what is Kissy Suzukis problem?

caractacus potts

one of the nicest things about You Only Live Twice is the chapter where Bond goes diving with Kissy while waiting for the full moon
all the tension hes been carrying since chapter 1, indeed since the end of CR, suddenly disappears as he finds for himself a simple life where he doesnt have to kill or watch innocents die ever again - sort of like the vague goal of a chicken farm he thinks of in the beginning, except it involves diving and naked women which is more his thing
in fact the whole book is leading up to that point, where he can put his dirty, dangerous life behind him once and for all, and theres the local islands folks prophecy to add to the inevitability of it all, and the earlier scene where Tiger challenges Bond to pray in a temple without drawing atention to himself as a gaijin (a great test for a spy, but also a foreshadowing that Bond is about to diappear into this Eastern lifestyle hes been mocking up til this point)

but, elegance of the ending aside, something really bothers me about it
Kissy Suzuki is acting very selfishly, hiding the identity of Bond from the outside world and deliberately not helping him to recover his own memory
its true that she sensed his moment of happiness when they were out diving, she does seem to be delivering on a wish he himself had, but I dont think shes acting in his best interest, and she lies to the authorities
but whats worse is when he finally sees the word "Vladisvostock" and sets out on his journey
this obviously would have been the right moment to tell him the truth, or give him a more responsible clue to his real identity
instead she keeps her mouth shut, and lets him go to Russia where he will be captured by the KGB and brainwashed, or killed for all she knows, something she should have anticipated given Bond is still braindamaged and vulnerable at this point
so shes sending him off to an entirely avoidable disaster just so she wont have to admit to her lies, she puts M's life at risk, and her actions lead to Bond giving up state secrets to the KGB
nice going away gift for her lover

which makes me ask: what exactly is Kissy Suzukis problem?

Napoleon Plural

Well Mr Potts, you've reminded me of the rather dodgy unsavoury soft-porn style aspect of Fleming's novels, in particular the ending to YOLT. Kissy is really a jealous little madam, so long as she's getting sex she don't much care for anyone else. I'm reminded of her seduction of an uninterested Bond, where she secures an aphrodisiac by watching a frog being tortured till it sweats, then feeding it to Bond 'while she watched surreptitiously'. Then the coy/overt 'let's shag' scene afterwards... It's all a bit sly and slinkily soft porn and as a kid I was aware of the tone as well as being guility turned on by it.

I think she doesn't want to let Bond on to the fact that she knew who he was all along, he might get a little teed off.

superado

I'm no shrink, but I tend to always look at Fleming's state of mind when trying to figure out what's going on. I think that Kissy's action is largely an extension of Fleming's male fantasy and conceit (think of how he wrote about Vivien's point of view in TSWLM, and the premise he used for that novel) of being wanted so much by the opposite sex that even a relatively innocent girl like Kissy would compromise honesty/integrity and basic ethics.

Though it did not happen with every woman in the novels, it was pretty frequent how women internally "gave in" to their attraction to Bond. The movies nicely translated this with the "man every woman wants" theme being constantly reinforced by the lustful, head to toe (and buttocks?) stares that Bond always get. The male conceit fantasy stated above, IMO, was most effectively drawn out by Austin Powers, who women found irresistible in spite of himself, spectacles, crooked teeth and all.