The Japanese wife is one of the most noteworthy movie by Aparna Sen, the director of famous movie Mr.

and Mrs. Iyer , revolves around the lives of Snehamoy, his wife whom he never met, Miyage, and Snehamoys aunt Sandhya, the widow. The film is based on Kunal Basus book The Japanese wife. The movie succeeds in its effort to portray the situations and conditions of the complex Indian culture and questions the norms of Indian society with reference to the feelings and emotions of the characters towards each other. The questions of right and wrong seem to be irrelevant in front of basic human situations. In the movie The Japanese wife the character of Sandhya played by Raima Sen succeed in her effort to show the mental turmoil situation of a widow. While comparing to the real lives of Indian widows, Sandhya, the widow, in this movie bears only the least consequences. Sandhya seems to be a typical Indian woman with full vitality. Discrimination against widows has left thousands of women in West Bengal resorting to prostitution and beggary to survive. In the dark, damp back-streets of India, we can see the forgotten widows chant for their supper. For a few hours, their prayers earn them enough meagre rupees to survive. These women were once revered as mothers, sisters and daughters; some will die on the streets without seeing any relatives again. This is the condition of the widows in West Bengal that Aparna Sen portrays through the character of Sandhya, the widow in the movie The Japanese Wife. Sandhya is seen as being widowed at an early stage in her marriage, she is thus forced to lead the life of a cloistered widow throughout the rest of her lives. She is also seen to be at the mercy of her in-laws who treat her harshly.

"She becomes a zero and all her powers are lost," says Mohini Giri, the former chair for the commission of women in India and a widow herself. She explains that many conservative Indian families see widows as a liability. Cast out of the family home, they live the rest of their lives in poverty and isolation. Sandhya is seen treated very cruelly by her in-laws soon after her husbands death. The cruelty increases to such a degree that she has no other choice but to leave her husbands home and to seek refuge at Snehamoys house. She thus becomes the representative of all the Indian widows. "When [a woman] loses her husband and becomes a widow, she loses her identity. A woman deprived, abandoned, malnourished will naturally have a high mortality rate." Sandhyas case would have been critical, with a son to care for, she would have turned to prostitution. Without anyone to care for them, she might have contemplated suicide. The terrible state of widows can be indirectly read from this movie by Aparna Sen. For the more than 40 million widows in India 10% of the country's female population life is what some have described as "living sati", a reference to the now the prohibited practice of widow burning. Some are as young as 10 years old and are forced to spend the rest of their days in seclusion or earning a living through prostitution. Sandhya is seen leading the life of a recluse; she is forced to suppress all her emotions and feelings for the rest of her life and to lead the life similar to a nun. On several occasions we see her admiration for Snehamoy, but being a widow who cannot re-marry, she suppresses them. She is helpless and lonely and is faced with the horrible life of loneliness till her end.

Only 28% of the widows in India are eligible for pensions, and of those, less than 11% actually receive their entitled payments. If a woman is not financially independent, she is at the mercy of her in-laws and her parents. And if they do not have the will or resources to take care of her and her children, she will be treated like an "untouchable". This is so in the case of Sandhya who is forced to leave her in-laws house because of several reasons. They are said to be cruel to Sandhya this is explicitly said by Kunal Basu in his short story. The reason behind their forsaking Sandhya is unclear, yet the reason might be their lack of funds to support her and her son, or the lack of proper living spaces to shelter her. But we can easily realize the fact that they start to avoid her only because they considered her as part of their family only when her husband was alive. A widow thus becomes a curse, an object to be loathed and to be discarded. The movie seems to be sending a message to the authorities who have carefully omitted the case of widows in India; the plea is for more support and help to rehabilitate widows. They too are human beings and are entitled to every single right. Many of the widows have no choice but to beg in the streets. Traditionally, widows are only allowed one meal a day and renounce all earthly pleasures. Sandhya has to suppress her emotions in the movie. She is to renounce all pleasures and to lead the life of a nun. She is forced to take refuge in Snehamoys house because of her helplessness and thus is a representative of widows who are helpless and miserable. She would have been forced to beg in the streets if not for the kind Snehamoy.

