Representation of Japan in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novels
An Analysis of A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World
Marika Mäkinen 241731 University of Eastern Finland Philosophical Faculty English Language and Culture February 2018
ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO
Tiedekunta
Filosofinen tiedekunta
Osasto
Humanistinen osasto Tekijät – Author
Marika Mäkinen Työn nimi
Japanin kuvaus Kazuo Ishiguron romaaneissa: Analyysi A Pale View of Hills ja An Artist of the Floating World romaaneista Pääaine
Englannin kieli ja kultturi
Työn laji Päivämäärä
Helmikuu 2018 Sivumäärä 69
Pro gradu -tutkielma x Sivuainetutkielma
Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä
Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tarkastelee Japanin kuvausta Kazuo Ishiguron novelleissa A Pale View of Hill ja An Artist of the Floating World. Ishiguro muutti nuorena Japanista Britanniaan isänsä työn vuoksi. Ishiguron tiedot Japanista ovat tulleet hänen vanhemmiltaan ja hänen oman Japanin kulttuurin opiskelunsa kautta. Tämän vuoksi Japani, joka on tapahtumapaikkana hänen romaaneissaan, on kuviteltu versio. Koska Japani Ishiguron romaaneissa on kuviteltu, niistä löytyy sekä stereotyyppisiä että epätavanomaisia kuvauksia japanilaisesta kulttuurista. Tämä monimuotoinen kuvaus auttaa rikkomaan näitä stereotypioita.
Tutkimuksen alussa esitellään tutkimuksen tausta, johon kuuluvat Ishiguron elämä ja pro-gradussa tutkitut romaanit. Toisessa kappaleessa esitellään teoreettiset taustat, joista ensimmäinen on imagologia. Imagologia on teksteissä esiintyvien maiden ja ihmisten tunnuspiirteiden tarkoituksen tutkimus. Muut teoriat, joita tässä tutkimuksessa käytetään ovat erilaiset japanilaisten kuvaukset ja japanilaisuuden käsite. Ensimmäinen antaa historiallista taustaa japanilaisille stereotypioille ja japanilaisuuden käsite näyttää erilaiset stereotypiat, joita länsimaisilla on japanilaisista. Näitä teorioita käytetään romaaneissa esiintyvien erilaisten stereotypioiden ja muiden japanilaisen kulttuurin puolien tutkimiseen.
Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tutkitaan romaaneissa esiintyvien erilaisten hahmojen kuvausta ja kuinka he yhdistyvät stereotyyppeihin ja japanilaiseen kulttuuriin. Ensimmäisenä tutkitaan nais- ja mieshahmoja ja heidän suhdettaan stereotyyppeihin patriarkaalisesta yhteiskunnasta ja epäoikeudenmukaisista sukupuolirooleista. Tutkin myös erimaalaisten hahmojen suhdetta stereotyyppeihin länsimaisesta ylemmyydestä itämaita kohtaan. Tämän lisäksi tämä pro gradu -tutkielma käsittelee länsimaisen kulttuurin vaikutusta japanilaiseen kulttuuriin ja kuinka tämä vuorovaikutus näkyy romaaneissa.
Kumpikin teos sijoittuu toisen maailmansodan jälkeiseen aikaan, joka oli Japanissa suurien muutosten aika. Japanilainen yhteiskunta omaksui lisää länsimaisia näkökulmia, joka aiheutti kuilun vanhemman ja nuoremman sukupolven välille.
Romaanit tämän vuoksi esittävät Japanin keskellä perinteisten arvojen ja näkökulmien muutosta. Lopuksi tämä pro gradu - tutkielma tutkii erilaisia japanilaisia tapoja ja perinteisen kulttuurin puolia, joita romaaneissa esiintyy. Nämä näkökulmat japanilaisesta kulttuurista ovat mitä yleensä yhdistetään stereotyyppiseen kuvaan Japanista, kuten japanilainen ruoka, teeseremonia ja kohteliaisuus.
Avainsanat Kazuo Ishiguro, romaani, Japani, imagologia, stereotypia, Japanilaisuus
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND
Faculty
Philosophical Faculty
School
School of Humanities Author
Marika Mäkinen Title
Representation of Japan in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novels: An Analysis of A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World Main subject
English Language and Culture
Level Date
February 2018
Number of pages 69
Pro gradu -tutkielma x Sivuainetutkielma
Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Abstract
This thesis will study the representation of Japan in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World. Ishiguro moved from Japan to Britain when he was young because of his father’s work. His image of Japan has been created from the teaching of his parents and his own study of Japanese culture. Because of this, he has created an imaginary version of Japan for his novels. Since the Japan in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels is imaginary, there is both stereotypical and non-stereotypical views of Japan his novels. This different type of portrayal helps to dismantle these stereotypes.
This study will first present the research background which is the background of Kazuo Ishiguro and the two novels studied in this thesis. Chapter 2 will present the theoretical background and starts with imagology. Imagology is the study of the function of characteristics of a country or people in texts. Other theories used are the different images of Japan and the concept of “Japaneseness”. The first one provides historical background for the different stereotypes of Japan and “Japaneseness” shows the different stereotypes Westerners associated with Japan. These theories are used to study the stereotypes and other aspects of Japanese culture portrayed in the novels.
This thesis will examine the portrayal of different characters in the novels and how they relate to stereotypes and Japanese culture. The first issue to be examined concerns the female and male characters of the novels and their relations to the stereotypes about a patriarchal society and unequal gender roles. Non-Japanese characters will also be studied in relation to stereotypes about Western superiority towards the East. In addition, this thesis will discuss the influence Western culture has had on Japanese culture and how this interaction has been portrayed in the novels.
Both novels take place after World War II, which was a time of great change in Japan. Japanese society adopted more Western views and this created a rift between older and younger generation. The novels thus portray Japanese culture amid change in traditional values and views. Lastly, this thesis will study the different Japanese customs and aspects of traditional culture portrayed in the novels. These are the aspects of Japanese culture usually associated with stereotypical Japan, for example Japanese food, tea ceremony and politeness.
