While the relationships between the Japanese and American citizens in novel are seemingly placid, because of their proximity to each other, Guterson contends that miscegenation is ultimately unattainable due to the cultural biases that keep both races apart. .
The unwritten laws that dictate the relationship between the Japanese and the "hakujin" (58), or white islanders, provide a first example of how preconceived notions separate the two communities. As "twenty-four islanders of Japanese ancestry" sit in the rear seats of the courtroom, having "no law compelled them to take only these rear seats" (57), Guterson illustrates how the American sentiment of the Japanese as second-class citizens creates tension and division. Cultural biases like those of fisherman Dale Middleton, who states that Japanese "all look alike. Never could tell them suckers apart" (32), portray how the American community is intrinsically driven by racist feelings; Japanese and Americans belong to different races, which cannot ultimately mix. This stament also highlights how racial tension not only derives from cultural biases, but also from the fact that both races have never invested any time in getting to know each other as individuals.
As Mrs. Shigemura demonstrates, however, the Japanese have a hand in maintaining division through cultural biases as well. She tells Hatsue to avoid white men, claiming that they "carry in their hearts a secret lust for pure young Japanese girls" (64). We see that from a young age Hatsue has been indoctrinated to distrust the whites as much as the whites distrust the Japanese: "With the all the seriousness of a fortune teller, she predicted that white men would desire Hatsue" (64). Yet much like a fortuneteller, Mrs. Shigemura's claims and predictions about white men and their distorted sex drives are based on racial prejudices rather than actual facts. She seems to be knowledgeable about white men and their relationships, though she has never experienced one.