Traditions are manmade and are prevalent in society due to its widespread acceptance in the social milieu a patriarchal society has enforced wrong values in society towards widows. Nevertheless, trying to change the taboos surrounding remarriage and widows' conduct is only possible if the government enforces education to explain their harmful effects. The West Bengal has the highest percentage of widows in India, primarily because of objections to remarriage. Aparna Sen, a Bengali film maker might know better about the condition of the Bengali widows. Through her character Sandhya she excellently portrays this problem in Bengal. Her plea seems to be directed towards the Bengali people who have not changed their attitude towards widows. With a recent report conducted by the national commission of women stating that 74% of destitute widows live in West Bengal, there is a clear indication that implementing legislation has been unsuccessful. Widowhood is not a priority within the government. It is only now that we are pushing the issue with the government. Through such movies which deal with the issues of the oppressed Aparna Sen, Deepa Mehta and a lot of other filmmakers seem to be trying to send this message to the authorities and to the public. Widows are also human beings; they are to be rehabilitated and to be made active participants in the working of the nation. Artists too have a role to play in this regard, to educate the society on such social evils. Aparna Sen can claim to have done an excellent job by treating such a topic in her film.

Ethics is a study of moral issues in the fields of individual and collective interaction. The term is also sometimes used more generally to describe issues in arts and sciences, religious beliefs and cultural priorities. The professional fields that deal with ethical issues include medicine, trading, business, law, and etc. India has forever been a land where marriage ethics are given much importance. The movie The Japanese Wife also deals with such traditional marriage ethics popular in the country. For this we have to analyze the relationship between Miyage and Snehamoy. In India there is no greater event in a family than a wedding, dramatically evoking every possible social obligation, kinship bond, traditional value, impassioned sentiment, and economic resource. In the arranging and conducting of weddings, the complex permutations of Indian social systems best display themselves. This kind of a tradition is challenged by Aparna Sen. We can never claim if Miyage and Snehamoy are married or not. It was not a normal marriage as such; there are no meeting of the two families, no fixing of dates or venues for marriage, no wedding ceremony and no feast as such. Can such a marriage be ever possible considering the marriage ethics of our country? The most important thing is also that both Miyage and Snehamoy have never even seen each other in person. This challenges the traditional notions of marriage and is a criticizing of Indian marriage ethics. Marriage is deemed essential for virtually everyone in India. For the individual, marriage is the great watershed in life, marking the transition to adulthood. In Snehamoy we find a character who takes great pains to keep his marital relationship

intact and pure. We see that even when they have not seen each other, Miyage and Snehamoy are faithful to each other. Even as one is born into a particular family without the exercise of any personal choice, so is one given a spouse without any personal preference involved. Arranging a marriage is a critical responsibility for parents and other relatives of both bride and groom. In the movie too we find Snehamoy asking permission from his only relative, his aunt before he marries Miyage. He is thus following the traditions of arranged marriage in a strict way. In the short story we find him being made fun of by his friends when they understand that he is in love with a Japani, they ask him if he will marry the Japani or select the girl whom his aunt chooses for him. Marriage is thus not just a person issue it is a social issue. Marriage alliances entail some redistribution of wealth as well as building and restructuring social realignments, and, of course, result in the biological reproduction of families. Such a concept is challenged by Aparna Sen. In the marital relationship between Miyage and Snehamoy there is no meeting of the parties, there is no household relationships and no possibility for the typical family life where there would be offsprings to carry on the family to the next generation. Aparna Sen seems to be saying that such a proposition is not necessary in marriage as such. People can be happy even without the following of such traditions. Thus the Indian ethics behind marriages is challenged by Sen. In most of North India, the Hindu bride goes to live with strangers in a home she has never visited. There she is sequestered and veiled, an outsider who must learn