Keywords Kazuo Ishiguro, novels, Japan, imagology, stereotype, “Japaneseness”
Table of Contents
1.INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Aim of the Thesis ... 1
1.2. Presentation of Research Materials ... 2
1.3 Ishiguro’s Novels under Study ... 7
2.THEORY ... 11
2.1. Imagology ... 11
2.2. Different Images of Japan ... 12
2.3. The Concept of “Japaneseness” ... 16
3. ANALYSIS ... 27
3.1. Characters ... 27
3.1.1 Female Characters ... 28
3.1.2 Male Characters... 39
3.1.3 Non-Japanese Characters ... 47
3.2. Japan and the West ... 50
3.3. Traditional Culture and Customs ... 58
4. CONCLUSION ... 63
References ... 67
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1 Aim of the Thesis
As the world is becoming more and more global, it is easier for people to move to other countries. Because of this, there are a lot of people who have multicultural backgrounds and have experienced living in different cultures. This leads to a situation where people develop their own images of their culture, and especially if they move abroad when they were young their images may differ from the images of those who have lived their entire live in one country. This is the case of writer Kazuo Ishiguro who moved from Japan as a young boy and thus created an imaginative version of Japan which can be seen in his novels. My thesis will study how the Japan is portrayed in Ishiguro’s novels. Since the Japan in Ishiguro’s novels is imaginary, his novels have both stereotypical and non- stereotypical views of Japanese culture. This different type of portrayal helps to dismantle these stereotypes and understand other cultures. In order to complete this study, there is a need to define how Japan is represented and the stereotypes people have of Japan and the Japanese. In other words, the question is what is this “Japaneseness” that is stereotypically connected with the image of Japan.
This thesis will discuss the research problem by studying Ishiguro’s background, different aspects of “Japaneseness”, this is, the different images of Japan throughout history, as well as the term imagology, which is the study of cultural stereotypes in literature. Through these different ways it will be possible to analyse Ishiguro’s novels and see how Japan is represented in them. There are a few other theses that have studied Japan in Ishiguro’s novels, like Kráľová’s Japan in the Novels of the British Writer Kazuo Ishiguro and Niedobová’s Ozu in Ishiguro: Elements of Japanese Culture in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Work. However, these theses have concentrated more on the language of the
novels, how his writing style is similar to that of Japanese writers, and how Japanese writers have inspired him. In contrast, this thesis aims to find out how Japan is represented in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels. This will be done by first in section 1.2 that examines Kazuo Ishiguro’s life and thoughts. Following this, section 1.3 will present a short discussion on the novels studied in this thesis. Chapter 2 will present the theoretical background of the thesis. In 2.1 the term imagology will be studied after which 2.2 will discuss different images of Japan will be discusses. Lastly, in 2.3 the concept of “Japaneseness” and the stereotypes often associated with Japan will be studied.
After that in Chapter 3, this thesis will discuss the characters of the novels and their gender role in relation to the stereotypes about them. First, the female characters will be addressed in Chapter 3.1.1 and then male characters in 3.1.2. In addition, non-Japanese characters will be discussed in Chapter 3.1.3. This thesis will then study in Chapter 3.2 the effect the West has had on Japan since the war as both novels concentrate to the period of time in which Japan received the most Western influences since its creation. Japanese customs, such as serving tea, food culture and politeness that are portrayed in the novels will be studied in Chapter 3.3. The thesis will close with a concluding chapter.
1.2. Presentation of Research Materials
Kazuo Ishiguro is a British novelist who was born in 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan and moved to England from Japan with his family because of his father’s work in 1960 (British Council). Because of this, he has no experience of living in Japan apart from the first six years of his life and what his parents have taught him. Ishiguro’s parents kept teaching him Japanese culture as their stay in England was supposed to be short and because of that wanted to keep Ishiguro in touch with his roots for the return to Japan, which did not
happen. From his parents, Ishiguro has received knowledge of Japanese culture, but since he has not actually lived in Japan for a long period of time, his view of Japan is imaginary.
His representation of Japan is thus a different type of representation than that of the Japanese living in Japan. Ishiguro has, in addition, received all of his education in England, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Kent and a Master’s degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia (British Council).
His connection is thus even farther removed from his Japanese background.
Ishiguro himself has acknowledged that the Japanese settings in his novels are imaginary: "I grew up with a very strong image in my head of this other country, a very important other country to which I had a strong emotional tie […] In England I was all the time building up this picture in my head, an imaginary Japan" (Ishiguro & Oe 53). The strong image he had of Japan is based on his parents’ teaching as well as on his own study of Japan and Japanese culture. Ishiguro discussed this in an interview where he claims that
Actually, until I was about twenty, I did a lot of reading about Japan and whenever there was a Japanese movie, I would go see it. Looking back now, it had a lot to do with my wanting to write at all. Japan was a very strong place for me because I always believed I would eventually return there, but as it turned out, I never went back. This very important place called Japan which was a mixture of memory, speculation, and imagination was fading with every year that went by. I think there was a very urgent need for me to get it down on paper before it disappeared altogether. (Krider 150)
Because of this, the Japan described in his novel cannot be said to be the same as that described by Japanese people who have lived in Japan their whole lives. He has created an imaginary version of Japan based on his knowledge of Japan.
However, even if the Japan of Ishiguro’s novels is imaginary, Ishiguro has felt that it has been important to describe and treat the Japanese characters in his novels like any other character. He mentions in an interview:
I’m very keen that whenever I portray books that are set in Japan, even if it’s not very accurately Japan, that people are seen to be just people. I ask myself the same questions about my Japanese characters that I would about my English characters, when I’m asking big questions, what’s really important to them. My experience of Japanese people in this realm is that they’re like everybody else. They’re like me, my parents. I don’t see them as people who go around slashing their stomachs. (Mason 343)
This is important as people usually have stereotypes of other cultures, genders and occupations. As these stereotypes are usually formed through a long period of time, they are so much more difficult to dissipate.
Since the Western and Eastern cultures are in many ways different, many stereotypes for both sides have been created throughout history. Ishiguro discusses the stereotypes West has of Japan and Japanese people in an interview where he said:
It’s never stated, but Western readers are supposed to think these are people who are going to commit mass suicide, and of course they do nothing of that sort […] The Japanese are in love with these melodramatic stories, […] but people in Japan don’t go around killing themselves as easily as people in the West assume […]. (Mason 343)
Because of Ishiguro’s way of treating his Japanese characters the same way as any other character, it gives the reader the opportunity of seeing things from the character’s perspective. This enables the reader to see beyond their own culture and put themselves in
other people’s shoes. It can be said that “among other things Ishiguro strives to breach geographical and cultural boundaries that many take for granted and are having to question in an era of increased globalization and cross-cultural exchange” (Sim, Kazuo 5). In this era of globalization, it is important to understand other cultures. While Ishiguro’s novels do portray stereotypes and stereotypical behaviour that are associated with Japan and Japanese people, there are, in addition, elements that break them down. These elements come from the thoughts of the characters in the novels as Ishiguro shows how individuals think and in so doing differ from the stereotypes. Ishiguro has been able to do this efficiently because of his own multicultural background.
