Some Prefer Nettles Analysis

In their shoes humanizing Japan’s history For the history of Japan in the 1920s it is often difficult to humanize the true change that the modern Japanese family went through where Eastern ideas met Western modernity. In the textbook, Japan: A Modern History by James L. McClain and the novel Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki discuss the 1920s time period in Japan. The interaction of McClain’s textbook and the novel Some prefer nettles, by Junichiro Tanizaki personalizes the history of a typical Japanese family in the midst of changing and transforming legal, cultural, and social ideas.

The Japanese family in this novel, consisting of a husband Kaname, wife Misako, and son Hiroshi, are despite their initial observance of traditional

The most discussed infidelity was that of Misako’s relationship with Aso another Japanese gentleman. Aso and Misako were presumably young and in love however the relationship was unaccepted by social standards due to the person it involved, a man’s wife. A women’s infidelity was so taboo that according to the civil code was grounds for divorce despite the fact the Misako’s relationship to Aso was in fact accepted and even encouraged by her husband Kaname with specific rules of conduct, in the traditional system a divorce would have ended with Misako leaving the home and Hiroshi staying with Kaname (McClain 257, Tanizaki 105). Kaname’s relationship with Louise, a teahouse woman who’s business was to keep men “company”, was an explicit depiction of his relationship with the west, something to be kept out of the house but was obvious and acceptable to the rest of Japanese society (Tanizaki 164). Kaname’s relationship with Louise was acceptable due to the fact he was a husband even though it was purely physical in nature. These concurrent relationships show the duality that existed in Japanese society at the time with separate roles for both men and women. These separate spheres were explicit in a traditional view in the old man and O-Hisa’s

Misako’s appreciation for the west is shown first when she uses a compact in public as her father, the old man, tells her how western she is being (Tanizaki 29). Misako and Kaname also come together to discuss the superiority of modern music in Tokyo, the modern center of the country, over traditional country Japanese music (Tanizaki 35). This couple showed despite their incompatibility many of the modern values that was prominent in the 1920s including family outings in the city with walks and festivals (McClain 349). This modern family was caught between new and