“Mado ni kuroi mushi ga”
[Black Bug on the Window]
JAPANESE TEXT:
Matayoshi, Eiki. “Mado ni kuroi mushi ga.” Ginnemu yashiki. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1981. Print. 43-138.
1. Introduction
“Mado ni kuroi mushi ga” was first published in Bungakukai in 1978, and was republished in Ginnemu yashiki, along with “Ginnemu yashiki” [Ginnemu Mansion] and “Jōji ga shasatsu shita inoshishi” [The Wild Boar that George Gunned Down]. “Mado ni kuroi mushi ga” describes a love triangle involving Mitchy, Mickey, and John. The story also depicts racist attitudes that were prevalent in Okinawa in the 1970’s. Jun, the protagonist, has thoughts that he does not share with anyone, such as his feelings for Mitchy and how he dislikes blacks. Mitchy often gets caught up in fights because of men fighting over her.
2. Character List
Jun 順
Jun is the protagonist and narrator. He is a twenty-year-old college freshman who stopped attending classes after his summer break. He falls in love with Mitchy, one of the hostesses who works at his father’s bar. He is a lazy and cowardly boy who spends most of his time in his room. English is not his specialty, but he understands it well enough. Although he never says so, Jun clearly dislikes black people and looks down on them.
Mitchy ミッチー
Mitchy is a year younger than Jun and works at his father’s bar as a hostess. She lives with her little sister. Because Mitchy is a young, kind, and beautiful girl, she is popular with customers. She does not get along with some of the other hostesses because they are jealous of her. Her English is fluent, and she just started dating a black man named Mickey.
Mickey ミッキイ
Mickey is a black military man who is dating Mitchy. He is a soldier in the U.S. military and is described as having curly hair, big lips, and white teeth. His age is unknown. He looks big and tough, but he is actually sweet and childlike inside. He gets in a fight with another American named John, who is jealous.
Yukiko ユキコ
Yukiko is Mitchy’s little sister, who is in the sixth grade. She has bobbed hair. She looks up to her big sister and wants to be like her. Her dream is to be the wife of an American because of money, but her big sister is not happy about this. Therefore, Yukiko is going through a rebellious phase.
Jun’s Father 順の父
Jun’s father is the owner of an A-sign bar with many American military customers. He works very hard and does his best to keep his bar running. He is described as having a wrinkly skinny face. He is a kind person who does not complain at all and also takes good care of his employee’s babies.
John ジョン
John is a Caucasian man with big muscles and red hair who is in the U.S. military. He is a regular customer at Jun’s father’s bar and is obsessed with Mitchy. He keeps asking her and other people where she lives, like a stalker. He gets in a fight with Mitchy’s boyfriend Mickey, and Mickey almost kills him.
Masako マサコおばさん
Masako is a middle-aged woman working at the bar as a hostess. She has a red mop of hair and is often drunk. She has a thick accent, and her English is not so good. She got pregnant by an American, and her daughter is now seven or eight years old. She is jealous of the younger hostess Mitchy because John (the one who is obsessed with Mitchy) used to be her customer.
Masao マサオ
Masao is suspected of being Yukiko’s boyfriend. He is a tall skinny boy with dark skin. Masao, Yukiko, and his friends often play in front of Mitchy’s house, but Jun catches Masao looking into Mitchy’s room when she is with Mickey.
3. Historical Background
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against blacks.
Jim Crow Laws are the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. According to J.E Hansan, the term “Jim Crow” originally referred to a black character from an old song called “Jump Jim Crow” that was performed in minstrel shows (a form of American entertainment that consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances by whites in blackface) around 1828. Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, the composer and performer, sang and danced with his face painted black when he played the role of an old black man. Rice’s character became popular and eventually gave its name to a stereotypical negative view of black people as uneducated, shiftless, and dishonest.
In legal theory, blacks received “separate but equal” treatment under the law. This required public schools, public facilities, water fountains, toilets, and public transportation, like trains and buses, to have separate facilities for whites and blacks. There were signs that said “colored only” or “whites only” to separate race from being in the same area, and black people were only allowed to sit in the rear of buses. On December 1, 1955, a woman named Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was in a bus in the town of Montgomery. She got arrested for refusing to stand up to give her seat to a white man. She became the symbol of the resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott, and was later hailed as the “mother of the civil rights movement.”
In 1964, president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended discrimination and segregation that had been institutionalized by Jim Crow Laws.
Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
A status of forces agreement is an agreement between a host country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. On January 19, 1960, Japan and the US signed an agreement that is formally called the “Agreement under Article VI of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America, Regarding Facilities and Areas and the Status of United States Armed Forces in Japan.” The SOFA has become a major political issue following instances of violent crimes allegedly committed by service members. Because the SOFA exempts most US military members from Japanese visa and passport laws, past incidents occurred in which US military members were transferred back to the US before facing charges in Japanese courts. Furthermore, the agreement requires that if a US service member is suspected of a crime but is not captured outside of a base by the Japanese authorities, the US authorities are to retain custody until the service member is formally indicted by the Japanese.
4. Plot Summary
Section 1 (45-62)
Jun is in his room staring at a moth stuck on his window. He decides to go downstairs to the bar that his father owns. He sits at the counter and starts talking with the proprietress. Mitchy comes and gives an order for her customer. Later on, as Jun and the proprietress are chatting, Mitchy starts crying for help. Jun goes to check up on her and finds her with a drunk American named John. Jun asks her what the problem is, and she says that John tried to strangle her because she started talking about Vietnam. John keeps on trying to get rid of Jun, so he can have Mitchy all to himself. Jun considers how to help her, but he just stands there while Mitchy is calming him down. Just then, Masako storms out of the restroom with a glass of whisky in her hand and a cigarette in her mouth. She is jealous of Mitchy because she was the one who used to take good care of John. Now, seeing him attach himself to Mitchy makes her feel old and betrayed. Annoyed, John lights a match and holds it close to Masako’s face to scare her. The proprietress comes over and tells Masako to stop arguing with the customer, or she will lose her job. Therefore, she backs off.
Section 2 (62-74)
The next day, Jun wakes up and looks outside. Mitchy’s room is across the alley, and he can see her through her window. Jun often sees Mickey walking through the alley and then going into Mitchy’s apartment. Mitchy pops her head out of her window and asks Jun if he wants to come over and have sandwiches that she made. Jun runs over and finds Mickey with her. Mickey wants to be friends with Jun, but Jun thinks there is no point in being friends. Jun has to babysit Mitchy’s little sister Yukiko while Mitchy and Mickey go out for a picnic.
Section 3 (74-86)
Yukiko tells her sister that she wants to be an American’s wife someday, but Mitchy wants her to become a teacher. She does not want her little sister to be with an American, but Jun thinks it is silly because Mitchy is dating one herself. After Yukiko runs off to play with her friends, Jun and Mitchy start talking about Mitchy’s love life and future. Jun asks her why she dates a black man, instead of an Okinawan or at least a white man. She tells him that skin color doesn’t matter, and that Mickey is sweet and affectionate.
Section 4 (86-102)
As Jun is thinking about going to his friend Yukio’s house, Masako barges into his room and tells him that Mitchy is in a fight with another hostess named Takako. He runs downstairs but does not interfere while Masako is trying to stop their argument. Mitchy is angry because Takako is saying unpleasant things about Mickey. Jun hates that Mitchy is defending Mickey, so he just lets them hurt each other. Later, they become physical and that is when he steps in. After things calm down, Jun and Mitchy sit down and talk. Then, Mitchy goes back to work.
Section 5 (102-120)
After killing some mosquitos, Jun looks out his window and sees Masao, Yukiko, and John walking towards Mitchy’s apartment. Jun storms out of his room to ask them what they are planning to do. As soon as Jun questions Masao, he runs away, leaving Yukiko with John. Then, Yukiko rebels against Jun and goes inside the apartment with John. Jun calls Mitchy at the bar and tells her about the situation. Jun and Mitchy both know that they are planning on having sex, so they immediately rush to her apartment to talk Yukiko out of it. The door is locked, so Mitchy bangs on the door while screaming Yukiko’s name. There is no response whatsoever. John eventually opens the door, and Mitchy runs to Yukiko and finds her crying. Yukiko apologizies, but Mitchy is disgusted and sends her to her room. Mitchy starts to open up to Jun, and from that, Jun feels that maybe she likes him. Jun finds out that Mitchy had sex with John in the past. Later on, Mitchy suggests having drinks with Jun and John.
Section 6 (120-138)
One day, Jun is listening to the radio and hears noises coming from outside. He peeks out the window, so no one can notice him looking. He sees Mickey and John arguing over Mitchy. The fight becomes intense, and Mickey shoves a broken bottle into John’s neck. John needs help. Mickey calls Mitchy to come to him, but Mitchy refuses to go. Soon, Mickey runs away, and Mitchy tells the white Americans in the bar where he went. People from the bar carry John inside while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Jun finally goes downstairs acting as if he did not know what happened at all. Jun starts talking about Mickey, saying that he had a girl at home. Jun’s father comes and says that John will survive, and that it will not be long before the police catch Mickey. Mitchy tells Jun’s father that she found a new place, and that she is quitting her job at the bar. Jun recalls the day when Mitchy first started working at the bar, and how she was afraid of Americans. Mitchy asks Jun to go out for a drink, and he agrees. Before that, she goes home to change.