to conform to new ways. Her natal family is often geographically distant, and her ties with her consanguine kin undergo attenuation to varying degrees. Sandhya and her marriage can be remembered in this case where she is forced to leave her in-laws house soon after her husband dies. This system forces women to find support only from the grooms family, she has to suffer without questions and to kicked out on the occasion which the in-laws deem. Rules for the remarriage of widows differ from one group to another. Generally, lower-ranking groups allow widow remarriage, particularly if the woman is relatively young, but the highest-ranking castes discourage or forbid such remarriage. The strictest adherents to the non remarriage of widows are Brahmans. Almost all groups allow widowers to remarry. Many groups encourage a widower to marry his deceased wife's younger sister. This is to be seen under the picture of Sandhya the widow. If she would have been a man she could have easily re married, it is because she is a woman she has to suffer throughout her life. Through the movie The Japanese wife Aparna Sen questions the traditional norms of the society through the challenging characters. In the movie Snehamoys aunt even compels him to get married to Sandhya, the widow daughter of aunts friend. As an elderly person, Snehamoys aunt is ready to accept the challenge of the society by standing in favour to the re marriage of a widow. Even though, she does not succeed in her effort her attitudes towards the social change remain note worthy till the end. This system of remarriage is challenged by Sen.

Almost all Indian children are raised with the expectation that their parents will arrange their marriages, but an increasing number of young people, especially among the college-educated, are finding their own spouses. So-called love marriages are deemed a slightly scandalous alternative to properly arranged marriages. Some young people convince their parents to "arrange" their marriages to people with whom they have fallen in love. Read this with relation to Snehamoy who even when is in love with Miyage, does not marry her until he asks permission from his family which is his aunt. In much of India, especially in the north, a marriage establishes a structural opposition between the kin groups of the bride and groom--bride-givers and bridetakers. Within this relationship, bride-givers are considered inferior to bride-takers and are forever expected to give gifts to the bride-takers. The one-way flow of gifts begins at engagement and continues for a generation or two. This tradition is to be seen when initially only Miyage seems to be sending all the gifts to her husband Snehamoy. But later on Aparna Sen challenges these notions by making Snehamoy also send gifts to Miyage. After marriage arrangements are completed, a rich panoply of wedding rituals begins. Each religious group, region, and caste has a slightly different set of rites. Generally, all weddings involve as many kin and associates of the bride and groom as possible. The bride's family usually hosts most of the ceremonies and pays for all the arrangements for large numbers of guests for several days, including accommodation, feasting, decorations, and gifts for the groom's party. These arrangements are often

extremely elaborate and expensive and are intended to enhance the status of the bride's family. The groom's party usually hires a band and brings fine gifts for the bride, such as jewelry and clothing, but these are typically far outweighed in value by the presents received from the bride's side. This system is criticized by Sen through the characters of Snehamoy and Miyage who marry, and remain faithful to one another even on being separated, even when they have never seen each other or married in a proper ceremony. The idea of presence and absence can be used here to understand the ethics behind the faithful relationship of Miyage and Snehamoy. In the movie the strong bond between the unseen husband and wife stands above all the religious ethics and culture. Even the fresh idea of remarriage of a widow that happens in the mind of the protagonist aunt marks the search of new life and also it denotes the decline of certain ethics in favour of the human being. According to Hindu culture, Marriage is the reunion of two souls, but the physical presence in the marriage ceremony and its related rituals had significant role in the lives of married couples. The marriage between Miyage and Snehamoy lacks all these features but, the mental union in the absence of physical existence plays a prominent role in the lives of both. While Sen does manage to draw an evocative picture of main characters Snehomoy (Rahul Bose) and Miyagi (Chigusa Takaku) the narrative feels a little drawn out at times and it does feel like a short story which has been stretched into a two-hour film. Most of the dialogue in this film is either in Bengali or heavily Bengali/Japanese accented English, so it does get tedious to read the subtitles that appear suddenly. Sen has a great deal of