Ishiguro’s background has affected his writing as it can be said that he has not been a part of either the Japanese or British culture. He has always been an ‘outsider’ while trying to become an ‘insider’. There are different reasons in both cultures as to why he is an
‘outsider’; because of his ethnicity, he can be seen as an outsider in Britain, while in Japan it is his life in Britain, that makes him an outsider. The way how his background has affected his writing is:
Ishiguro’s biography illustrates a recurring theme in his work: an oscillation between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ status. His narrations are invariably from the middle or upper middle classes of British and Japanese society; yet rather than endorsing an idealized image of the establishment, Ishiguro turns a quizzical eye on its foundations, the very discourses that underpin it, and the way these discursive strategies – or tracks as I will call them – are manipulated by narrators in search of self-justification and redemption. (Burton 20)
This is an important factor in both A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World that are studied in this thesis. This oscillation between the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’ as
well as the portrayal of the societies in an unidealized way is what gives the novels an approachable feeling.
Ishiguro uses narratives as a way to give the world in his novels a shape. The world shaped in A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World is Japan. For Ishiguro, its shape is
A narrative, most literary critics agree, is a meaning-making activity, a highly deliberate rhetorical construct. It is a way we give shape to the world around us and the world of our experience. By creating a narrative out of these experiences, we impose an order and a structure on thoughts and ideas that otherwise would be uncontrollable. (Burton 37)
Because of his life in both Japan and Britain, Ishiguro can effectively use narrative to describe both cultures. He is in a position where he can view both cultures from the outside and inside to create a more realistic depiction of the cultures. Ishiguro mentions in an interview:
I’m interested in people who, in all sincerity, work very hard and perhaps courageously in their lifetimes towards something, fully believing that they’re contributing to something good, only to find that the social climate has done a topsy-turvy on them by the time they reach the ends of their lives. (Mason 339) Mason’s interview with Ishiguro shows that Ishiguro is interested in “how one uses memory for one’s own purpose, one’s own ends” (347) and also how the narrators are responsible “to trip themselves up or to hide from themselves” (347) when they begin to learn about themselves. The depiction of the characters during a major change in their lives gives the novels a good stage to dissolve stereotypes.
Since both novels take place during a great change in Japanese society, the characters are also placed in a position that is part of the change. This journey the narrators have in the novels, gives the reader a view of different aspects of Japan and also the changes that were happening after the World War II. However, because
There is nothing unpredictable or disturbing about this Japan; it is exactly a picture of what one would expect post-war Japan to be like. Ishiguro of course presents this picture as that of Japan seen through the eyes of a woman apparently alienated from her own country, thus preventing the reader from expecting a realistic representation of that country. The reader is therefore never certain whether he is looking at Ishiguro’s picture of Japan itself or at his idea of Japan as seen through Westernized eyes. (Arai 30)
Because of this, while the characters are Japanese and their stories happen in Japan, it is only an imaginary version of Japan created by Ishiguro. This representation of Japan has aspects of stereotypical “Japaneseness” and also non-stereotypical aspects of Japanese culture. Because there are a great number of aspects to a culture and it is not possible to define it fully, it will be studied through the concept of “Japaneseness”. The theories used to study these stereotypes and aspects of Japanese culture in the novels will be discussed next.
1.3 Ishiguro’s Novels under Study
While Ishiguro has written seven novels, only two of his first novels take place in Japan.
This thesis will study the portrayal of Japan in those first two novels, which are A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World. The novels, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World, were published in 1982 and 1986. These two novels share
similar themes for example, World War II and letting go of the past in favour of the future, and they cover enough different aspects which give a quite wide picture of Japanese culture. While most of the novels concentrate on the past, there are some parts that take place later in time, even if neither novel takes place in this decade. Because of this, these novels will not portray the Japan of today, but this will help to show how Japan has changed since World War II, the 1960s when Ishiguro moved to Britain, and the 1980s when the novels were written.
A Pale View of Hills is a novel about a Japanese woman named Etsuko, who is living in England and after her oldest daughter’s suicide begins to recollect her past in Japan before she moved to England with her second husband who is a British man. She narrates a story about her life in Nagasaki with her first husband while being pregnant with her first daughter. She remembers a friend, Sachiko, her daughter Mariko, and connects her daughter’s suicide with their story, as they have similarities. Sachiko wanted to move to America and Etsuko was worried how that might affect the daughter Mariko. In the present-day Etsuko begins to think if her bringing her daughter to England caused her suicide as she never properly adjusted.
An Artist of The Floating World takes place after World War II. It tells the story of a middle-aged Japanese painter Ono who became involved with the far-right movement and drew propaganda art before the war. He became an informer to the police and took part in an ideological with hunt. His position changed after the war as he was called a traitor and accused of leading Japan in the wrong direction while the people he had betrayed during the war were reinstated and led normal lives. While he is retired and has no consequences from his past, he comes face to face with his past because of his daughter’s marriage negotiation which could go wrong if people say negative things of him. Because of this he
begins to think about his past, contacting and meeting some of his old friends. This leads him to situations where he must deal with people hating and criticising him, as he goes deeper to his past. According to Burton, the name of the novel relates both to traditional Japanese art but
the floating world also refers more broadly to an elaborate web of memories and epiphanies spun by narrators who are caught between two worlds (whether moral, ideological, or geographical). As the narrators look back on the roads taken in their lives, they question whether or not their lives have been a waste and this questioning invariably brings them to a crisis-point. (42)
This can be seen in the novel as it concentrates on the struggle of Masuji with his present and past.
In reviews of the two novels, there have been both praise and criticism. For the novel A Pale View of Hills, a reviewer in the New York Times described it as follows: “Its characters, whose bursts of self-knowledge and honesty erase their inspired self-deceptions only briefly, are remarkably convincing. It is filled with surprise and written with considerable charm. But what one remembers is its balance, halfway between elegy and irony” (New York Times). The main character Etsuko and Japanese culture after the war was described as:
Around her all of Japan has turned from ancient customs to the marketplace rules of expediency and self-interest. Imitating her countrymen's rejection of their own history in favor of the American dream of progress, Sachiko sells herself to a pathetic illusion of the good life in the form of Frank the American, a cruder and lesser version of poor Madame Butterfly's caddish Pinkerton.
(New York Times)
An Artist of the Floating World has been described in a review in the following way:
“An Artist of the Floating World” is a sensitive examination of the turmoil in postwar Japan, a time when certainties were overturned, gender politics shifted, the hierarchy of the generations seemed to topple and even the geography of cities changed. All this is made more poignant when seen through the eyes of a man who is rejected by the future and who chooses to reject his own past.
