The Japanese Lover

Seth brings Alma three gardenias as a memorial for Neko, and he tells Alma that he knows the gardenias and letters she usually receives are from Ichimei. Alma is shocked that Seth knows about Ichi. She accuses him of spying on her, telling him to call Irina. Irina is in a meeting with Hans Voight, Lupita Farias, Cathy, and some other aides, in which they are discussing medical aid in dying. Hans explicitly forbids any suggestion of elective death, but he knows that Cathy believes in medical aid in dying for some patients in immense pain or with no hope of recovery. Irina excuses herself when Seth texts her, and she meets Alma and Seth in Alma’s apartment. Though the Belasco family knows that Irina is now staying at Seth’s apartment several nights each week, only Pauline and Alma accept the relationship. Alma goes over her life, beginning in Poland, telling Seth and Irina her entire life story, including Ichimei. Seth asks if he is Ichimei’s grandson, then, rather than Nathaniel’s, but Alma says Seth is Nathaniel’s grandson.

During Alma’s pregnancy, she relies on the Belascos. Isaac and Lillian dote on her, looking forward to a grandchild who will keep the Belasco name. On a trip to Tahoe, Alma suffers from eclampsia, forcing the family to return to San Francisco. The doctors do not think both Alma and the child can survive, and the baby is stillborn. Only Nathaniel sees the baby, and he reflects on the limitations placed on his life. After the stillbirth, Alma and Nathaniel continue to live separate lives, sleeping in separate rooms and rarely interacting, though Alma takes comfort in the time she does spend with Nathaniel. Alma reminds Nathaniel that he is not obligated to maintain fidelity in the marriage. To cure the depression resulting from the stillbirth, Nathaniel takes Alma on a trip across Europe lasting two months. While in Europe, Alma kisses Nathaniel, and the two get drunk and have sex. Though the sex is not as exhilarating as it was with Ichimei, Nathaniel and Alma regularly have sex while intoxicated in Europe. When they return home, they continue to live separately, but they still occasionally have sex when they drink alcohol. Eventually, Alma gets pregnant again, and Isaac and Lillian are thrilled. Isaac asks that they name the child Lawrence Franklin Belasco, and Larry is born without complications in the spring. After Larry’s birth, Nathaniel becomes a celebrated lawyer, while Alma travels to look for inspiration for her art. Larry is mainly raised by Isaac and Lillian.

Larry’s birth revives Isaac from his illness, giving him the strength to walk and play with the child. When Larry is four years old, in 1962, Isaac dies suddenly, which causes Lillian to go blind. Years later, Larry recovers memories of his grandparents in marriage counseling. After Isaac’s death, Lillian remains the head of the house, keeping the operations of daily life running smoothly. At Isaac’s funeral, Alma sees Ichimei with three women, and she follows them when they leave the funeral. Ichi introduces Megumi, who is now married to Boyd Anderson, and their son, Charles. The other two women are Heideko and Delphine, Ichi’s wife, who is another nisei from Topaz. Alma examines Delphine, and Delphine does the same, seeming to imply a mutual knowledge of one another. In the weeks following the funeral, Alma calls the Fukuda nursery, but she hangs up when Delphine answers the phone each time. Alma also drives past the nursery but does not stop. After Delphine guesses that Alma is the person calling and hanging up, Ichi sends Alma a letter explaining his marriage, Megumi’s life, and his mother’s adventures, but he does not leave an opening for further contact.

For seven years after the funeral, Alma lives life normally. She goes on frequent trips during which she occasionally has sex with other men. She assumes that Nathaniel does the same. Nathaniel and Alma take Larry on extravagant vacations as he grows up, and Larry remembers them fondly as an adult. Alma worries that her sexuality has faded, but when she eventually reunites with Ichi, her passion is reignited.

The chapter ends with a letter from Ichi to Alma dated September 12, 1978. Ichi praises Alma’s paintings, saying that he wants to spend the autumn of his life gracefully.

