economy, many Guangdong communities—closely tied to disrupted coastal trade and urban markets—experienced sharper swings in income, higher risk of displacement, and heavier exposure to violence or banditry.thesecondworldwar​

Relative livelihoods: Siam vs. Chinese occupied zones

• Siam’s peasants, cultivating staple food in a state that preserved more autonomy, generally enjoyed more reliable access to rice and lower odds of mass famine than civilians in deeply militarized, trade-dependent Shanghai or coastal Guangdong.thesecondworldwar​

• While Siam was hardly prosperous during the war, Japanese-controlled Chinese territories lived under more oppressive security regimes, more direct military rule, and more severe economic dislocation, making everyday survival more precarious for many urban Chinese residents than for much of the Siamese population.thesecondworldwar​

Broader implications for small states

• The contrast highlights how preserving local government capacity, protecting staple-food sectors, and avoiding full-scale urban destruction can keep wartime living standards from collapsing, even when formally aligned with a great power.thesecondworldwar​

• Small states that secure room for domestic administration and prioritize food security are more likely to keep their populations above subsistence, unlike territories where occupation authorities directly control policing, trade, and taxation with little local input.thesecondworldwar​

The Ubiquitous Tentacles of Bureaucracy: A Global Phenomenon

The Ubiquitous Tentacles of Bureaucracy: A Global Phenomenon

Bureaucracy, often synonymous with red tape, inefficiency, and endless paperwork, is a fundamental characteristic of modern organizations, particularly within governments. While frequently lamented, it's also a necessary evil, providing the structure, rules, and procedures essential for large-scale administration and the consistent application of laws. From the meticulous civil service systems of East Asia to the multi-layered governmental agencies of Western nations,bureaucracy, as conceptualized by Max Weber, is a ubiquitous force shaping governance worldwide.

The Weberian Ideal vs. Reality Max Weber, the German sociologist, described bureaucracy as the most efficient and rational way to organize human activity. He envisioned a system characterized by hierarchical authority, written rules,impersonality, technical competence, and a clear division of labor. In theory, this structure ensures fairness, predictability,and accountability.

However, the reality often diverges. The very mechanisms designed for efficiency can morph into obstacles. Strict adherence to rules can lead to inflexibility, impersonality can breed a lack of empathy, and hierarchical structures can stifle innovation and rapid decision-making. This often results in the "red tape" that frustrates citizens and businesses alike.

Bureaucracy in Western Countries In Western nations, the growth of bureaucracy often followed the expansion of the welfare state and complex regulatory environments.

• United States: Federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) are classic examples. While necessary for regulating vital sectors or managing public services,they are frequently criticized for convoluted processes, long waiting times, and a perceived lack of responsiveness.A small business owner attempting to navigate a labyrinth of permits and licenses to start operations might experience this firsthand.

• European Union: The EU Commission, with its thousands of civil servants and vast legislative output, is often cited as a prime example of a super-national bureaucracy. While crucial for harmonizing regulations across member states, it faces constant criticism for its perceived remoteness from citizens and its complex decision-making processes.

Bureaucracy in East Asian Countries East Asian countries, with their long histories of centralized imperial administration and a strong emphasis on order and collective good, exhibit their own unique bureaucratic characteristics.

• China: The Communist Party of China's vast administrative apparatus is perhaps the largest bureaucracy in the world. From local neighborhood committees to national ministries, a dense network of officials manages nearly every aspect of public and private life. While capable of mobilizing resources on an unprecedented scale (e.g., rapid infrastructure projects), it is also criticized for opacity, potential for corruption, and slow movement on reforms due to its sheer size and layers of approval.

• Japan: Japan's public administration is known for its highly educated and dedicated civil servants, a strong emphasis on consensus-building (nemawashi), and detailed regulations. While this ensures stability and thoroughness, it can also lead to long decision-making processes and an aversion to radical change. The concept of "amadari" (descent from heaven), where retired senior bureaucrats take lucrative positions in private companies they once regulated, also highlights a unique aspect of its bureaucratic culture.

• South Korea: Rapid economic development has been accompanied by a strong state bureaucracy. While instrumental in guiding industrial policy and development, it has also been linked to issues of cronyism and a complex web of regulations that can be challenging for new businesses.

The Enduring Challenge Despite geographical and cultural differences, the challenges posed by bureaucracy—the balance between control and flexibility, accountability and responsiveness, rules and innovation—remain universal.Efforts to reform bureaucracy, often focusing on digitalization, deregulation, and citizen-centric services, are ongoing worldwide. Yet, the inherent need for structure in large organizations means that bureaucracy, in some form, will always be with us. The task is not to eliminate it, but to continually refine it into a more efficient, transparent, and humane instrument of governance.