(Maloney)
As both novels take place in a period of change, there are different aspects of Japanese culture portrayed. Many of these can be seen as traditional Japanese and stereotypical while some can be seen as different and non-stereotypical. In order to study these aspects of “Japaneseness” different theories will be needed.
2.THEORY
The aim of this chapter is to explain the theory used to analyse Ishiguro’s novels. First the term imagology will be explained and I will show how it can be used to study cultures. In the second part of this chapter the different images constructed at Japan through history will be studied. The last part of this chapter will discuss the concept of “Japaneseness” and the stereotypes often associated with Japan. These theories will then be used to analyse the novels in the analysis part of this thesis in Chapter 3.
2.1. Imagology
Throughout history people have designated certain features and characteristics to other nations, races and cultures. One way to study them is through imagology, the study of “the origin and function of characteristics of other countries and peoples, as expressed textually” (Beller 8). These characteristics are formed because “Our images of foreign countries, peoples and cultures mainly derive from selective value judgements (which are in turn derived from selective observation) as expressed in → travel writing and in literary representations” (Beller 5). This creates stereotypes that we associate to other people, and
“Once textually codified, the partial representation will represent the whole. This is an issue of information, or information processing, which, together with our tendency to towards value judgements, will generate prejudice” (Beller 5). Because of this, people came to view “anything that deviated from accustomed domestic patterns is ‘Othered’ as an oddity, an anomaly, a singularity. Such ethnocentric registrations of cultural difference have tended to stratify into a notion that, like persons, nations each have their peculiarities”
(Leerssen 17). This belief in different characters for different nations has created different types of views throughout history from “the unquestioned cognitive ambience of cultural criticism” (Leerssen 17) up to the late 18th century, to the “deconstructive and critical
analysis of the rhetoric of national characterization” (Leerssen 17), which was the beginning of imagology.
Imagology works “primarily on literary representations, furnishes continuous proof that it is in the field of imaginary and poetical literature that national stereotypes are first and most effectively formulated, perpetuated and disseminated” (Leerssen 26). As writers are in close relation to their own nation as well as people, they are affected by the views of their nation while they can affect the views of other people with their work. Imagology can even help “to get a clearer focus on the multinational focus of literature itself” (Leerssen 26). In the past literature was analysed within nation’s borders, but in today’s global world culture is not restricted by the nation’s borders. Culture is not that simple that it would be possible to restrict it with borders. In order to study cultural aspects in a book, it is necessary to examine how the culture is viewed by others and also how other cultures have influenced the culture being studied.
2.2. Different Images of Japan
Japan’s image in imagology is a paradox. From the beginning, Japan’s image to the Westerners has been shaped by its
Remoteness, both geographical and cultural. Located on the other side of the world, it presented as a natural antithesis to the West . . . In almost every aspect of daily life Japanese customs seemed opposite of European, from the way they read books to the way they cut watermelons. (Littlewood 200) However, Japan is also a civilized nation, which was a contrast to the Western belief that the West is civilized and others are savages. This created a paradox where the Japanese are
“affectionate but treacherous, polite but violent, responsive to beauty but brutally cruel”
(Littlewood 200). Besides this internal contrast, there is also the contrast between Japan and the West. According to Guo, “In the divide between the West and the East of the hemisphere, there are not only geographical differences, but also political, social, cultural, religious, and racial differences. Western culture gained its strength and identity as a result of European expansion and domination in the east, particularly from 1815 to 1914” (33).
As Western countries connect power with domination, it was natural that “Because of its
‘natural absence’ of all virtues and values possessed by the Western culture, the Oriental culture is subject to western domination and oppression. An Oriental person is consequently deprived of his or her humanity” (Guo 33). However, the West failed to dominate Japan until after World War II. This gave time for more stereotypes related to the exotic Japan to be created. In addition, these stereotypes created will last, as “To the Westerners, Japan or the Japanese people should always maintain her or their image as the Oriental other to justify the domination of the Occident over the Orient” (Guo 35).
In the 17th century Japan closed itself to the West but before that stereotypes had already been created in the West of Japan with four main aspects: “the martial arts culture of the samurai warrior, the grace and delicacy of Japanese women […] the high priority given to aesthetic concerns, and […] the overwhelming otherness […]” (Littlewood 200).
These stereotypes exist even today with a few others that were established after Japan reopened to the West. First after reopening Japan was not that strong, which created a more submissive and weak image, but at the end of the 19th century the image became masculine as Japan triumphed over the Chinese army. The image of Japan became more masculine however as the World War II came. The image changed more towards inhuman as the
“geishas and rock gardens were now replaced by a nation of sub-human butchers, whose warrior code was little more than a mask for sadistic cruelty” (Littlewood 201). There was a change again when Japan lost the war because
With the Japan’s surrender in World War II, the West, especially Britain and U.S., becomes the ‘winner’ and Japan the ‘loser’. Needless to say, these two terms are paradoxically hierarchical. The winning team is associated with anything better, and the losing one is everything inferior, sub-ordinated, bad.
As a consequence, the inevitable process of mimicry begins surfacing. Some of the Japanese started to internalize in their mind that everything about Western is fascinating. At the same time, they began to identify their traditional value as something shameful, outdated, and not good. (Nurkhasanah 2)
Losing the war turned Japanese image to a subservient to the West. Because of this the image also changed to a more Westernized as Western culture, especially American, got more of a hold in Japan.
Few years after the war, the focus shifted back to the aesthetics of Japan until Japan began its economic rise which, once again, shifted the image to a more negative direction as the West started to fear Japan’s economic progress. Western people thought that
“Technological ingenuity was just the latest manifestation of oriental cunning, economic expansion towards world domination. And before long the old wartime stereotypes were back in action” (Littlewood 201). The image became positive again after the economic bubble burst. As the image became more positive, people started paying more attention to the unique culture of Japan and this has continued to this day.
However, these types of shifts in image are not that simple. There images will
“always overlap and contradict each other. But the essential components remain much the same” (Littlewood 201). These basic characteristics of a culture have remained unquestioned throughout years because people need them in order to understand the complex world, they “offer us a purchase on what would otherwise be a bewilderingly
complex reality” (Littlewood 201). In Japan, these stereotypes survive also because Japanese themselves “embrace the concepts of racial difference that underpin this imagery.
The deep conviction of their uniqueness that has so much influenced their attitudes to the outside world has also served to reinforce traditional stereotypes” (Littlewood 201). In order to maintain their unique culture, the Japanese people have been influenced to act more stereotypically even if it is not necessarily the original image. Recently these stereotypes have been gradually disappearing with the coming of modern life where people around the world are more and more involved with each other.