5. Setting
The time of the story is clearly during the Vietnam War, when Okinawa was under American rule. In the story, there is a scene in which Mitchy asks John about Vietnam (51). Moreover, as the proprietress calms John down, she tells him that the war will be over soon, which means that the Vietnam War is still happening (60). From 1965, the United States entered a full-scale war in Vietnam, and for the first time in US history, black troops were integrated with other troops.
Furthermore, the story mentions A-sign bars. According to Yamazaki Takashi, A-sign bars were implemented from the 1950s until Okinawa was handed over to the Japanese government in 1972. This suggests that the story took place before Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, which means the story takes place between 1965 and 1972.
Although not clearly stated, there are hints that the story takes place in Koza or Urasoe. During the Vietnam War, Koza and Urasoe had many A-sign bars and some still display the signs today. In the story, Jun mentions that his father is the vice president of a Koza A-sign maker (64). From this hint, readers can suppose that this story takes place in Koza.
6. Point of View
The story is narrated by Jun, the protagonist who refers to himself as “Boku” (the Japanese word for “I” that is used by men). In the story, readers do not know what the other characters are thinking, or what is happening to them when Jun is not in the picture.
At first, Jun seems to be an innocent and reliable person. Gradually, however, readers will notice that Jun has racist and prejudiced views. For example, he calls black people “kuronbō” (a racist term used against black people) and also reveals that he looks down on the hostesses because of their work. Although he dislikes hostesses, he doesn’t hate Mitchy. When Jun heard the hostess’s baby crying, he mentioned that it is punishment for doing this kind of work (45). In the scene when Mitchy is in a fight with another hostess, he said he was shocked by Mitchy and felt that she was acting like a typical hostess.
7. Symbolism
Bugs
The most obvious symbol in this story is bugs. It is in the title of the story and different types of bugs are mentioned many times. Bugs are pesty and annoying, and seem to represent black people, whom Jun despises.
Matayoshi uses “black bug” in the title, and says that it is on a window. At the beginning of the story, Jun looks at a moth stuck on his window (45). When he looks through his window, he often sees Mickey walking to Mitchy’s house. This suggests that he felt that Mickey is like a bug that won’t leave his window.
Mosquitos seem to represent the race issue and mixed-race issue in Okinawa. Mosquitos suck people’s blood regardless of their race. In the story, Jun mentions that mosquitos are increasing because of the gutter filled with garbage (46). Right after that, Jun’s father is holding an employee’s baby. Many Okinawan women became pregnant with children of U.S. military men, and mixed-race babies were increasing. Matayoshi perhaps used the mosquitos to symbolize the issue of race in Okinawa.
In the story, there was a scene where a moth was on the glass window with no movement, and Jun wasn’t aware if it was on the inside or not while the other tiny bugs where hitting and bouncing off the window. The moth stuck on the window seems to represent Jun. He sees the problems around him, but he tries to avoid them because he doesn’t want to get involved. For example, he sees Mickey and John fighting from the window, but he just stays in his room and acts like he didn’t know. On the other hand, the other tiny bugs don’t seem to be fully aware of the glass. They throw themselves against the window, just as the hostesses throw themselves on their customers. Some hostesses end up getting pregnant and have to deal with the problem alone.
8. Themes
Okinawan Racism Towards Blacks
“Mado ni kuroi mushi ga” was written shortly after the Civil Rights Movement in the US, which was during the 1960s. During that time, blacks in the US struggled to gain equal rights. These struggles also played out in Okinawa. Okinawans did not have strong prejudices towards blacks, but with the arrival of large numbers of Americans in 1945 that started to change. Because whites in Okinawa treated blacks badly, Okinawans started to discriminate against blacks, too. Matayoshi’s story teaches us various things about discrimination towards blacks by Okinawans during and just after the US occupation.
To begin with, Matayoshi’s story shows that many Okinawans have been influenced by whites living in Okinawa, especially during the US occupation. For example, in the story a white customer at the bar gets extremely angry when he finds out that Mitchy has a black boyfriend. This shows that the white customer was disgusted at the thought that a girl he liked had a black boyfriend.
The story also shows that Okinawans also often discriminated against blacks for economic reasons. From 1876 to 1964, there were laws that enforced racial segregation in the southern United States. These were called Jim Crow Laws. The U.S. military also had racial segregation that included the separation of whites and people of color. In Matayoshi’s story, readers can see that Okinawans are pressured to discriminate. For example, it mentions that if the barber, Masatoku, who has many white American customers, was seen with a black American customer, he will lose all his white customers (65). Because of the relation between the whites and blacks, whites avoided being in the same place as blacks. Okinawans were terrified of losing customers, so they started to make restrictions in certain areas where they would accept and reject certain races.
