Alien Rice; A Novel. Read Online Free PDF Page B

our work."
    Alice was disgusted. Cutthroat competition among rival trading firms in London was bad enough, but why should Saburo and the other men have to go so far as using games of mahjong to compete with or spy on their rivals? Alice also reflected that there was no private life, strictly speaking, for the Japanese worker. Everything was devoted to and sacrificed for the sake of the company he worked for. His work was part and parcel of his life, and there was no clear line of demarcation between his work and his rest. His home was, to all intents and purposes, merely the place he went to sleep at night and possibly to procreate. It was definitely not the home as Westerners understood the term, where one relaxed and enjoyed family life.
    Yet it was remarkable that even Saburo took such an anomalous situation for granted, or was it a normal thing with him? The Japanese worker sought enjoyment outside of his home, and he appeared to be happy and contented.
    Ambassador and Mme. Soga were giving a huge reception in the embassy residence in Kensington on April 29th. It was an annual affair celebrating the birthday of the Emperor of Japan, to which nearly one thousand people were invited; members of the diplomatic corps, high British government officials and members of the Japanese community.
    That year Mr. and Mrs. Saburo Tanaka received an invitation for the first time, presumably because Mrs. Tanaka was a British woman. From the Tozai Trading Company only Mr. Takahashi, the manager, and Mr. Iida, his deputy, together with their wives, were invited. Other leading Japanese firms were similarly represented.
    However, there were many other Japanese present; in fact almost one-third of the guests were Japanese and most Japanese ladies wore colorful kimonos which lent a note of gaiety to the affair. Almost all the Japanese ladies were gathered in one section of the hall, talking and chatting among themselves. As for the Japanese men-folk, they also kept to themselves and few ventured to mix with foreign guests. As a matter of fact, the entire Japanese community was conspicuous in its self-imposed isolation from the British guests.
    "Why do the Japanese keep to themselves like that?" Alice asked Saburo.
    "Well, the Japanese don't speak English well enough, especially women. Moreover, we don't know many of the British people who are assembled here today."
    "But why do Japanese men segregate themselves completely from their women?"
    "We are always like that, you know. Our interests are not identical, and topics for conversation are strictly limited. We men talk about mahjong, golf scores and company matters, while the fairer sex are interested in their dress and in household affairs."
    Saburo and Alice were still watching this curious spectacle of the Japanese assembly when an elderly British lady came and introduced herself.
    "I am Margaret Downes. I was formerly married to Tagawa, who was London manager of Tozai Trading before the war. Perhaps you have heard about me."
    "Yes, indeed. You now live in England, don't you?" both Saburo and Alice replied, almost in unison.
    "I hear you were married a year or two ago in London. I've been wanting to meet you," the former Mrs. Tagawa said, turning toward Alice.
    "I lived in Japan after Tagawa left London but I had to go through terrible experiences, both before and during the war. While in London I found the Japanese people very charming, kind and generous. But when I got to Japan it was a different story. And then the war came. I was followed, questioned and searched all the time by the military police. I told them I was a Japanese businessman's wife and I had even acquired Japanese citizenship papers. But they never believed me. You have no idea how terrible antiforeignism was in the years before the war. I shudder to think of it now.
    "You know the Japanese always suffer from an inferiority complex and their repressed feelings sometimes erupt like a volcano in the form of xenophobia.