Character Analysis
The Dreamiest Businessman in Japan
Oh, the Chairman! He's the object of Sayuri's love, a man who is nice to her as a girl—giving her a bit of spare change and saying, "We none of us find as much kindness in this world as we should" (9.48)—and eventually marries her. Ah, romance.
But wait just a minute. The Chairman meets Sayuri when he's forty-five years old and she is pre-pubescent. He asks Mameha to train her to be a geisha so that he may someday purchase her and sleep with her. Like many things in this book, within the context of the book, it's romantic. Out of context, it's creepy. The Chairman is like those creepy guys who put timers online counting down the days for underage female actors to turn eighteen.
Why is this creepy old man romantic to Sayuri? What makes her obsess over him, sniff his handkerchief, and think, "Nothing in life mattered more to me than pleasing him" (12.91)? It isn't creepy to her, in context. As a geisha, she is conditioned to serve men. A key moment to understanding Sayuri's feelings is when she mistakes the Chairman for Mr. Tanaka, the man who sold her as a geisha.
Mr. Tanaka got Sayuri into the business of being a geisha, and she hopes the Chairman will provide her with a way out.
Also, the Chairman isn't 100% creepy. (Maybe more like 98%.) In a very small way, he understands what it is like to be a geisha. He says, "I owe Nobu a debt I can never repay" (18.6). Geisha and debt go hand-in-hand, and both the Chairman and Sayuri understand what it's like to put their own desires aside in order to pay off a debt.