In 1967, Alma meets Samuel in Paris after visiting Kyoto to learn about sumi-e painting. Alma and Samuel visit the gravesite made for Samuel when his plane crashed in WWII, and the caretaker is shocked to find that Samuel is the same man named on the plaque marking his grave. The caretaker says that her grandfather was part of the resistance during the war, and Samuel and Alma come to her home to visit with her grandfather, Clotaire Martineaux. Samuel tells Martineaux how he joined the Jewish Resistance in France, and Martineaux reflects on the struggles of the end of the war, as the remaining members of his regiment fought off starvation and cold. Samuel was captured near the end of the war, and he spent four months in two extermination camps: first Monowitz, then Auschwitz-Birkenau. When the war ended, Samuel reflects that the Russians who liberated the camp did not help the survivors, and the developing state of Israel was reluctant to accept extermination camp survivors. Samuel’s flying experience earned him a place in Israel’s military, and he became one of the first agents of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. Though Samuel visited the site of the extermination camp later, the trip only cemented his nightmares about that time in his life. However, he emphasizes to Alma that the German people are not bad, and any community can be overrun by fanaticism and propaganda.

Nathaniel develops an illness slowly, struggling to focus, eat, and exercise, during which time Alma stops seeing Ichimei. Fourteen years before Nathaniel’s illness, Alma found Ichi by chance at an orchid celebration, and they began seeing each other and sending each other letters regularly afterward. Alma does not know how Ichi kept his affair a secret from Delphine, but Ichi is an elder in his community, commanding great respect. Ichi sends letters and gardenias, Alma’s favorite scent and Alma responds. During Nathaniel’s illness, Alma still sends letters to Ichi, but they do not meet, and the letters take on a depressive quality.

The chapter is punctuated by a letter from Ichi to Alma dated July 18, 1984. Ichi tries to comfort Alma regarding Nathaniel’s illness, and he laments that he and Alma are not meeting currently.

Lying in bed with Nathaniel during his illness, Alma tells him that she feels she betrayed him. Nathaniel explains to Alma that they have both kept secrets, and he tells her that he is gay. As a child, he barely understood his attraction to other men, but he began experimenting in college. At a Turkish Bath in San Francisco, one of the few places gay men could meet discreetly, Nathaniel met and fell in love with Lenny Beal. He and Lenny gave up their promiscuous lifestyles, but they kept their love a secret, even from Alma. In response, Alma calls Lenny and invites him to live at Sea Cliff to help care for Nathaniel. They discover that Nathaniel has AIDS, the result of an HIV infection, which is a terminal illness. The three become close friends until Alma and Lenny give Nathaniel a lethal dose of morphine to end his suffering. Afterward, Lenny leaves, and he and Alma do not meet again until Lark House, where Lenny jokingly asks Alma to marry him. Alma refuses, not wanting to become a widow a second time.

Irina, who now lives with Seth, discovers that Alma is missing from her apartment. Seth receives a call telling him that Alma was in a car accident and is now in the hospital. The family gathers at the hospital, but the doctors advise against the risky surgery that might give Alma a chance at recovery. Instead, the family tries to comfort Alma, who asks for Kirsten in a brief moment of lucidity. Kirsten caresses Alma, and, after a couple of days, Irina is the only one left watching over Alma. Alma asks Irina to put lipstick on her. That night, Irina sees Ichimei come into the hospital room. In the morning, Ichimei is gone, and Alma dies.

Over seven days of shiva, a Jewish mourning ritual, Irina waits for Ichimei to make an appearance, but he does not. Going through Alma’s possessions, Irina realizes that Alma planned out the events following her death, and there is not much for Irina to gather. Kirsten arrives and asks Irina where Alma is, and Irina tells Kirsten that Alma is dead. Kirsten gives Irina her backpack, which contains all of the letters Ichimei wrote to Alma over their lives. Irina meets with Seth and reveals the contents of the letters, but she is confused that the last letter, which was hidden behind Ichi’s portrait, is dated 2010. Seth tells Irina that Alma had been sending herself gardenias and Ichimei’s letters for the past three years. Seth visited the Fukuda nursery and discovered that Ichimei died in 2010, three years before Alma’s death. Irina insists that she saw Ichi in the hospital room, but Seth argues that it was a hallucination.

The chapter ends with a letter from Ichi to Alma dated January 8, 2010. Ichi relishes his aging, describing it as a spiritual journey. He tells Alma not to lament their age and to remember what a great love they have shared. He tells her that they are still 17.