affection for her characters. It can be felt in overall portrayal of the movie. Beside the difficulties, the emotions can be really felt. There is such beauty, restraint and minimalism in this akin-to-a-haiku film, it transports you into another world altogether. One, where love can exist without consummation and togetherness can be attained, despite spatial and cultural distances. The plot talks about Snehamoy as a schoolteacher staying with his aunt in the remote Sundarbans area of West Bengal and Miyage is an 18 year old Japanese Girl. They start as pen friends and slowly through their letters, they fall in love. They decide that they will consider each other man and wife, even though they are unlikely to meet. Seventeen years pass, when Sandhya, a widow and her son come into Snehamoy's life. His love for Miyage is unflinching, and yet he finds Sandhya's presence disturbing and develops a close bond with her son. Sandhya too is clearly attracted but reticent; she is not seen wearing a white sari. Word comes that Miyage is critically ill. Snehamoy is too poor to travel to Japan but he consults every physician he knows just to find a cure for her. In the process his life ebbs away. Miyage comes to India and she and Sandhya meet each other for the first time both are in the widows' white... Snehamoy and Miyage build an everlasting bond through a mere exchange of letters that manage to communicate their devotion and longing for each other, even though they both are unsure of their English and are bred in totally different cultures. But Snehamoy connects with his distant wife by flying the beautiful kites she sends him and Miyage dons the bangles and drinks the medicine her husband posts to her, hoping that someday they might be physically together. It's an unconventional yet undeniable bond that is accepted by all and sundry:

by Snehamoy's vivacious aunt (Moushumi Chatterjee), who does get hysterical initially, by Sandhya, the silent and adoring widow (Raima Sen) and her young son who seek shelter with Snehamoy and by the villagers too. And yet, like the mercurial landscape of the Sunderbans, it's a bonding that is not without its turbulence too: unfulfilled passion, deep desire, desperate longing. The life of human being is futile without emotions, feelings, imaginations, and relationships. Mere social constructions cannot give proper meaning to life. Snehamoy, the hero, and his pure love for his unseen Japanese wife is the result of his imagination. It gives proper meanings to his life. The presence of something as well as the absence saves the lives from the void situation. The terms absence and presence describe fundamental states of being. For this reason, they are difficult to define without referencing the terms themselves. The Oxford English Dictionary definitions of both terms are self-referential: "the fact or condition of being present" and "the state of being absent or away." The difficulty of these terms stems from the fact that they are dependent upon the notion of being. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the primary definition of being as "to have or occupy a place ... somewhere ... Expressing the most general relation of a thing to its place." According to this definition, then, being is not inexplicable or transcendent, but exists within a framework or state. Therefore the definitions of presence and absence explicitly rely upon the states within which they are found. At the heart of this issue is the question of whether truth and presence are absolutely linked. For instance, in Phaedrus, Plato argues for unmediated truth of speech over the mediation of writing. The unmediated truth of speech comes from the presence of the speaker, while the

writing mediates this presence. Therefore, representations in the form of images or writing present presence through mediation. According to Derrida, however, these mediated forms are the only available forms of presence because meaning cannot appear outside of a medium. Derrida's critique of the metaphysics of presence introduces a play of absence and presence. He states that "there is nothing outside the text." In this way, his argument is similar to that of Aristotle who recognizes the inescapability of representation. Without an outside of language, meaning can never be completely present. Rather we are separated from signification by the necessitated absence of linguistic forms. Through the examples of speech and writing, Derrida demonstrates that it is impossible for signification to be absolutely present. In doing so, he proves that only through mediated forms like language can one access signification. Importantly, for media theory, representational absence becomes a form of presence.