Dr. Sadao Hoki is the protagonist of the story and Hana’s husband. A skilled surgeon educated in America, Sadao is wholly responsible for saving the life of Tom, an American prisoner of war who washes up on the beach alongside Sadao and Hana’s isolated home on the Japanese coast. Sadao is an emotionally complex character who struggles to come to terms with his inexplicable impulse to save the life of an American, who is supposedly his enemy, and his staunch Japanese patriotism (which increasingly reads as outright nationalism and racial prejudice). Sadao’s deeply prejudiced thoughts about all the Americans remained with him throughout his lifetime. However, the story suggests that the reason he helped the prisoner of war—putting his and his household’s safety on the line in doing so—is because of the latent human impulse to be good and kind. Alongside his nationalism, Sadao is also a proponent of traditional Japanese gender roles, requiring his wife to be a meek, subservient housewife who tends to the servants and follows Sadao’s orders unflinchingly. Even though the couple met at college in America, Hana generally conforms to this role gladly and seems to value Japanese customs. Despite upholding strict gender roles—with Sadao often coming across as cold and domineering—the couple appears to genuinely and tenderly love one another, even if those feelings are largely unspoken. Many of the decisions Sadao makes about how to deal with Tom stem from Sadao wanting to alleviate his wife’s severe anxiety at housing the prisoner. Hana is Dr. Sadao Hoki’s wife. The couple met at a university in America, but “waited to fall in love” until their parents back in Japan could properly approve of and arrange the marriage. Hana shows a deep love for Japanese customs and the old way of living, seen through her traditional house (peppered with patios and courtyards) and her role as a subservient housewife. She largely bends to Sadao’s will, often without resentment, and upholds him as the head of the household. Hana’s main task is overseeing the servants—who, in turn, tend to her household and children— and ensuring that her husband is always fed first and taken care of. Although she appears less overtly racist than her husband, she too distains Tom for being white and American. She is also more afraid of going against the cultural grain by dangerously housing and saving the white man, who is clearly a prisoner of war. Tom makes her uncomfortable and anxious, both because of his Americanness and because his presence poses a severe threat to her and Sadao’s safety, given that aiding a prisoner of war and political enemy is against the law. Nonetheless, she finds herself taking care of the American even though she doesn’t really want to, washing him tenderly while thinking racist thoughts. Hana, like Sadao, demonstrates the human impulse to be altruistic and take care of fellow humans, but also shows how racial prejudice and nationalism cloud such thinking.
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