Hospitalite was a glimpse of how the Japanese society feels about foreigners as well as the role gender plays in everyday life. While the men worked, the women did house work and tended to Eriko. The men also made the final decision regardless of their spouses opinion. Mikio slapping his wife in public was normal because of their culture based on patriarchy. Mikio received no consequences for sleeping with Mrs Kagawa, yet he punished his wife for sleeping with someone else. Also they were not very open with one another; Mikio had his secrets, and so did his wife. Their lifestyles were very traditional compared to the lifestyle of a couple in America. I saw more differences between their culture and my culture than I did similarities. Women are more open to speaking their mind in my culture than in Japanese culture. However, the duties of a wife and a mother are the same when it comes to raising the children and taking care of the home. The event in the film that I connected with the most was the party they had. They were like a big, happy family and made me think about the special events we have together and how much fun we have.
The central conflicts in this film were communication and fear of change. Mikio and his wife did not communicate their feelings to each other and they rarely showed one another affection. The fear of change was expressed through their neighbors as well as the neighborhood watch. They did not want foreigners in their country, and they made that very clear in their petition to tear down the area where the foreigners lived. I do not think these conflicts were ever resolved. Everyone attempted to go back to their normal lives after the immigrants were gone. Unfortunately, this film did not change my world view; however, it did help me to understand the Japanese culture. I have become more accepting of their beliefs.
I believe the screenwriter and/or director of the film was trying to convey the message that maybe foreigners are not so bad and that they could be more helpful than harmful. Japan currently has a dying population due to the fact that they will not allow immigrants to come in and become part of the economic social society unless they look similar to them. In the film, Hospitalite, there was a missing parrot, and throughout the film Mikio’s wife and his daughter, Eriko, searched for the parrot. Ultimately at the end, Mikio’s wife decided to buy a brand new parrot that looked just like the old one. That very last scene with the new parrot suggested that Japan’s dying population that can be replaced with immigrants. This not only relates to the Japanese culture, but other cultures as well. There is this fear that an immigrant can only cause problems for a society, but in all reality immigrants are very beneficial to the society economically. There is not one country that is fully accepting of immigrants; thus, this creates conflicts among different people from different places as well as conflicts over foreign policy.