Curiosity Killed the Cat: Rise of the Female Form

 "Mariko will be fine in America, why won't you believe that? It's a better place for a child to grow up. And she'll have fare more opportunities there, life's much better for a woman in America.""I assure you I'm happy for you. As for myself, I couldn't be happier with things as they are. Jiro's work is going so well, and now the child arriving just when we wanted it...." "She could become a business girl, a film actress, even. America's like that, Etsuko, so many things are possible. Frank says I could become a business woman too. Such things are possible out there.""I'm sure they are. It's just that personally, I'm very happy with my life where I am."

Etsuko and Sachiko embody the new ideologies of Japan by symbolizing the present and future; women begin to emerge and play an essential role to the development of  Japan's transformation, which skews past memories. The focus on the present  appears in this passage as Etsuko states that she "couldn't be happier with things as they [were]": it is in this moment (the present) that acknowledges that she is content, and therefore  unwilling to progress geographically and perhaps
mentally: she is adhering to Japanese tradition and remaining so; however is the one who relocates to England while Sachiko does not. Etsuko reminisces about the past and compares Jiro and her current husband, she states her spouse " never understood the ways of our culture...Jiro worked hard to do his part for the family and he expected me to do mine" (90). A guilt of retribution is sensed because Etsuko left Jiro and has progressed forward, though she initially wanted to live as things were opposed to Sachiko.

Sachiko's interest in moving forward can be manifested through diction and projection. "Opportunities", "could", "possible" evokes an optimistic outlook on the future: a romanticized ideal of escaping the present. Yoneyama states, "after the war, the Japanese were in search of progression and "joy in hopes of the future" (Yoneyama 187) which implicate the correlation between "child" and "better" as interchangeable.

The burden of progression  is implanted on the female while simultaneously the male as well. As Sachiko is about to leave with Frank, a suggestion of shame is viewed upon the Japanese men because "racialized stories of Japanese women flirting with foreign soldiers...suggested the inability of Japanese men to protect the chastity of "their women" (Yoneyama 190).  Sachiko conveys the oppressive ideologies expressed onto males: the notion of cuckholding feminizes the masculinity of men dictated through victory. The use of "business girl" and "film actress" connote the expendability of women, and also as a prize to which the Japanese men have failed to won, therefore creating a feminized depiction of Japan.