Amejo (アメ女, pronounced amé jo, from "ame(rika)" woman) is a Japanese derogatory term meaning American-(loving) girls and is directed to young Okinawan women who date male members of the U.S. armed forces, specifically white. Okinawan women who date primarily black men are included under this term, but are usually referred to as kokujo (黒女, black woman).
In her book Asian Mystique, author Sheridan Prasso speaks of the fetishizing that goes on between non-Asian males and Asian females:
| “ | In Asia, the East-West cultural divide, gender divisions, as well as economic disparity make it hard to figure out who is playing whom in the games of sex and power between Western men and Asian women. Misimpressions, stereotypes, and cultural misunderstandings color the perspectives of both sides, and the spaces where the perspectives meet are blurred. | ” |
Prasso explains the kokujo:
| “ | These are girls who sit under tanning lights are decline to sit--as most Asians prefer--in the shade at the beach. They cornrow their hair like Snoop Dogg or kink it like Beyoncé; get surgical implants in their buttocks and breasts; learn dance moves by watching MTV; and wear the skimpy hip-hop fashions that they see in specialty magazines dedicated just to them. Some are big girls, heavy-set, and even tomboys, who find that Japanese men—who generally prefer baby-doll cute as their sexual aesthetic—aren’t attracted to them, and vice-versa. | ” |