for Saburo Tanaka but for Alice as well. Saburo had to attend many feasts both in and out of the company, which were called bonen-kai, or parties to see the year out.
"Saburo, what is bonen-kai?" Alice asked. "At the institute today my chief assistant suggested to me that I give a bonen-kai for all the members of my staff."
"It's a time-honored custom. During the month of December numerous parties are held throughout the land, among one's friends and colleagues, with the ostensible purpose of bidding good-bye to the year which is just about to come to an end. This curious custom is due to the fact that Japan has always been a poor and sad country, with occasional disasters and other calamities, such as typhoons and earthquakes. The average Japanese is none too happy a person. He has endured hardships and experienced many unhappy and tragic things during the year. So we try to forget the year and to hope for a better one by getting drunk at these parties."
"Oh, what a strange custom!" Alice exclaimed.
"You should give your staff some money for them to hold a party, but you yourself had better stay away. They won't be able to enjoy themselves if you are in their midst," Saburo advised.
Alice was also surprised to see so many people send gifts at the year's end.
Now she remembered the first time she reluctantly took a present to Director Sasaki's house at her husband's urging. That was soon after her arrival in Japan. In England friends and relatives exchanged gifts at Christmas, but the Japanese practice was most extensive and far-reaching.
Many of her pupils at the institute sent various presents, some quite expensive, and Alice felt sorry for those students who evidently could ill afford it but still brought her gifts. The contractors who built an annex to her school during the year also sent her an expensive silk brocade as a year-end gift. Alice's chief assistant bought her a fancy carton box filled with sweets and candies. And so on down the line. In fact, as the year's end drew near the Tanakas' living room was piled high with all these gift items. Alice felt as though she were a queen whose vassals were piling tributes at her feet. Alice also imagined that the president and directors of the Tozai Trading Company were in similar situations.
CHAPTER
  8
Alice had been so busy with the baby and with the Anglo-Japanese Institute that she had not been to the Union Club for quite some time. One afternoon, however, she suddenly felt like visiting the club, as she had nothing much to do that particular day.
There she saw a familiar figure, a Tom Bowles, said to be an American, who apparently was an old Japan hand and was known to hang round the Bluff area. In other words, Bowles was a sort of leader in the foreign community of Yokohama.
Alice had never spoken to him before; as a matter of fact she was a bit wary of this unsavory character. That afternoon, however, while sitting in the main lounge, their eyes met just by chance. Bowles, a man a little over sixty, wore slightly disheveled clothes of obvious quality in bygone days, with strong preference for the color black, accented by white. His face, almost always red from constant drinking, wore the dissipated look of a gin-soaked colonial on the skids.
"Are you a newcomer, Madame?" the old man asked, starting to talk to Alice.
"Fairly new. I came from England a few years ago."
"How do you find the Japs? Do you have a lot to do with them?"
"Rather," Alice replied.
"I've been here in and out nearly fifty years, all told. was born in Yokohama. My father was a merchant seaman who became a trader here. Yokohama has seen better days. The Bluff used to be such a quiet, beautiful place, all reserved for us. Now the Japs are all over the place, buying land from us and building hideous houses. I've never had much respect for Japs, you know. They are filthy people, pissing in the street and all that."
"Why do you stay in Japan, then?" Alice interrupted.
"Because
"Saburo, what is bonen-kai?" Alice asked. "At the institute today my chief assistant suggested to me that I give a bonen-kai for all the members of my staff."
"It's a time-honored custom. During the month of December numerous parties are held throughout the land, among one's friends and colleagues, with the ostensible purpose of bidding good-bye to the year which is just about to come to an end. This curious custom is due to the fact that Japan has always been a poor and sad country, with occasional disasters and other calamities, such as typhoons and earthquakes. The average Japanese is none too happy a person. He has endured hardships and experienced many unhappy and tragic things during the year. So we try to forget the year and to hope for a better one by getting drunk at these parties."
"Oh, what a strange custom!" Alice exclaimed.
"You should give your staff some money for them to hold a party, but you yourself had better stay away. They won't be able to enjoy themselves if you are in their midst," Saburo advised.
Alice was also surprised to see so many people send gifts at the year's end.
Now she remembered the first time she reluctantly took a present to Director Sasaki's house at her husband's urging. That was soon after her arrival in Japan. In England friends and relatives exchanged gifts at Christmas, but the Japanese practice was most extensive and far-reaching.
Many of her pupils at the institute sent various presents, some quite expensive, and Alice felt sorry for those students who evidently could ill afford it but still brought her gifts. The contractors who built an annex to her school during the year also sent her an expensive silk brocade as a year-end gift. Alice's chief assistant bought her a fancy carton box filled with sweets and candies. And so on down the line. In fact, as the year's end drew near the Tanakas' living room was piled high with all these gift items. Alice felt as though she were a queen whose vassals were piling tributes at her feet. Alice also imagined that the president and directors of the Tozai Trading Company were in similar situations.
CHAPTER
  8
Alice had been so busy with the baby and with the Anglo-Japanese Institute that she had not been to the Union Club for quite some time. One afternoon, however, she suddenly felt like visiting the club, as she had nothing much to do that particular day.
There she saw a familiar figure, a Tom Bowles, said to be an American, who apparently was an old Japan hand and was known to hang round the Bluff area. In other words, Bowles was a sort of leader in the foreign community of Yokohama.
Alice had never spoken to him before; as a matter of fact she was a bit wary of this unsavory character. That afternoon, however, while sitting in the main lounge, their eyes met just by chance. Bowles, a man a little over sixty, wore slightly disheveled clothes of obvious quality in bygone days, with strong preference for the color black, accented by white. His face, almost always red from constant drinking, wore the dissipated look of a gin-soaked colonial on the skids.
"Are you a newcomer, Madame?" the old man asked, starting to talk to Alice.
"Fairly new. I came from England a few years ago."
"How do you find the Japs? Do you have a lot to do with them?"
"Rather," Alice replied.
"I've been here in and out nearly fifty years, all told. was born in Yokohama. My father was a merchant seaman who became a trader here. Yokohama has seen better days. The Bluff used to be such a quiet, beautiful place, all reserved for us. Now the Japs are all over the place, buying land from us and building hideous houses. I've never had much respect for Japs, you know. They are filthy people, pissing in the street and all that."
"Why do you stay in Japan, then?" Alice interrupted.
"Because
Similar Books
