The Path to "Looking Back at Home"

Author: (Japanese) Yoko Yamasaki
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: I remember feeling terrified on rainy nights, but I have no memory of deliberately walking ahead of my husband with my head held high. I had always believed my attitude was dignified and natural, but after my husband mentioned it, I realized that the knot in my heart hadn’t truly been resolved, which is why my walking posture had become like that. According to my husband, I probably stopped walking that way about a decade ago. Thinking back now, 7, it was around the time the scars on my face began to fade and people no longer gave me special looks when I passed by.
Yoko, a woman who once modeled and aspired to become an actress, was tragically slashed across her face—with a knife—on what is often referred to as a woman’s life. The medical conditions at the time meant those scars were destined to haunt her for life, shattering her dreams. Where could she turn? What path lay ahead? Yoko, the author of this book, is the Japanese female writer Yoko Yamasaki. After enduring that horrific ordeal, she reevaluated her career and soul, coming to understand that “scars are also a part of oneself.” She bravely and resolutely faced others’ stares, standing in solidarity with women who suffer discrimination and forging her own path—a path that led to Look Back, Honey.
Looking back at Yoko’s life, we cannot help but admire her resilience and open-mindedness, but we must also acknowledge that those dozens of scars were an important factor in shaping both her and the masterpiece Look Back, Honey.