Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Marty, Henry and Ethel’s son, is a chemistry major at Seattle University. Henry’s life savings, drained by Ethel’s medical bills, caused him to take out a second mortgage on their home to finance Marty’s education. Henry has not told Marty about this.

Marty shows Henry his semester report card—a 4.0. He jokes that maybe someday he can put his father through college. Henry had been attending college but dropped out when he received a job at Boeing. Henry, feeling nostalgic since his journey past the Panama Hotel, has been looking through old school yearbooks. His son’s joking brings him back to a painful time in his own past.

Henry is 12 years old when his parents ask him to stop speaking Chinese at home and at school. However, Henry’s parents don’t speak English, so this language barrier essentially puts a stop to their communication. Due to the political situation since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Henry’s father makes him wear a button that says “I am Chinese.” Henry’s father’s hatred of the Japanese is not related solely to Pearl Harbor but also to ongoing Japanese attacks on the Chinese mainland since the 1930s.

Henry no longer attends the Chinese school close to his house, which has earned him the derision of his former Chinese classmates. On his long walk to Rainier Elementary, where he has been accepted as a scholarship student, Henry passes Sheldon, an African American jazz saxophonist, and gives Sheldon his lunch. It is part of Henry’s daily ritual; if he were to appear at school with his lunch, it would be stolen by Chaz Preston, a schoolyard bully. Besides, Henry’s job as a scholarship student is to work in the school cafeteria alongside the formidable Mrs. Beatty, and he can often sneak a can of food.

As Henry arrives at school, two boys (Chaz Preston and Denny Brown) are raising the flag. They call him Tojo (a reference to Japan’s prime minister) and a “Jap,” and insist that he salute the American flag. Henry reflects that his teacher, Miss Walker, has noticed these kinds of taunts in the past but not stopped the boys from making them. Chaz notices Henry’s “I am Chinese” button and mocks him for it.

One day there is a new girl working in the school cafeteria, another person attending Rainier Elementary on scholarship. She introduces herself as Keiko Okabe, and Henry recognizes that she is Japanese. His father has been waging a war in Chinatown against the Japanese by raising funds to help in the fight against Japan. Keiko, perhaps guessing the reason for his discomfort with her, tells him she is an American.

They serve food together, ignoring the racist comments and slant-eye gestures from other students. Afterward, they eat lunch together and Henry is pleased to have company.

After school, Henry and Keiko complete more chores as part of their scholarship requirement before walking home together. One day, Chaz is waiting for them and attempts to start a fight. Mrs. Beatty intervenes and sends Chaz on his way, but not before he rips the “I am Chinese” button from Henry’s shirt.

As they walk, Henry tells Keiko that he was born in Seattle, but like other Chinese boys, he had planned to return to China to study in Canton. Those plans, however, have been put on hold because of the war. Approaching Japantown, they notice that the area is being transformed: American flags fly in front of businesses, and the streets bear new English names.

On Saturdays, Henry gives up the pleasure of watching Super-Man cartoons to indulge in his favorite thing: jazz. He heads over to Sheldon’s corner and listens to his friend play. During a break in sets, Sheldon tells Henry that he has joined a union of local black musicians and that he has booked a gig at the famous Black Elks Club. Sheldon teases Henry about Keiko and teaches him a Japanese phrase to say to her, which translates to “How are you today, beautiful.” Henry repeats the phrase to himself as he walks along and decides to head into Japantown to find her.

And he does find her—or at least, a photograph of her on display in the window of a photography studio. The photographer tells him to look for Keiko in a park near Nippon Kan Hall, a kabuki theater. Henry gets lost in a crowd of music and dancing and almost forgets he is looking for Keiko. Then suddenly she is waving for him on the hillside, a sketchbook in hand. Henry tells her the Japanese line he has been rehearsing, but Keiko confesses she doesn’t speak any Japanese. When he looks through her sketchbook, he realizes that the last sketch is of him. Keiko had been watching him from the hillside all along.