The Truth About Haru Okumura (Character Analysis in Japanese Context)

so today we'll be taking a deep dive look into haru her character arc and how her background explores the age-old practice of mukuyoshi in japan and how it allows men in the family to maintain company ownership across generations by the way hey guys i'm lady and i love doing analyses on the persona games so if that's your thing you've come to the right place anyway if you're worried about p5r spoilers in this video don't be anything unique to royal will be delegated only to the final section which will be time stamped so with that said let's dive right in all right so first off let's take note of persona 5's unique premise in that it distinctly focuses on societal issues that are prevalent in japan sure there will always be some degree of understanding and relatability across cultures but it can't be overstated how different japanese cultural values are from those of the wider western or eurocentric world for example japan and whiter asia's collectivist values place emphasis on group cohesion over the self while the individualistic values of the west favor the freedom of the individual over the collective this means that sticking to the natural societal order of things is extra important in collectivist japan if you want to know more about why it's so important to grasp these cultural differences when it comes to p5 check out my video in the cards above now you may wonder why this stuff is such a big deal to me personally and it really just boils down to how all this research helps me feel like i'm connecting to my own heritage as a person of japanese descent i'll also be graduating with a degree in social work very soon so all this sociological psychological and cultural stuff is just super interesting to me so yeah moving on let's briefly introduce the sweet and fluffy haru while she is incredibly kind don't make the mistake that nice equals weak haru has a good head on her shoulders and knows just when to draw the line and stand up for herself and her friends and when it comes to gameplay she completely wrecks house with her grenade launcher and gun skills like one shot kill i'm also just a sucker for her gunslinger design as a mommy stan can you believe that came out 10 years ago by the way but as for haru's character arc it bears resemblance to yusuke's struggles when it comes to abusive parents and filial piety though unlike the more generalized commentary on an age-old concept in yusuke's arc haru's problem directly focuses on more relevant japanese cultural issues the two most prominent being muko yoshi and also how one gains political power in japan [Music] though we the players catch glimpses of haru before her arc properly begins she's first introduced to the phantom thieves as a full-blown antagonist or well more like it appeared that way until her silly beauty thief antics kinda scratched that notion it's interesting looking at this scene in hindsight though since i never noticed how haru's early tendency to just go along with mona's orders parallels the obedience she showed to her father prior to her persona awakening but aside from that the other major trait established right from the get-go is her profound awareness of others especially those in need as is shown in her concern for mona and her father's employees despite not knowing any of these people directly like seriously let's take a look here she enters the dangerous metaverse well albeit unknowingly to save an injured mona and part of the reason she started looking into her father were the rumors of how horribly he treats his workers we learned that's far from the only reason though once we see how slimy and abusive her fiance is tsugimura is the answer kunikazu has found when it comes to legitimizing his family's ownership of okumura foods and is just one example of a common practice known as mukuyoshi in the japanese business world this is when a family with no male heirs adopts the husband of their eldest daughter with the intention of having him inherit the family business as i said earlier haru's arc is similar to yusuke's and how it highlights the dangers of unchecked filial piety though unlike madorami's gentle treatment of yusuke haru's father is quite cold and callous towards her mukoyoshi also lends itself to okumura's political aspirations but before we can dive into that topic we need to examine mukuyoshi in greater depth [Music] those of you who have seen mayakuchi and makoto videos may recognize the term mukuyoshi to reiterate what that entails it's when a family business legally adopts an adult male between the age of 20 and 30 usually the husband of the eldest daughter so that the family business may continue its line of male successors over multiple and multiple generations according to data from 2012 japan has over 80 000 adoptions a year but unlike western countries that adopt mostly children over 95 of adoptions in japan are of these young adult males in fact some of japan's most famous companies have remained family-run thanks to this tradition these include car manufacturers toyota and suzuki camera maker canon and soy sauce maker kikkomang by now i'm sure some of you must be drawing similarities between mukuyoshi and the political marriages that were so common between western noble families centuries ago and while you're not wrong to think that i think what sets japan's version apart is just how widespread and common it still is in our modern era even though the civil code that used to prevent daughters from inheriting the family estate changed decades ago old traditions die hard in japan so as you can see the arranged marriage that haru's father secured between his daughter and sugimura is an example of mukoyoshi haru's attitude towards her future prior to meeting the phantom thieves really sells just how common this practice is as well she says she wasn't too surprised when her father secured a fiance for her which reveals how prevalent mukuyoshi is in the corporate world not only that but she talks about how resigned she was to the idea of going through with the arranged marriage and letting the rest of her life pass on by before joining the pt mugayoshi makes it clear that japan disproportionately values men in leadership positions if they'd go to such lengths to block a female heiress from inheriting her own family's business ensuring a male heir takes over instead but before diving a bit farther into this view of male leadership let's cover how sugimura would serve as okumura's pipeline into the world of japanese politics you see japan is quite notorious for its hereditary political system hereditary politics is when the next generation gains the exact same political office as their parent or grandparent so in this way it's not quite the same as a political family such as the kennedys bushes or clintons in the u.s where multiple members are involved in some type of politics albeit usually not the same type of office so going back to japan's hereditary case approximately 30 percent of its house of representatives aka the lower legislative chamber consists of these second generation diet members oftentimes the child or grandchild will even run for and gain the exact same seat as an older family member there's a reason why kunikazu reminds haru multiple times that tsugimura is the son of a successful politician meaning he'll have direct access to influencing politics via the young man and his connections money in politics obviously affects the entire world but haru's problems just highlights how mukoyoshi uniquely contributes to this problem in japan male descendants of existing