Near the end of the novel, Sayuri briefly references Japan’s surrender to the United States in 1945 and the American occupation of the country that lasted until the early 1950s. During World War Two, the Japanese government placed harsh restrictions on its civilians, rationing food and closing down all the geisha districts in Japan. Despite local resistance against the Japanese occupation, Japan held onto Manchuria until the end of World War Two. In 1931, Japan invaded and annexed Manchuria, a region in northeast China. Sayuri also makes passing mention of Japan’s militaristic expansion into neighboring countries. The lasting impact of ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ is marred with criticism.Right after the novel was published in 1997, Mineko Iwasaki sued Arthur Golden for a violation of confidentiality. Sayuri, however, does not experience the effects of the Depression, since she works as a prominent geisha serving the wealthy elites of Japanese society. During the 1930s, a global economic depression affected almost every developed country in the world, including Japan. While the novel makes infrequent mention of world historical events, the majority of the plot occurs from the beginning of the Great Depression in Japan to the end of World War Two. Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of nuance and vivid metaphor, of memorable characters rendered with humor and pathos. Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997.
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