Asia for the Humanities
The Face of Another
With experiencing a traumatic, botched surgical experience, Mr. Okayama has lived
many days with his face bandaged. With his bandaged face, it makes it difficult for people,
especially his wife, to read his expressions. He has felt many negative dynamics to his life,
including the absence of affection, admiration, and acknowledgment, thus leading him to try a
face mask to try and relieve him of such undesirable features in his life. He has various aims
with his mask, though it isn’t as deceiving as many would think. Mr. Okayama’s appearance
might have changed along with his finew” persona, though with this finew face”, another
person might or might not be fooled.
Mr. Okayama might seem like a simple man who has his wife fix him his tea and keep
the house clean while he sits in his chair with his bandaged face on the daily, though he does
have passions and sensations that he feels can’t be achieved with his appearance. With hopes
of pursuing his desires, which we know is pure seduction, he asks of his psychiatrist/surgeon to
undergo the making of a mask for him. His psychiatrist/surgeon thinks the mask would just be
for him to have a smooth enter back into society, though the real reason is for Mr. Okayama to
be seduced and feel pleasure, especially from his wife.
With a mask, you can wear it for a positive purpose or depending on how you act with
it, it could be more detrimental than constructive. Mr. Okayama had a different aim with this
mask, rather than smoothly being acknowledged in society, his aim was to try and seduce his
alienated wife. That was his only determination with the mask. Because he was very persistent
on his mission, he in a way, turned into a fimonster”. His new mask made him seem to have
more authority over others, especially his wife and his surgeon. Also, he manipulated many
people into thinking he is someone he is not. His whole living situation was manipulative as
well, as people thought he was wealthy living in this cool room and he had to hide everything
that could expose who he really was. We know his purpose with the mask was all about being
seduced, and with this new personality he acted more flirtatious to women, especially his wife,
which turned some women away because they felt a weird vibe by him.
His various manipulations due to the mask were the main aspect to why he was
considered a monster. On page 70, it states that fia monster is a creation, so we can call a man a
monster too. And the Creator seems not to be the sender but somehow the receiver of this
letter we call expression.” This quote portrays how Mr. Okayama’s mask created a monstrous
character that all he wanted was to be shown affection, primarily by his wife, and all his actions