One aspect of “Japaneseness” that comes from the Japanese people rather than from Western stereotypes, is the attitude against people who have left Japan. These people who have for some reason left their homeland can be called diaspora and “in contemporary cultural discourse, the term diaspora can be used almost indiscriminately to refer to any group of people dispersed outside their traditional homeland” (Edmond et al. 149). While there is a change taking place as
in the contemporary globalized world, we are gradually moving from negative connotations inherent in diasporas to potentially positive possibilities. This is not the case, however, with established Japanese diasporic communities, whose image as kimin or abandoned people is still symbolic of their relationship with their homeland. (Edmond et al. 151)
This happens because of the image associated with these diasporas because “the early examples of stereotypes surrounding kimin as relating to Japanese people who had to emigrate overseas because either socially or financially they could not make it at home”
(Edmond et al. 152) and thus could be seen as failures. Because of the stereotypes,
Japanese people who left Japan have to endure judgement from their homeland as well as judgement from the new country they moved to.
2.3. The Concept of “Japaneseness”
Japan has often been considered as a paradox. It has been described with many features and “Among its salient features, Japan has been arrogated under the trope of exotica or the hyper-aesthetic (zen, kabuki, tea ceremonies, geishas). It has been aligned with the war- like and the martial (inscrutable suicides, kamikaze, samurai), or else the two are yoked together under the sign of paradox […]” (Sim, Globalization 33). Besides these stereotypes, there are more everyday stereotypes associated with Japan, one of them being the gender roles and women’s position in the society. In Japan,
Patriarchy, first established among the aristocracy, gained strength under the military rule in feudal Japan when marriages were serious political business for the elites. Thus developed the ie, a type of stem family system for the elite—
particularly in the Edo (1603–1867) and Meiji (1868–1912) periods—which is now commonly referred to as the traditional Japanese family. The stem family of the Edo period, as part of a patriarchal order, embodied social hierarchy and the assumption of men’s privilege over women. (Traphagan and Hashimoto 3)
Because of this, the idea of a traditional Japanese family was created through patriarchy.
The patriarchal society is viewed as unequal towards women since it
empowered the male head of households, and disempowered female family members by prohibiting them from making decisions about property, assets, marriage, or divorce. Women thereby lost legal rights as autonomous social agents. At the same time, patriarchal ideology also took on a national
dimension with the stipulation of the notion that the emperor was the supreme patriarch of the nation. For the purpose of mobilization, taxation, and control, an intense ideological campaign sought to situate loyalty to the state above the family, and promoted the notion that the state was itself the ultimate big
“family,” with the emperor’s family as the main family from which all others are offshoots. (Traphagan and Hashimoto 4)
This idea of the nation being a family was important during World War II as it gave the Japanese more motivation to fight and also because it provided the government with more power as the government was seen as the “father” who is always right.
This changed when Japan lost the war and “In the wake of World War II, Japanese people experienced another formal revision of the family system as the patriarchal stem family and primogeniture were formally abolished due to political and social restructuring and planning dictated by the American Occupation” (Traphagan and Hashimoto 4).
Because of the Western influences,
as Japan ushered in the new postwar era, the Japanese family discarded its old garb—the ie and primogeniture systems—and effectively remade itself in a new image modeled largely on the “Western” democratic ideal of the nuclear family. This was a radical makeover: the “new” postwar family was represented in the language of equality, individual rights, freedom of choice, and voluntary unions—civic principles derived from a Euro-American paradigm that was entirely distinct from the preceding Confucian patriarchy.
(Traphagan and Hashimoto 4-5)
The change brought by the occupation was huge as Japan had been previously fairly closed to Western influences. However,
The influence of the Eurocentric modern family that idealized family love had already arrived in Japan by the early 1900s. Thus, the ideals of romantic conjugal love and the strong mother-child bond became part of the intellectual discourse, if not necessarily a widespread practice, at that time. (Traphagan and Hashimoto 5)
The ideas from the West had begun to influence Japanese people but were not that widespread. The concept of marrying because of love was known, however, it was more common to have an arranged marriage. This has also created stereotypes of Japanese marriage to the Westerners.
While stereotypically “the typical Japanese man is ‘a stalwart silent samurai. He bears everything without complaint and never reveals his personal thoughts and feelings, especially to his wife’” (Diggs 43-4) the stereotypic role for women has somewhat changed after the war as “Unlike their mothers who had assumed more passive roles in the prewar family, postwar mothers were expected to be the creators of comfort at home, nurturing their family with love, care, and nourishing food” (Traphagan and Hashimoto 8).
Because of this
A commonplace evening scene in a Japanese family is like this: the husband briefly acknowledges the wife’s remarks, and, if he hears something that displeases him, is quick to criticize, reproach, or to blame her for bad judgment. He rarely listens attentively or offers advice or support, simply grunting assent or approval. “Msshi! Furo! Neru!”—“Food! Bath! Sleep!”—
might be the only words he says to his wife. (Diggs 44)
However, while this brings out an image of disempowering women to Westerners, it is not necessarily viewed so in Japan as Japanese have their own values different to the West.
People judge others based on their own values not necessarily realising that the other people may not share those values.
In Japan, as Yamada writes,
Instead of operating under the principle of equal say for paid workers, the Japanese assume equality in a set division of labor where the wife manages the uchi (inside), and the husband the soto (outside). In the interest of maintaining this system, husbands often pay for "public" events such as an evening out. But the act often has more to do with keeping up appearances since the money paid out by husbands are usually drawn on bank accounts managed by wives. […]
Because Japanese women function in a society where morality centers on the views of others, like their male counterparts, they seek to be hitonami (like others), fronting a tatemae (appearances) that is often different from what is really going on. (Yamada 124)
These values have been created during the long periods when Japan had little contact with other cultures, especially Western. Another reason for the different values is that Japan was never colonized and thus
Japan's social order was not brought about by declaring independence from a colonizer. Paid work was never symbolic of a self-motivated revolt to form a sovereign state. Rather, the symbol of work in Japan has largely stayed the same through time: Work, paid or unpaid, is seen as a responsibility of life where every-one has a role to play (Yamada 122)
Because of this, values in Japan are different from those of the West and it cannot be said which ones are right. However, because of the differences in values, there are negative stereotypes created on both sides.
One stereotype that has been seen as negative is the way Westerners think of Japanese housewives. People in the West have the stereotypical image of housewives being lower because they do not get paid and are in a way dependent on their spouses.
