Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

by Kim Stanley Robinson

Hiroko was an enigma to Maya. Aloof and serious, she always seemed absorbed in her work, and her team tended always to be around her, as if she was the queen of a realm that had nothing to do with the rest of the ship.

Why does the book ascribe this kind of personality to the only asian character? I wish we could have had a chapter from her point of view!