This westernization is something that would lead to Ryuji's eventual downfall. In “Waves,” Churiko, a more Western-thinking college-educated girl, is the character who creates the problems that need to be overcome. It seems that Mishima is trying to convey to readers that Westernization is not a good thing for Japan. In real life, we know that Mishima thought this was true. He would commit ritual suicide for his beliefs about the emperor. The sea is obviously of central importance in both novels. Surprisingly, however, the two novels do not share the same vision of the ever-evolving force. In “Sailor,” Ryuji describes the sea as “another kind of prison.”(16)” In “Waves,” Shinji, the main character, feels surprisingly free when he ventures out to sea for the first time: “'I'm free! ' he cried in his heart. This was the first time he realized that such strange freedom as this could exist.(150)” Another contrast between the two books concerns the ending. In “Sailor,” it is the realization of love that causes the death of Ryuji, the heroic sailor. When Ryuji finds Fusako he stops his work as a seaman