Because of this stereotypical image, Westerners will think the same of the Japanese housewives which is not necessarily close to the truth. In Japan
Respectable Japanese fathers obviously have jobs too, but unlike their male counterparts in the U.S., the jobs of ordinary sarariiman (literally, salaried man, employee) are usually not coveted by their spouses. Often discussed in commentaries in newspapers or in the lyrics of folk or pop songs, the popular metaphor for a sarariiman's (employee) life is that of a cog in a wheel: Dull, repetitive and lonely. (Yamada 123)
Women in Japan have their own values different to those of Western women. In addition, the role housewives take in Japan can be seen as slightly different as “Unlike American housewives, Japanese housewives control the household budget even if they do not have paid work themselves, inducing their husbands to envy them and jokingly call their privileged position ‘Ookurashoo’ (The Ministry of Finance)” (Yamada 124). The housewives in Japan, compared to those in the West, receive more admiration and have more power.
The male stereotypes in Japan are most of the time contrasts to the female stereotypes. While the stereotypes concerning Japanese men have also changed, it is not to the extent as stereotypes about women. In the past in Japan the stereotype was the samurai, however
after 1600 when Japan achieved internal stability, the military functions of the samurai withered away and many samurai became, in effect, administrators
working for the clan government. With the abolition of samurai class distinctions in early Meiji [period], many ex-samurai became white-collar workers in government offices and government-sponsored industry. (Vogel 5) Because of the militaristic stereotypes regarding Japan there was a need for a change to a friendlier image. This change from samurais to office workers created the stereotype of the Japanese businessman and according to Németh:
Any type of discourse on masculinity in Japan has for decades been dominated by the concept of the salaryman. The image of these white-collar workers has become a Japanese icon over the years, recognized by both the Japanese public and foreign observers as an inherent characteristic of Japanese culture. (14) The stereotypical Japanese salaryman can be seen both as a positive and a negative stereotype. While they are to employers the perfect employees who will go beyond their duties, they can also be seen as inhuman and robotic as they sacrifice most of their time to their work.
Japanese salarymen became a stereotype of Japanese culture to Westerners because the Japanese salarymen
are generally considered to be the driving force behind Japan's rapid economical growth after World War II, which was possible thanks to the devotion and work-oriented lifestyle of these men, who, in many cases, sacrificed their own health and free time for the sake of the company they worked for. Because of their hard-working nature, the salarymen have become an ideal of diligence and self-sacrifice – an ideal for all men to strive for.
(Németh 15)
While salarymen can be viewed as the ideal, they have to sacrifice their lives at home to live up to the image. Besides losing their free time and health, Japanese salarymen also had little contact with their families. Even when the Japanese society began to change after the war,
Men continued to associate their lives with the “outside” world of corporate life, while women would take care of everything related to the household. This kind of arrangement created a gap between husband and wife, especially because of the underlying assumption that burdening one’s spouse with problems outside of their “sphere” was inadvisable. (Németh 19-20)
It is not seen proper to bring problems from work back home which creates problems within the family. This remnant from the time Japan was an even more patriarchal society, is what continues to create stereotypes about Japanese gender roles and their equality.
While Japan being a patriarchal society can be seen as a negative aspect, Ito claims that “in many respects, Japan’s industrial success, particularly in the postwar decades, had been premised on a hegemonic gender ideology which equated femininity with the private household, and masculinity with the public, work domain” (145). This hegemonic idea has since changed as “After Japan’s defeat in World War II, the hegemonic depiction of Japanese masculinity underwent various transformations. The Emperor was stripped of political power and the Constitution redefined him as a symbol of the unity of the Japanese people” (Taga 160). The change in Japanese culture after the war created a rift between the older and younger generations. In Japan
the older generations, who are usually the voices of disdain towards the new generation of men in Japan, fall into this trap of “false consciousness” by asserting their masculinity even in retrospect, justifying their own life choices
both by emphasising their involvement in Japan’s post-war economic miracle and criticising young men for their different values. (Németh 64-65)
The change from ruthless soldiers to meek salarymen was huge and it occurred in a relatively short period of time. This made it harder for the older generation to adapt to the changing society and were still trapped by the gender roles of the past.
Another stereotype of “Japaneseness” closely related to the gender roles and position of women that is also changing is the respectful attitude towards the elderly. Japan has traditional values that made younger generations respect their elders and take care of them.
In the past in Japan the eldest son
was expected to provide support and care to household members who did reach old age. In that family system, the oldest son […] had responsibility for household continuity and the care of all of its members, including his elderly parents. However, the gendered division of labor within the household and in society more broadly allocated the day-to-day tasks of nurturing and bodily care to women, so that in reality the wife of the head of household actually performed the work of caregiving. A minimal welfare system was the undesirable alternative for those with no family to provide such support. (Long 137 139)
In the past taking care of your parents was important and it with it the respect for the elderly. This changed with the arrival of Western values when
the Allied Occupation (1945–1952) eliminated the legal structure of family elder care when it established a new family code based on a nuclear family model and on equality of birth order and gender. By the end of the century, presumed daughter-in-law caregivers of the past were likely to be better
educated and working away from home in comparison to earlier generations of women. (Long 139)
This further broke the traditional values in Japan and changed them more towards the Western style. The arrival of Western values caused changes to many aspects of family life in Japan. The changes that happened because of Western influences “have reconfigured the family terrain in the recent decade in Japan are increasing singlehood, late marriages, divorce, domestic violence and elder abuse” (Traphagan and Hashimoto 3). However, even though there have been major changes to Japanese traditional family life, it
does not necessarily mean that Japanese society is hospitable to individuals living independently, nor does it imply that Japan is following a path of individuation that parallels or mirrors exactly that followed in the United States or other industrial countries. (Traphagan and Hashimoto 3)
Some of the values in Japanese culture have changed, but they still exist since they have been integrated to the Japanese culture for a long time. Both the changed and unchanged values can be seen in both of the novels studied in this thesis. The traditional Japanese values are old and thus deeply integrated into Japanese society. These values come from Confucianism that
has had a great influence in Japan’s developmental history and on Japanese people’s lives. The Confucian ethical system emphasizes a harmonious society in which a hierarchical structure is maintained. It teaches people loyalty, piety, and respect for superiors and authorities; it also emphasizes internal strength such as integrity, righteousness, and warm heartedness. (Sugihara and Katsurada 444)
However, these values have not necessarily disappeared as “In modern Japan, values such as harmony, solidarity, and loyalty have been stressed and encouraged in the process of transforming old Japan to a modern technological country” (Sugihara and Katsurada 444).
These are stereotypes concerning Japanese people but in contrast to these, there are more stereotypes concerning Japanese culture.
