Critical Response to "A Souvenir of Japan"

From an outsider’s point of view

In Japanese, there are two words that, loosely translated, mean “foreigner.” The first word is gaikokugin; the second is simply gaijin. If one studies the individual kanji, or characters, that comprise these words, one learns these two words do not, in fact, hold identical meanings. Gai-koku-jin is composed of three kanji, which literally translated, form the phrase “outside-country-person.” Gaijin, however, contains only two kanji, gai and jin, meaning “outside-person.” In the story, “A Souvenir of Japan,” the narrator admits she is a gaikokujin, a person from another country. She describes herself an English speaking woman, large and blonde, so different from the slight, dark Japanese natives who surround her. This narrator, though, is more than just a foreigner. Through inside/outside imagery and point of view, the narrator stresses how both the Japanese and she see her as an outsider. This perspective leaves no doubt that the reader is meant to view this narrator not as a person from a different country, but as a gaijin, an outside-person.

It is evident this narrator is an outsider by the physical boundaries laid between her and the “Japanese world” that surrounds her. For example, the story opens with the narrator saying, “When I went outside to see if he was coming home…” (266). This opening image, then, shows the narrator emerging from an interior, secluded world into the raucous, public one where children play with sparklers in the street (266). Such an image might, at first glance seem innocuous - perhaps the narrator was only inside for a moment; perhaps she feels comfortable outside and spends much of her time in the company of her Japanese neighbors. However, five paragraphs later, the narrator offers a more detailed explanation as to why she is first placed in this story within the confines of her home. In describing her relationship with her Japanese lover, she admits to having “…often appeared to be his wife” (267). This pseudo-wife role takes on significance when she offers this cultural background: “The word for wife, okusan, means the person who occupies the inner room and rarely, if ever, comes out of it” (267). This role is reiterated when the narrator describes her daily life as, “Once I was home, however, it was as if I occupied the inner room and he did not expect me to go out of it…” (269). The narrator, then, assumes the role that is assigned to her as an okusan; she lives in the interior, separated physically from the outside world. Ironically, it is the very nature of her physical separation that also causes her to be an outsider for the “real” Japanese world exists not in her secluded apartment, but in the streets and neighborhood she does not venture to experience.

The narrator further distinguishes herself as an outsider through her point of view. By carefully choosing pronouns, the narrator establishes four distinct perspectives. First, the Japanese people, in general, are referred to as “they.” For example, when citing a specific word, the narrator explains, “In their language, fireworks are called hannabi…” (266). Later, the narrator describes how her Japanese neighbors so diligently keep their streets tidy by stating, “…they all behaved so well, kept everything so well, and lived with such rigorous civility” (271). Contrasted to the “they” is the “we” in this story. The narrator only invokes “we” to represent herself and her lover together. For example, she states, “…and once we rode the train out of Shinjuku…” and “By the time we arrived at our destination…” (266). The first person pronoun, “I,” is reserved for occasions when the narrator refers to herself. When describing her place in the neighborhood, she says, “The entire street politely disapproved of me. Perhaps they thought I was contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile for he was obviously younger than I” (267). Finally, the narrator occasionally addresses the reader directly as “you.” For instance, when trying to explain her relationship with her lover, she confesses, “Well, then, you must realize that I was suffering from love and I knew him as intimately as I knew my own image in a mirror” (270). By sharing such “secret” thoughts directly with “you,” the reader, the narrator is creates another interior world. This is the world where she and the reader are separated from the “we” and “they” characters who inhabit this story.

No conclusion…yet…