fifteen miles southwest of Tokyo. The rent was a nominal 1,500 yen a month, but Saburo had to spend an hour and a half by bus and train to get to Tokyo. He chose Yokohama mainly because it was a little less crowded than Tokyo. Since Alice was expecting a baby within four months, she needed a quieter place. Also the choice was due in part to the fact that there was a sizable foreign colony there more concentrated than that in Tokyo, and Saburo had hoped that his wife would find some friends and would not be too lonely.
The Tanaka apartment was one of fifty standard twenty-mat affairs, * housed in one big, drab-looking block, a three-story concrete structure. Each apartment was partitioned into two rooms, plus a tiny kitchen and bath room. The ceiling was so low that Alice nearly bumped her head at the entrance. The apartment was scantily furnished with the minimum chairs and tables, which, however, were so undersized that Alice felt as if she were now in Gulliver's Lilliput.
There was a tiny strip of open ground, unkempt and covered with weeds, in front of each block of apartments. All over the apartment block the tenants hung their bedding in the sun, drying laundry on small balconies, presenting a scene of indescribable disorder. Alice could not hide her disillusionment.
"Saburo, do all the company people live in a place like this? What sort of a house has Mr. Takahashi got in Tokyo?" Alice asked.
"I've never been to his house but I understand that Mr. Takahashi used to live in a company house in the outskirts of Tokyo. Because of wartime destruction the housing situation in Japan is still very difficult, you know," Saburo replied.
"Is the company house large?" Alice asked with curiosity, remembering Manager Takahashi's luxurious flat in West Kensington.
"No, the house could not be very pretentious. It is one of those small Japanese houses with a minuscule garden."
As in London, Saburo spent most of his time away from home, both during the week and on weekends. He usually left at 7:30 A.M. and seldom came home before midnight. Now Saburo often came home quite intoxicated, with his breath smelling of sake.
"My section now has to entertain very many clients. Personal relations are very important in Japan and no business can be done without first hosting a dinner party. We also have to entertain government officials."
"Where do you entertain them?" Alice asked.
"In a Japanese-style tea house, as a rule."
Saburo did not go into details, but what happened was that after a normal meal in a restaurant or tea house, the participants, both hosts and guests, repaired to one of the bar and social club combinations found in profusion in the narrow lanes behind the Ginza, Tokyo's main thoroughfare. There they sipped sake and drank imported whisky and brandy and other fancy foreign drinks in the company of young waitresses and hostesses. Such a party would go on almost endlessly. After leaving one night club they would visit another club of their own patronage and then still another. This continuous drinking stint was a popular form of expense-account entertaining.
One evening Saburo was drinking in a bar where he used to go, surrounded by a few hostesses. One of the waitresses spoke to him.
"Tanaka-san, you don't seem to enjoy yourself here very much. Is anything wrong?"
"Well, things tend to bother me lately."
"That's too bad. I hear your wife is a Westerner, and they say that Western women are much more taxing physically and otherwise. You seem to be lacking the spunk you used to have. Do you feel it yourself?" The girl was half teasing.
"I don't know," he said vacuously.
In the Tozai staff housing compound, privacy was hard to maintain. Since each apartment was so small and all were built so closely together, everyone was subject to the prying eyes of all around him and was constantly exposed to the comment of others.
Soon after the Tanakas moved in, a swarm of neighboring children started to peep through the windows.
The Tanaka apartment was one of fifty standard twenty-mat affairs, * housed in one big, drab-looking block, a three-story concrete structure. Each apartment was partitioned into two rooms, plus a tiny kitchen and bath room. The ceiling was so low that Alice nearly bumped her head at the entrance. The apartment was scantily furnished with the minimum chairs and tables, which, however, were so undersized that Alice felt as if she were now in Gulliver's Lilliput.
There was a tiny strip of open ground, unkempt and covered with weeds, in front of each block of apartments. All over the apartment block the tenants hung their bedding in the sun, drying laundry on small balconies, presenting a scene of indescribable disorder. Alice could not hide her disillusionment.
"Saburo, do all the company people live in a place like this? What sort of a house has Mr. Takahashi got in Tokyo?" Alice asked.
"I've never been to his house but I understand that Mr. Takahashi used to live in a company house in the outskirts of Tokyo. Because of wartime destruction the housing situation in Japan is still very difficult, you know," Saburo replied.
"Is the company house large?" Alice asked with curiosity, remembering Manager Takahashi's luxurious flat in West Kensington.
"No, the house could not be very pretentious. It is one of those small Japanese houses with a minuscule garden."
As in London, Saburo spent most of his time away from home, both during the week and on weekends. He usually left at 7:30 A.M. and seldom came home before midnight. Now Saburo often came home quite intoxicated, with his breath smelling of sake.
"My section now has to entertain very many clients. Personal relations are very important in Japan and no business can be done without first hosting a dinner party. We also have to entertain government officials."
"Where do you entertain them?" Alice asked.
"In a Japanese-style tea house, as a rule."
Saburo did not go into details, but what happened was that after a normal meal in a restaurant or tea house, the participants, both hosts and guests, repaired to one of the bar and social club combinations found in profusion in the narrow lanes behind the Ginza, Tokyo's main thoroughfare. There they sipped sake and drank imported whisky and brandy and other fancy foreign drinks in the company of young waitresses and hostesses. Such a party would go on almost endlessly. After leaving one night club they would visit another club of their own patronage and then still another. This continuous drinking stint was a popular form of expense-account entertaining.
One evening Saburo was drinking in a bar where he used to go, surrounded by a few hostesses. One of the waitresses spoke to him.
"Tanaka-san, you don't seem to enjoy yourself here very much. Is anything wrong?"
"Well, things tend to bother me lately."
"That's too bad. I hear your wife is a Westerner, and they say that Western women are much more taxing physically and otherwise. You seem to be lacking the spunk you used to have. Do you feel it yourself?" The girl was half teasing.
"I don't know," he said vacuously.
In the Tozai staff housing compound, privacy was hard to maintain. Since each apartment was so small and all were built so closely together, everyone was subject to the prying eyes of all around him and was constantly exposed to the comment of others.
Soon after the Tanakas moved in, a swarm of neighboring children started to peep through the windows.
Similar Books
