Week 2: Ayoko

This week we read Ayako by Osamu Tezuka. This book speaks on the revelations behind Japanese culture and the Post War of World War II. The struggles of land owners and the feeling of humiliation for loosing the war.

Start off we are introduced to Jiro, a Prisoner of War (POW) that was captured by the United States. Uppon his return he is greated by his family; Nayoko his sister, Ma, and Ayako, the newest child. Pa has fallen ill, and Ichiro (his brother) took care of father at home. We quickly learn this family has a lot of dark hidden secrets and the surface isn't always as it seems. Conflict appears through out the whole book and is based around the inner workings of the family. From quickly learning that Ayako isn't the child of their mother, but rather another women. The tension at home seemed to grow and grow, and the worse the family seemed and quieter they got.

Before Jior, returned from the war, their father had already disowned him. Their father believed Jiro wasn't brave for being captured by the enemy. Their father believed he should've given his life for the mother land or never to returned. Hes father already thought Jiro was dead to him. This time, the United States had started to inflect some policies onto the government, or the people believed was the work of the States. This affected Jiro's father and their family. They were rice farmers, with large amounts of land. Quickly after the war, with the agricultural bill, their land was quickly splitten up into smaller lands and given to other farmers. Jiro's father felt attacked by this and felt lost and defeated, and blamed Jiro for not giving his all in the war. He viewed his son's capture as Jiro taking the weak way out and bringing humiliation to their family.

While all this is happening we find out the real mother of Ayako, Shiro (Jiro's sister-in-law). Jiro discovers this one day, by walking in on his father having his with Shiro. Discovering this incestuous layer within their family. Their family is ashamed of it, and fears from the father, so everyone stays quite about it. The father, has taken it upon the best interest of the family, to lock Ayako in the basement of the house. To hide the guilt from the world.

It's crazy to see the hypocrisy within this family. The guilt behind the guilt. From the moment Jiro was captured in war, his family felt humiliation. However it wasn't the humiliation of Jiro, it was the humiliation of the pa. The father brought so much humiliation to the family, that he pushed it off onto Jiro, the only brother fighting for his country.