The Japanese Lover

Content Warning: This section includes references to child sexual abuse.

Alma Belasco is the primary protagonist of the text, meaning that the action of the novel focuses on Alma and her life. She is a Jewish Polish immigrant, having come to America shortly before the Nazi invasion of Poland. Like Irina, she embodies what the novel considers to be Eastern European traits of strength, stoicism, and isolation, often stifling her emotions to avoid scrutiny and to maintain calm in her environment. Alma’s childhood in Poland is not discussed thoroughly in the text, but she had a difficult transition to life with the Belasco family, who took her in on her arrival in San Francisco. With the support of the Belasco family, Alma did not need to attend college, but she chose to study art and pursue a successful career as an artist and designer. In her old age, she comes to Lark House following Ichimei’s death, seemingly as a form of penance for the guilt she feels relating to her relationships with Nathaniel and Ichimei.

The driving force of the novel is Alma’s relationship with Ichimei, whom she met as a child at Sea Cliff.