Miyagi leaves Okinawa because he fell in love with Yukie, and didn't want to fight to the death with Sato. He gets to the States, and married another Japanese woman, who died giving birth to his son. He mourns her passing for years in drunken stupors. Then years later, he goes back to Okinawa where he sees Yukie, who says she never married Sato. Miyagi later tells her he should have taken Yukie with him.
Kind of a slap in the face to his ex?
He was trying to do the "honorable" thing, by leaving and allowing his gf/love to save face (and not have to kill his best friend). But, I would've thought that, over the years, Miyagi would have "checked-in" on his gf/love, even if he couldn't have her. Situations often change ... and he may have been able to get together with the love of his life (before marrying the other woman, of course).
Just an opinion ... and I've been known to be wrong ... once or twice ?.
That's really the only (big) problem I have with KK2. But this movie doesn't ret-con too badly from the first, so we can understand that, because of Miyagi's anniversary "celebration" from KK, that he did truly love and mourn his wife. He's just moving on with an old familiar.
shareI think it's actually an interesting insight into Miyagi. He's been portrayed as nothing but wise and disciplined, always in control and never emotionally compromised.
His love for Yuki will always be different to that for his wife and unborn son. You can have many regrets which 'contradict' each other, that doesn't make him a bad guy, merely human and flawed. All his adult life was filled with loss and pain, so to wonder 'what if' is only human.
People often feel guilty about a partner's passing, some times even wondering if they'd still be alive had they not met them. Perhaps Miyagi have thought that had his wife never met him, she'd be alive and well with another man, happy and raising a family. That's a massive amount of guilt to carry.