Abstract
Yosano Akiko's translations of "The Tale of Genji" into modern Japanese and commentaries on it were the focus of this poet's career. Her youthful reading of it provided her fluency in classical Japanese. "Genji" also influenced the allusions in her poetry throughout her creative life.

Abstract
This paper examines how in Ruth Ozeki's "My Year of Meats", authenticity appears in various characters and in complex relationships. In particular, the paper analyzes the different relationships of the main characters in the stories and argues that redemption suggests true authenticity and that there are reckless human beings that are authentic and brave enough to show how shameless we are and tell us what we already know.

From the Paper
"Isolated from the outside world, just like many other Japanese wives, Akiko--the most unauthentic character displays the most authentic actions. During the day, Akiko stays home to cook and clean for her husband, whom she waits till he comes home from work. Akiko bears all the beating and overruling attitude of her husband but after John assaults her she is determined to do something about her life. The Dyann and Lara's episode of My American Wife communicates with her in a personal level and she cries out of self pity. When she sees that there's an option to live as she pleases in somewhere in America, she surprises us by being disobedient and making a decision for herself. Akiko acknowledges she wants a baby and leaves the "bad meat" -- her husband (233). "

Tags:American, Wife, Sloan

Abstract
This is a paper on the similarities that created a true sense of the self between Akiko and Jane even through they came from different backgrounds.

Abstract
"The Comfort Woman" by Nora Okja Keller is the moving tale of a daughter struggling to understand her mother while coming to grips with her own emotionally unsatisfying life. This paper analyzes major theories of mother-daughter relationships and an absent father throughout the book. The book explores many sides of several feminist theories, including the all-important mother-daughter relationship, which can insinuate itself into every facet of our adult lives. The paper shows how the character, Beccah, must deal with the death of her mother, the absence of a father, and the knowledge that she never really knew her mother at all, which may be the most difficult part of her life to deal with.

From the Paper
"Another compelling theme in the novel that binds the two women together is their life in Hawaii. They live in "the shacks," the side of Hawaii the tourists do not see, and it is a place reeking of poverty and sadness. Beccah grows up between the white world of her absent father, and the Korean world of her mother, but she is even more torn because she has so little of her father and his culture to bind her to him. Her life is difficult, and she really becomes the "mother" in the relationship early, because her mother is so often off in a trance and unable to take care of herself. Beccah sees the world through two cultures, she does not exactly fit in either one of them, and this is another source of her restlessness and isolation after she leaves home."

Tags:Akiko, Korea, Hawaii