“This U.S. Navy photo from August 1947 was part of a series illlustrating the lives enjoyed by occupation personnel. ‘There is no talk about the high cost of living among some 125 Navy families in Yokosuka, Japan,’ the Navy’s caption read. ‘For $27.00 a month they occupy from five to seven rooms furnished complete with electric ranges, telephones, refrigerators, and houseboys.’ Japanese would find this breakfast scene odd, in that the maid on the right is wearing far too elaborate a kimono for the occasion.”

From: Dower, John. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999; 208.