The Japanese Lover

Irina Bazili, formerly Elisabeta, is the secondary protagonist of the novel, or deuteragonist, as she is the character through whom the events of Alma’s life are revealed. She serves as a conduit for Alma’s story, as well as being the recipient of Alma’s wisdom. Irina was born and raised in Moldova by her grandparents, following her mother, Radmila’s, departure for better fortune in the US. When Radmila moves to America with her husband, Jim Robyns, she brings Irina to Texas to avoid the human trafficking and forced sex work she experienced in Moldova. However, Jim Robyns sexually abuses Irina, filming his crimes for sale on the Internet. Though FBI Agent Wilkins catches Robyns, the videos and images of Irina cannot be contained, and she is forced to flee, changing her name, and constantly watching out for people who might recognize her. The trauma of her childhood has left Irina paranoid and incapable of physical intimacy, which interferes with her romance with Seth.

Like Alma, Irina possesses the traits of strength and isolation, noting on multiple occasions her uncommon physical strength and her low-maintenance lifestyle. Lark House is a safe space for Irina, and she enjoys her work with elderly people, channeling her love for her grandparents into her role in the home. However, Irina’s greatest challenge in the novel is to overcome her trauma and embrace her feelings for Seth, in which she receives assistance from Alma. As such, Irina’s story is comparable to a hero’s quest, in which she does not realize the quest she is on until she has achieved the goal. Her involvement at Lark House, with Alma, reflects a journey of self-discovery and healing as she tries to reconcile her desire for closeness with her fear of intimacy. In the end, Alma leaving Ichi’s letters to her creates a sense of love and trust that breaks through Irina’s latent trauma, allowing her to hug and kiss Seth. Critically, Irina is physically close with many Lark house residents, a pattern that emerges throughout the novel exposing her innate desire for physical touch despite her discomfort with men and sexuality.

As a conduit for Alma’s story, Irina’s patience and love work in a mutually beneficial way. As Alma helps Irina understand the benefits of romantic love, Irina helps Alma reflect on her life to develop that wisdom. Irina both supports Alma’s physical life and clarifies and organizes her memories and emotions through her possessions and stories. Much as a lover needs someone to love, a storyteller needs an audience, and Irina forms that audience for Alma. For Alma, Irina is a kind of protégé that she can impart her final wisdom to before her death.

Ichimei is the titular Japanese lover. He is Alma’s primary love interest and the secret lover who develops Alma’s story. Ichimei is a nisei, meaning he is an American-born Japanese American. His father, Takao, came to America to escape the militarism of his family, and Ichimei possesses many of his father’s traits, which Allende frames as uniquely Japanese: patience, kindness, gentleness, and resolve. Ichimei’s character is heavily informed by his time at Topaz, a concentration camp for Japanese Americans during WWII, which figures into his art and the development of his identity. For years after incarceration, Ichimei continues to paint and draw Topaz, until he returns to Japan, at which point he begins painting landscapes of Japanese places, reflecting his recovery from the trauma of discrimination and incarceration. In many ways, Ichimei’s character is more Japanese than American, which is the result of the ways in which American society rejected Asian Americans, especially Japanese Americans, during and after the “yellow peril.” Interestingly, while Alma is unwilling to break social conventions by dating outside her race openly, Ichimei does not seem to feel strongly about whether he and Alma should keep their love secret or make it open. His marriage and fatherhood indicate that he, like Alma, lived a full life alongside his affair with Alma.

Ichi, like Alma, plays a dual role in the novel, serving both to highlight the discrimination of Asian Americans and to fulfill the male lead of the primary romance. His mutual love with Alma is the driving force of the novel. Outside of the handful of chapters covering the incarceration, he is mostly absent from the action of the novel, but his letters punctuate and end many chapters, keeping him always in the reader’s view of Alma’s past. In many ways, Ichimei is intended to be a supernaturally wonderful man and lover, possessing unending patience, skill, and passion in the bedroom, and a resolute work ethic that can overcome any challenge except the pains of separation from Alma. In exploring Alma’s past, Seth and Irina discover that Ichimei was a kind of foil to Alma, countering her impetuous nature with his own serenity. Ichimei’s death, and his final letter asserting his happiness with his own life, serve to reinforce the thematic assertion that love is endless and endures beyond death. If Irina is correct in believing that Ichi’s ghost visits Alma in the hospital, Ichimei’s spirit is fundamentally linked to Alma’s, again enforcing the strength and importance of their love.