The fairytale house is an example of Tanizaki criticizing Japan as the decay of their relationship and surroundings were brought upon themselves by too whole heartedly following the example of the West. Joji is deceived by the Naomi and is made a fool. Tanizaki provides a harsh social commentary about Japan as a fool as the relationship between the United States and Japan suffered in the 1920s. Joji made his decision on marriage based off of the fact that Naomi was the closest to a Western he could ever marry: “I married Naomi, a Japanese woman with a Western flavor…A Japanese should marry a Japanese, I concluded, and Naomi came the closest to meeting my needs” (67). This is a criticism of Japan as there was a fuel towards modernization and