Another aspect of “Japaneseness” that is often viewed as stereotypical is Japanese design. Japanese design can even be seen outside of Japan; however, it is always seen as something Japanese. Japanese design includes for example art, fashion, architecture and gardens which all have a specific mix of elements which makes them Japanese, for example the simplicity and harmony in a Japanese garden. There are many different elements that are considered as Japanese “such as simplicity, functionality and minimalism have been talked about in such a way that Westerners now understand Japanese design as a distinctive mix of all these elements” (Graig 3). Besides these elements there are “notions of harmony and a special Japanese affinity with the natural world, each of which has become part of a general rhetoric in the West for describing things Japanese” (Graig 3).
These aspects, however, do not portray the whole of Japan, especially nowadays as the modern times have created many different new aspects to Japanese culture, such as Japanese popular culture, which are also easily distinguished as Japanese.
In addition to design, there are other cultural aspects that can be viewed as strictly Japanese, for example Japanese cuisine. People all over the world immediately connect for example, sushi, ramen and teriyaki as something that comes from and represents Japan.
Japanese restaurants have spread all over the world and
While there are stereotyped, clichéd exotic images associated with Japanese restaurants (such as waitresses wearing ‘kimono’, serving ‘sukiyaki’ and
playing ‘koto’ background music), the contemporary formation of the exotic resulting from ever increasing cross-cultural movements seems very different. In cross-cultural contexts, the Japanese restaurant is no longer completely ‘foreign’ […]. (Hamada 86)
Because of globalization, while Japanese restaurants are seen as something Japanese, they are not viewed as something alien and have become a part the everyday for many people, especially to those living in large cities.
3. ANALYSIS
This chapter will analyse the representation of Japan in the novels studied. The first topic to be discussed is the characters in the novels. This discussion will be divided into sections dealing with female, male and non-Japanese characters. The second part will study the interaction between Japan and the West as Western culture has affected Japanese culture after World War II. The last part of this chapter discusses Japanese customs seen in the novel and their connection to the concept of “Japaneseness”.
3.1. Characters
In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World
“general pronouncements about a character, an historical era, or a cultural value-system, are laden with personal, and historical desires and repressions” (Burton 41). Because of this, there are many different types of stereotypes and variety of “Japaneseness” that can be found in both A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World. Most of these relate to the characters in the novels as they are the most prominent aspect of Japan portrayed in the novels. The characters behave in both stereotypical and non-stereotypical ways and thus create a wide perspective of “Japaneseness”. The first section of this chapter will discuss the female characters in the novel and their relation to the stereotypes and the concept of “Japaneseness”. The second section will concentrate on the male characters in a similar way to the first segment. The last part will discuss the non-Japanese characters in the novel and their interaction with the Japanese characters. This will relate to the stereotypical view Westerners have of Japanese people.
3.1.1 Female Characters
In A Pale View of Hills, the narrator is a woman named Etsuko who lives in England having moved there from Japan. After her daughter’s suicide she begins to recollect her past when she lived in Nagasaki. Etsuko in her past in Nagasaki was what people usually think as the stereotypical Japanese woman, but she also represents the change that happened in Japan after World War II. She is married to a Japanese business man, Jiro, is expecting their first child and stays home while her husband works. Her days consist of cleaning and taking care of the house, doing laundry, cooking for her husband after he comes home and in the future, taking care of their child. Jiro is the head of the house and Etsuko is under his rule. This can be seen repeatedly in the novel for example when Jiro’s colleagues arrive unexpectedly and while Jiro wants them to stay and have some tea they say to not mind them as they will leave soon. However, after that scene “I was about to obey him, but then I saw Jiro give me an angry look” (A Pale View of Hills 62) and thus she went to make tea and Jiro is shown to be the head of the family. This relates to the stereotype of Japanese families being a patriarchy where the man is the head of the house and how most marriages were not based on love.
In Japan “In consideration of social pressure on divorced women and other practical factors, many couples keep the ‘masked marriage,’ pretending to be happy before the outsiders” (Guo 35) and this can be seen in Etsuko’s behaviour as well. Etsuko keeps her thoughts to herself and does what she is expected. In order to keep the façade of their happy marriage, Etsuko has played a role in the marriage. As Guo put it: “For years she has been suppressing her true emotions, impressing others that she is contented with her life and with her role as a mother and a wife. Yet her confessional-like narrative of the traumatic past brings to surface her disturbed psychological world” (Guo 36). This, ultimately, leads to a divorce.
Similar scenes take place a couple of times during the novel, where Etsuko supresses her own feelings. One of the scenes occurs when Jiro is leaving for work and has an important meeting. Jiro begins to question Etsuko about his tie:
“I wanted my black silk tie today, but you seem to have done something with it. I wish you wouldn’t meddle with my ties.”
“The black silk one? It’s hanging on the rail with your other ties.”
“It wasn’t there just now. I wish you’d stop meddling with them all the time.” “The silk one should be there with the others,” I said. “I ironed it the day before yesterday, because I knew you’d be wanting it for today, but I made sure to put it back. Are you sure it wasn’t there?”
My husband sighed impatiently and looked down at the newspaper. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “This one will have to do.” (A Pale View of Hills 132)
This discussion shows that Jiro does not trust his wife and is irritated of the way in which his wife cannot follow his standards. Etsuko on the other hand is submissive to her husband. While she tries to convey that she has put the tie in its place, she does not get angry at Jiro for doubting her and does not go to check if the tie is on the rail. She just accepts Jiro’s anger and complaints as if it were her duty.
This type of a life style is called dimorphism. The term refers to
An extension and intensification of the traditional differentiation of roles, or division of labor, between the sexes. Men assume a full-time occupation outside the household while women occupy themselves full-time with domestic chores. This ‘in-and-out’ role differentiation has progressed
alongside urbanization and family nucleation, and it is typically evident in urban, middle-class families composed of a ‘salary man’ husband, a housewife, and one or two small children. (Lebra 143-144)
This type of family lifestyle is often considered old-fashioned by Westerners because of its inequality. However, in Japan this is not the case as “A survey shows that more than eighty percent of the women in Japan favor dimorphic role differentiation, while only ten percent oppose it” (Lebra, 144). Etsuko’s life in Japan can be seen as a representation of this stereotype the West has of Japanese women. It is often seen that “Usually a Japanese mother attends to every detail of the child’s life and education without much help from her husband who lives for work. Complete devotion to children’s welfare and to the house chores deprives Japanese women of their chance for self-fulfillment” (Guo 37). Etsuko can be seen as more “between her desire for fulfillment and independence as a woman, and her responsibilities, socially defined within a conservative and patriarchal environment, as a wife and mother” (Baillie 50), which is not a stereotypical image usually associated with Japanese women. This brings up the problem with stereotypes where the values of other culture affect the viewing of another. In his portrayal of Etsuko, Ishiguro shows how a stereotype does not define a person. They have multitude of layers and while some of them may coincide with that of the stereotype, it does not mean that everything about that person is stereotypical.
