The presence of Australian servicemen in the U.S.-dominated occupation of Japan (1945-52) is little known, an oversight that is overcome in this vivid and entertaining book. Some 20,000 Aussies served for over six years in Hiroshima and environs, doing their part in the demilitarization, democratization and rebuilding of Japan. The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), as the Australian contingent was formally known, made its presence felt, and not always for the good.
Robin Gerster is a superb writer and in his hands the numerous anecdotes, incidents and details of the occupation gleaned from extensive combing of archives, newspapers, diaries and novels come to life. In lesser hands, the wealth of individual observations might weigh down the narrative, but one of the strengths of "Atomic Sunshine" is its concentration on personal encounters and perceptions. This helps us understand the racial tensions of the time and how the occupation affected the occupier. With the occupying forces arriving in Japan bent on revenge against the defeated, the chances of things going wrong were high.
To his credit, Gerster does not try to airbrush out the racist attitudes and inclinations that led to numerous crimes by members of the BCOF against Japanese. It is all the more striking then to discover that many Australians developed respect for and intimacy with the former enemy, overcoming their prejudices in a way that left them out of sync with popular attitudes when they returned home.