During that time, Okinawans also started adopting racist stereotypes. In this story, you can see how Jun describes people in a prejudiced way, especially Mickey. For example, Jun describes Mickey as having big googly eyes, big lips, and big white teeth, the standard racist way of describing blacks. He also calls him by a racist name behind his back and compares him to tiny bugs. These stereotypes reflect the racist views held by some whites at that time.
For all these reasons, discrimination in Okinawa towards blacks could sometimes be intense. Discrimination that was in the US was brought to Okinawa, and racial segregation became a problem in Okinawa.
Power Relations between Hostesses and U.S. Customers
After the U.S. military came to Okinawa, many soldiers would go to bars to drink and pay for sex. During the Vietnam War, Okinawan women were not able to earn much money. Matayoshi shows us that people who are struggling to survive will often make extreme sacrifices, while those with power will often take advantage of the situation.
Women who are hostesses are usually desperate for money. The US customers, on the other hand, go to hostess bars to satisfy their desires. Therefore, they each get what they are after. For example, Masako needs money to raise her child. To earn money, she sacrifices herself by working as a hostess; however, customers would rather spend their time with a nice young lady like Mitchy. Masako saw John moved on to Mitchy, so she tries to take him back (55-60).
Another example is how Mitchy was using Mickey. In the story, Mitchy always stood up for Mickey and black people in general. She even fought with another hostess who made fun of her for having a black boyfriend (88). However, in the final chapter, when Mickey stabbed John and ran away, Mitchy betrays him by telling the white customers the direction he ran (127-8). This shows that Mitchy probably didn’t love Mickey at all. If so, it is possible that she was using him for his money. There are a couple of scenes where Mitchy brags about the things she got from Mickey.
During the Vietnam War, many US soldiers attacked, raped, and killed Okinawan women. According to Takazato Suzuyo, mixed race children started to appear around 1946, and there are many accounts of hostesses and girls that got attacked. In the story, the 12-year-old Yukiko invites John to her home, and later she is crying in her room (106-14). Having sex with an underage person is against the law, but clearly that did not deter John.
9. Criticism
According to Kawamura Jirō, this story is before the Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, and the “A-sign” is basically a bar that was approved for US forces. Kawamura also points out that the narrator, Jun, refers to himself as “Boku” which gives the story a “young innocent boy” vibe. Early in the story, Jun mentions he studied for a college entrance exam, which makes him seem to be almost out of his teens and not fully aware of humanity. Jun is representative of how boys his age thought in general. However, in some parts he seems quite unnatural, like a boy who is only pretending to be innocent. Matayoshi might have had Jun think like that because he is the innocent type. For example, the way Jun feels about blacks reflects common racist attitudes of that time. Similarly, hostesses discriminate against blacks, too. In the story, the hostesses often call black people “kuronbō.” Similarly, Jun looks at Mickey in a similarly discriminating way. Kawamura thinks that this was not naturally planned but because of the character, Matayoshi has Jun think in those ways.
According to Noro Kuninobu, there is a scene where Jun is startled when Mitchy asks if he wanted some apples. Jun nods and feels happy (142) revealing his true feelings: despite having racist views, Jun is happy to get some apples. However, Kiwamura Jirō points out that right after that scene, Jun is watching Mitchy cutting the apples and thinks she could be a great wife. In other words, Jun is described as being childish and selfish while also having some of the sexist and racist views of the time.
10. Discussion Questions
1. How would the story change if told from Mitchy’s or Mickey’s point of view?
2. What do you think happened between Mitchy and her mother? Are they on bad terms?
3. Was the sex scene with John and Yukiko necessary? How would the story change if the scene wasn’t included? What do you think really happened?
4. Was Mitchy really in love with Mickey or was she only using him? How do you know?
5. Why isn’t Jun more serious about school?
6. What do the bugs symbolize? Do different bugs have different symbolic meanings?
7. What is the meaning of the title?
8. What does the story teach us about discrimination?
9. Is Jun a good person? Is his character reliable? How does he change through the story?
10. How did Okinawans feel about the Americans during the U.S. occupation? Did they treat whites and blacks differently?
11. Where in Okinawa does the story take place? Why is this important?
12. Why didn’t Jun confess his feelings to Mitchy?
13. Why does Mitchy strongly desire her sister to become a teacher?
14. Describe Jun’s relationship with his father. How are Jun and his father similar and how are they different?
15. Is Jun a reliable narrator? If so, why? Does he lie in the story?
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Original report by Rina Perkins. Edited and revised by Kasumi Sminkey.