alone.”
“Not even once.”
Shan breathes in and out again heavily. “Okay. There is one time when I go to her apartment.”
We settle back. It is good to hear the truth.
“I lend Dominique a magazine. And I am reading Maxim magazine, the section where readers can send in jokes to get $500. And I remember reading the same joke in an old issue. So I call up Dominique to get the magazine back.”
Tucker cuts in. “So you are reading Maxim magazine and you see a joke repeated. So this is important, this is just a outrage calling out to the heavens for redress that you must, you simply must go confirm this injustice by going to get the magazine back from Dominique.”
The comment flies over Shan's head, but I exchange a quick glance of mirth with Tucker.
“Yes, but this is only time. And I never bring knife.”
“Have you ever kissed Dominique, Shan?”
“No, never.”
Apparently so much time has passed and the experience of a Japanese jail has been so traumatic, that Shan doesn't even remember any more that he kissed Dominique in my presence. But he is apparently so involved in his lie, the myth that he doesn't even know Dominique all that well, that he responds automatically and with a straight face. Now it's my turn to sigh.
“Well, Shan, you know what? We'll see what we can do. But you do have to get your own place and find your own job. The ideal is for you to return to your studies, but if Waseda has kicked you out, that's that. Have you considered transferring to a Chinese university?”
“No. That is impossible. I will not go back to China .”
“Okay. But then if you would rather be a working person here rather than a university student in China , I think you have to commit to finding work commensurate with a high school degree. You have to work in a restaurant or something; I'm sure I know somebody who can help you.”
Suddenly tears are brimming in Shan's eyes. “How did this happen, Litchie? I was getting top grades in Waseda University . I always getting top marks.”
I do sympathize. “I don't know. I almost feel like I am missing one important piece, that it's staring me right in front of my eyes. But I don't have unlimited resources, Shan. Money comes from somewhere.”
Tucker agrees to help Shan with his one final request—to get a letter sent out to some British NGO that Shan found on the Internet—a non-profit committed to helping reform the Japanese legal system. It doesn't sound promising, but we're certainly not going to get that involved in Shan's problems—not with him lying through his teeth at people who gave him a place to stay, and not after we've seen some documents the Embassy has dug up about Shan stealing from his employer and installing illegal-access software on Waseda lab computers. He seems really rough-edged; really uncouth. And he did have a knife, somebody remembers—some U.S. Marine combat knife that he purchased on the Internet. God knows where it went.
Shan gets out of jail—his first stint—roughly in May or June. Things now start to get far more complicated than before Shan does clearly go to jail, but given the efficiency with which everything is run in the country, as well as the politics of Sino-Japanese politics, it’s hard to imagine that he is actually tortured (as he claims) or that he endures prison violence in a country known for its ritualized displays of form rather than street-level thuggery. What’s clear is that from the beginning point, it’s going to be a battle of unequals. Shan is one simple half-coolie Chinese scholarship student; Commissioner Charles Henry Monroe LeFauve is the senior trade commissioner in the Division of International Trade, United States Embassy in Tokyo . The outcome is never in doubt—it's just things are going to be a little complex.
Fresh out of jail, head shaven, an ugly scar on his
“Not even once.”
Shan breathes in and out again heavily. “Okay. There is one time when I go to her apartment.”
We settle back. It is good to hear the truth.
“I lend Dominique a magazine. And I am reading Maxim magazine, the section where readers can send in jokes to get $500. And I remember reading the same joke in an old issue. So I call up Dominique to get the magazine back.”
Tucker cuts in. “So you are reading Maxim magazine and you see a joke repeated. So this is important, this is just a outrage calling out to the heavens for redress that you must, you simply must go confirm this injustice by going to get the magazine back from Dominique.”
The comment flies over Shan's head, but I exchange a quick glance of mirth with Tucker.
“Yes, but this is only time. And I never bring knife.”
“Have you ever kissed Dominique, Shan?”
“No, never.”
Apparently so much time has passed and the experience of a Japanese jail has been so traumatic, that Shan doesn't even remember any more that he kissed Dominique in my presence. But he is apparently so involved in his lie, the myth that he doesn't even know Dominique all that well, that he responds automatically and with a straight face. Now it's my turn to sigh.
“Well, Shan, you know what? We'll see what we can do. But you do have to get your own place and find your own job. The ideal is for you to return to your studies, but if Waseda has kicked you out, that's that. Have you considered transferring to a Chinese university?”
“No. That is impossible. I will not go back to China .”
“Okay. But then if you would rather be a working person here rather than a university student in China , I think you have to commit to finding work commensurate with a high school degree. You have to work in a restaurant or something; I'm sure I know somebody who can help you.”
Suddenly tears are brimming in Shan's eyes. “How did this happen, Litchie? I was getting top grades in Waseda University . I always getting top marks.”
I do sympathize. “I don't know. I almost feel like I am missing one important piece, that it's staring me right in front of my eyes. But I don't have unlimited resources, Shan. Money comes from somewhere.”
Tucker agrees to help Shan with his one final request—to get a letter sent out to some British NGO that Shan found on the Internet—a non-profit committed to helping reform the Japanese legal system. It doesn't sound promising, but we're certainly not going to get that involved in Shan's problems—not with him lying through his teeth at people who gave him a place to stay, and not after we've seen some documents the Embassy has dug up about Shan stealing from his employer and installing illegal-access software on Waseda lab computers. He seems really rough-edged; really uncouth. And he did have a knife, somebody remembers—some U.S. Marine combat knife that he purchased on the Internet. God knows where it went.
Shan gets out of jail—his first stint—roughly in May or June. Things now start to get far more complicated than before Shan does clearly go to jail, but given the efficiency with which everything is run in the country, as well as the politics of Sino-Japanese politics, it’s hard to imagine that he is actually tortured (as he claims) or that he endures prison violence in a country known for its ritualized displays of form rather than street-level thuggery. What’s clear is that from the beginning point, it’s going to be a battle of unequals. Shan is one simple half-coolie Chinese scholarship student; Commissioner Charles Henry Monroe LeFauve is the senior trade commissioner in the Division of International Trade, United States Embassy in Tokyo . The outcome is never in doubt—it's just things are going to be a little complex.
Fresh out of jail, head shaven, an ugly scar on his
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