Another part of Japanese culture usually seen as negative by the West, is the lack of women in workforce. As women usually were housewives in Japan, even if it is not seen as negative in Japan, the West saw it as discrimination. In A Pale View of Hills, the attitude towards women in work is somewhat stereotypical and in other ways not. In the novel, from the perspective of some characters, working women are seen as something to be
pitied and even despised. One of the female characters, Mrs Fujiwara, lost her family during the war and has since opened a noodle restaurant in order to make a living.
However, Etsuko’s father-in-law Ogata-san who, despite not meeting her after the war, sees her as pitiful for having to work. He is apprehensible at going to her restaurant as
“she’d find that rather awkward. In her present circumstances” (A Pale View of Hills 140).
Even though Etsuko tells him “Father, she’s not ashamed to be running a noodle shop.
She’s proud of it. She says she always wanted to run a business, however humble” (A Pale View of Hills 140). he keeps on calling her pitiful.
The same is the case with Etsuko’s friend Sachiko, who is from a wealthy family but lost her husband and wealth during the war. Sachiko asks Etsuko to inquire Mrs Fujiwara for a job and begins working, but it is just a joke to her. As she is from a rich family, she sees working as menial and gets through seeing it as an experience. This is shown when she says to Etsuko “’How am I getting on? Well, Etsuko, it’s certainly an amusing sort of experience, working in a noodle shop. I must say, I never imagined I’d one da find myself scrubbing tables in a place like this. Still’ – she laughed quickly – ‘it’s quite amusing’” (A Pale View of Hills 27). In addition, immediately as her circumstances change and there is a slight possibility that she would not need to work, she decided to resign. However, Sachiko does not hand in her resignation herself but tells Etsuko:
“Etsuko, I’m about to go to America. There’s no need for me to work anymore in a noodle shop.”
”I see.”
“In fact, Etsuko, perhaps you’d care to tell Mrs Fujiwara what’s happened to me. I don’t expect to be seeing her again.”
“Won’t you tell her yourself?”
She sighed impatiently. “Etsuko, can’t you appreciate how loathsome it’s been for someone such as myself to work each day in a noodle shop? But I didn’t complain and I did what was required. But now it’s over, I’ve no great wish to see that place again.” (A Pale View of Hills 46)
She clearly displays her disgust for work, and in fact later in the novel she tells Etsuko how in her mind she sees Mrs Fujiwara as a person “with nothing left in her life” (A Pale View of Hills 122). While the attitudes from Ogata-san and Sachiko coincide with the Western stereotype of Japan, the novel also portrays the change that took place after World War II and the willingness of Japanese women to do what was needed even if it went against the stereotypical ways usually associated with them.
While many women even nowadays in Japan are housewives, after and during the World War II, the situation had started to change and “Women workers exceeded twenty million in 1970, representing forty percent of the entire labor force and fifty percent of the female population of fifteen years of age or above” (Lebra 147). As the novel takes place shortly after the war, probably in the 1950s, there could be discrimination against working women as it was quite a new idea. In Japan the problem at that time was that
The unavailability of high-paid job, the worshipping of Confucian value of family as being essential for social prosperity and stability, and the social pressure of conforming to the expected gender role steer women out of the public sphere and they have to dedicate themselves to domestic life. Though such a life offers relative ease from work pressure, it brings certain problems for Japanese women to tackle. (Guo 35)
There was no incentive for women to try and go to work in Japan before the war, but this changed as many women lost their husbands and fathers due to the war and thus had to
fight stereotypes and start working. Another character who challenges the stereotypical image of the Japanese woman is Sachiko.
Etsuko’s friend Sachiko is in many ways opposite to Etsuko as she mostly cares about herself. There are many occasions in the novel where Sachiko leaves her daughter alone at home to meet with her boyfriend Frank. She also lets her daughter run away during the night and does not search for him even after time has passed. She does not even go with Etsuko when she decides to go search for Sachiko’s daughter, only reminding her to take a lantern since it is dark and slippery (A Pale View of Hills 171). This shows she really did not care about her daughter. There are also many instances where she says that her plans are for her daughter when they are clearly for herself. When she is planning to go to America she says “My daughter’s welfare is of the utmost importance to me, Etsuko. I wouldn’t make any decision that jeopardized her future” (A Pale View of Hills 44) but later she takes her word back as she says “She’ll manage well enough. She’ll just have to” (A Pale View of Hills 171). In her selfishness, Sachiko is not a stereotypical Japanese woman and is more like a Western woman since stereotypically Japanese woman are seen as family oriented.
Sachiko knows what the traditional life includes and has lived it for a few years.
Because of this, as Guo puts it, “Though Etsuko’s situation appears more promising than hers, Sachiko, from her knowledge of traditional Japanese family pattern, knows that both of their lives are enveloped in emptiness and loneliness” (Guo 36). Sachiko is eager to leave Japan as it has brought her no happiness and because of the influence of American ideas. America is usually associated with new beginnings and freedom, which can be seen as the opposite of the patriarchal Japan. The stereotype of America being better that Japan
creates a feeling for Sachiko that anything is possible and she will not listen to the worried Etsuko as
“I understand your concern, Etsuko. But really, I don’t think there’s much for me to worry about. You see, I’ve heard so much about America, it won’t be like an entirely foreign country. And as for the language, I already speak it to a certain extent. Frank-san and I, we always talk in English. Once I’ve been in America for a little while, I should speak it like an American woman. I really don’t see there’s any cause for me to be worrying. I know I’ll manage.” (A Pale View of Hills 43)
This desire to seek freedom, or rather the loud proclamation of it, can be seen as non- stereotypical Japanese behaviour. Sachiko is more vocal about her opinions than Etsuko, nevertheless as Guo writes:
Sachiko’s post-war experience mirrors that of Etsuko’s: the mother-daughter tension between Sachiko and Mariko prefigures that of Etsuko and Keiko;
Sachiko’s probably failed dream of immigration to America is realized in Etsuko’s living in England after her second marriage. It can be inferred that Etsuko secretly hopes to immigrate to a democratic country, too. And that explains why Sachiko feels that Etsuko seems to be “envious” of her chance to go to America with Frank. (Guo 36)
Sachiko and Etsuko both wish for freedom but Sachiko is more able to try to achieve it.
Because Sachiko does not have a husband, she is freer than Etsuko who is trapped in her marriage.
Because Etsuko lives according to the stereotypical role of a Japanese woman, Etsuko’s behaviour is also more in line with the stereotypes. Unlike Sachiko, even though
