Read Online Silent Honor by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Danielle Steel
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wine. The barbecue had gone well, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the party. “I did.” He grinned. “You're just fascinated with Japan, ever since that trip you took.” It was true. Peter had been completely enamored with the entire country.
“I can't understand why you don't miss it.”
But Tak always said he loved the United States, and it was obvious he would have been a citizen if he could have become one, but he couldn't. Despite twenty years of living in the States and having married an American, it was against the law for him to become an American citizen.
“I was stifled there. Look at her.” Takeo glanced at his young cousin. To him, she embodied everything he had hated about Japan, and had fled from. “She is strangled and bound; she is afraid to look at us. She is wearing the same garment they wore five hundred years ago. She'll bind her breasts if she has any, and if she gets pregnant, she'll bind her stomach, and she probably won't even tell her husband she's expecting. When she's old enough, her parents will find her a husband she's never met before. And they'll never have a single real conversation. They'll spend their entire lives bowing to each other, and hiding their feelings. And it's exactly the same thing in business, only worse. Everything is run by tradition, everything is appearances and respect and custom. You can never just speak out and say what you feel, and go after a woman simply because you love her. I'd probably never have been able to marry Reiko in Japan, if we'd met there. I would have had to marry the woman my parents selected. I just couldn't live with it. Seeing Hiroko brought it all back to me today. She's like a bird in a cage, too frightened even to sing. No, I don't miss Japan,” he smiled ruefully, “but I'm sure she does. Her father's a good man, and somehow he managed to keep his spirit alive in spite of all that repression. He has a lovely wife, and I think they really like each other. But when I see Hiroko, I see it all again. Nothing ever changes there. It's oppressive,” he said, and Peter nodded. He had seen the repression there, and the traditions too. But he had seen so much more. He couldn't understand why Takeo didn't love it as he did.
“You have such a sense of history in Japan, just being there, knowing that nothing has changed for the last thousand years, and hopefully nothing will for the next thousand either. I loved it. And I love watching her. I love everything she stands for,” Peter said simply, as Tak looked at him in amusement.
“Don't let Reiko hear you say that. She thinks Japanese women never get a fair shake, and they're completely dominated by their husbands. She's as American as apple pie, and she loves that. She hated going to school there.”
“I think you're both crazy.” Peter smiled, and then he got pulled away by two of the other professors from Stanford, and he never got to speak to Hiroko again. But he saw her bowing as she said good night to some of the Tanakas' friends, and despite everything Tak had said, Peter thought she looked dignified and graceful. It was a custom he found touching, and not in any way degrading. And as he prepared to leave, their eyes met for a single moment, and for an instant he could have sworn that she looked right at him, but within a fraction of a second her eyes were lowered again and she was talking to one of her cousins.
No one had spoken Japanese to her that night, and she smiled when Peter bowed slightly to her before he left, and said sayonara. She looked up at him to see if he was making fun of her. But his eyes were warm, and he was smiling at her. She bowed formally to him then, and kept her eyes down when she told him that it had been an honor to meet him. He said the same, and then left with the attractive blonde he had come with. Hiroko watched him for a moment, and then took Tami upstairs to her bedroom. She was yawning and it was late, but she had had a good time. They all had.
“I can't understand why you don't miss it.”
But Tak always said he loved the United States, and it was obvious he would have been a citizen if he could have become one, but he couldn't. Despite twenty years of living in the States and having married an American, it was against the law for him to become an American citizen.
“I was stifled there. Look at her.” Takeo glanced at his young cousin. To him, she embodied everything he had hated about Japan, and had fled from. “She is strangled and bound; she is afraid to look at us. She is wearing the same garment they wore five hundred years ago. She'll bind her breasts if she has any, and if she gets pregnant, she'll bind her stomach, and she probably won't even tell her husband she's expecting. When she's old enough, her parents will find her a husband she's never met before. And they'll never have a single real conversation. They'll spend their entire lives bowing to each other, and hiding their feelings. And it's exactly the same thing in business, only worse. Everything is run by tradition, everything is appearances and respect and custom. You can never just speak out and say what you feel, and go after a woman simply because you love her. I'd probably never have been able to marry Reiko in Japan, if we'd met there. I would have had to marry the woman my parents selected. I just couldn't live with it. Seeing Hiroko brought it all back to me today. She's like a bird in a cage, too frightened even to sing. No, I don't miss Japan,” he smiled ruefully, “but I'm sure she does. Her father's a good man, and somehow he managed to keep his spirit alive in spite of all that repression. He has a lovely wife, and I think they really like each other. But when I see Hiroko, I see it all again. Nothing ever changes there. It's oppressive,” he said, and Peter nodded. He had seen the repression there, and the traditions too. But he had seen so much more. He couldn't understand why Takeo didn't love it as he did.
“You have such a sense of history in Japan, just being there, knowing that nothing has changed for the last thousand years, and hopefully nothing will for the next thousand either. I loved it. And I love watching her. I love everything she stands for,” Peter said simply, as Tak looked at him in amusement.
“Don't let Reiko hear you say that. She thinks Japanese women never get a fair shake, and they're completely dominated by their husbands. She's as American as apple pie, and she loves that. She hated going to school there.”
“I think you're both crazy.” Peter smiled, and then he got pulled away by two of the other professors from Stanford, and he never got to speak to Hiroko again. But he saw her bowing as she said good night to some of the Tanakas' friends, and despite everything Tak had said, Peter thought she looked dignified and graceful. It was a custom he found touching, and not in any way degrading. And as he prepared to leave, their eyes met for a single moment, and for an instant he could have sworn that she looked right at him, but within a fraction of a second her eyes were lowered again and she was talking to one of her cousins.
No one had spoken Japanese to her that night, and she smiled when Peter bowed slightly to her before he left, and said sayonara. She looked up at him to see if he was making fun of her. But his eyes were warm, and he was smiling at her. She bowed formally to him then, and kept her eyes down when she told him that it had been an honor to meet him. He said the same, and then left with the attractive blonde he had come with. Hiroko watched him for a moment, and then took Tami upstairs to her bedroom. She was yawning and it was late, but she had had a good time. They all had.
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