politicians are basically assured of their desirability as spouses to corporations with no sons because of this it's no surprise why sugimura is such an entitled since he likely expected offers like okamura's hand in marriage and vice versa for haru's father since kunikazu likely knew right from the early days of his company's success that he'd be able to use his daughter as economic leverage as for haru herself in order to properly observe the east asian value of filial piety she accepts her fate without question or well she would have done that if it wasn't for the phantom thieves encouragement with their help haru actually stands up to her father and fights for herself and probably on behalf of all the other women who felt like they've had no say in their own futures she also fights to end her father's abusive business practices of course though we'll have to save that topic for the future p5 pallets ruler video but with all this said we can now move on to hadoo's confidant is suddenly entrusted with an enormous amount of responsibilities after her father's death okumura foods is not only dealing with its abusive workplace scandal but the unexplainable and sudden death of its ceo normally a company would have had the time to prepare for the resignation or death of its owner and with sugimura and haru's marriage not even finalized yet haru is now in a position of power that's basically unheard of for females in japan you see according to oecd reports in 2017 the number of japanese women who are either self-employed with employees or our own account workers makes up only around six percent of the entire entrepreneurial force this is significantly lower than the oecd average especially when compared to countries like the united states so in a society where so few women are encouraged or expected to own their own businesses it's no surprise why haru is suspicious of the rumors surrounding takakura the new company president and the other employees who are pressuring her to sell her shares and or marry sugimura the fact that her fiance has been invited to company board meetings while haru hasn't just speaks for itself and this contract that tsugimura keeps bringing up adds to the pressure since apparently the reparations okumura foods would owe if haru backs out of the marriage would completely ruin what remains of the company so understandably haru feels trapped and even describes her mukuyoshi plight exactly in rank 6 when she says he's going to get okumura foods and my entire inheritance and there's nothing i can do about it with joker's encouragement though haru refuses to be discouraged and continues to pour her heart and soul into the thing she can't control at the time and her efforts literally bear fruit allowing her to present her true feelings to president takakura with her home-grown coffee beans it's actually heartwarming to learn that those shady rumors about takakura turned out to be only that he actually does have good intentions for the future of the company but most importantly for haru he completely respects her opinions and even asks her to accompany him to the company board meetings which is as we discussed before a rare opportunity for women in japan and not only that but he makes preparations to cancel haru's arranged marriage with tsugimura as according to her wishes turns out that binding contract was just made up nonsense that this entitled made up and while haru ultimately decides to leave okumura foods in the hands of management it's only after she conveys her thoughts to them and grasps the board's sincerity to abide to her and takakura's vision and overall it's still a huge win against the system since she still maintains all her shares of the company which probably makes her the most powerful corporate female in p5 verse by the way and is truly in charge of her own future now that sugimura is out of the picture lastly while her personal dream may seem small compared to the okumura foods inheritance remember those oecd numbers we talked about earlier like saya and makatol who are carving their own path in male dominated fields haru will also have to prove her medal as part of the six percent of female business owners in japan i'm honestly just really proud of haru in general because she's learned to value her own voice throughout the course of her arc i've heard many compare haru's confidant to mitsuru in p3 even calling it mitsuru light but i just personally refuse to see it that way yes the basis of their struggles are the same but their different personalities distinguishes each of their respective journeys from the others all in all i do understand the criticisms of how haru is written in p5 story narratively i also have my gripes towards how late she joins and how underutilized she is but her story also really hits me as someone who has been blessed with a complete opposite experience having been raised by parents who encouraged me to follow my own passions with that said i'm really curious to hear from all of you who could relate to the pressure haru faced from her family and now we're at the part of the video where i must warn you that spoilers for persona 5 royal are ahead i repeat spoilers for royal are ahead you've been warned [Music] we've now arrived in maduki's reality where it's really jarring to see hari's interactions with her father here kunikazu is entirely different from the cold and calculating person he was in the original reality here he actually prioritizes his daughter's feelings and ideas over his company's profit which is honestly quite sad to see since we know for a fact that this isn't how he really was it's merely just haru's wish this is unlike most of the other pt's loved ones who have returned just as they were in the actual reality because of this hattu's third tier persona scene really hit for me she understands that not only is her father actually dead but his heart was corrupted long ago so the kunikazu who treats her warmly here is just a selfish dream on her part in the end her father was guilty of atrocious crimes against his competitors and his own employees and of course the emotional abuse he heaped on his daughter haru realizes that it wouldn't be fair if she chose maruki's world simply because her father is kinder to her here i love when she says it would be a betrayal to the future joker and the phantom thieves have given her as well because for the most part haru is gentle and has a strong nurturing side which makes her such a great fit for tending to homegrown crops but don't forget she also has a strong will that not only breaks through mataki's reality but will surely succeed in her future business endeavors of opening up her own homegrown cafe and that's a wrap on our floofy gunslinger if you enjoyed please leave a like and or comment to help out with the algorithms also join the discord follow me on twitter and on twitch i stream four days a week finally i'd like to thank all my patrons especially jared breland andreas hansen captain hobo and nt luck for all their support our royal girl kasumi is up next so until next time guys take care see ya you

Channel: LadyVirgilia

Views: 31,331

Keywords: Haru Okumura, haru okumura analysis, persona 5 royal, p5r, persona 5, haru character analysis, haru psychology, haru sociocultural context, haru okumura character study, persona 5 character analysis, haru persona 5 royal, persona 5 haru, persona 5 japanese context, persona 5 society, ladyvirgilia, persona 5 analysis, persona 5 royal analysis, haru okumura persona 5, mukoyoshi

Id: nM9LM43uHh0

Length: 19min 53sec (1193 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 07 2021