i’m sorry i doubted you mishima. there is was more to you than stubborn bureaucracy. while i do think him laying it out clearly for aoyama was a bit of a cheat for her to see her ways, i don’t think she ever would have asked the right questions or come to the right conclusion.
that said i am still confused why mishima was so entirely against showing aoyama the local food and places despite being a supporter of the southern expansion policy. is it because he thought she would look down on them/compare them to the empire (like she did)? or a way to protect his home ? idk thoughts ?
Honeymango23 commented...
I think mishima’s resistence was also a way to resist the inadvertent colonial exoticism and consumption of “local” and indigenous cuisine and culture and people that would’ve resulted from Aoyama’s literal and figurative consumption of them. Some people might interpret it as pettiness but I also see how he wished to offer resistence to the colonial fantasy of the original “authentic” culture of the colonized people.