Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

On the weekend, Henry walks past the old Nippon Kan Theater, which was abandoned years ago and has now been remodeled. In Chinatown he meets Marty for lunch. Marty can tell that something is bothering Henry and questions him, but Henry is vague. He mentions his plan to stop by the Panama Hotel but doesn’t share the real reason. Henry realizes that his son must regard him as reliable and, therefore, boring and lacking spontaneity. Henry turns the tables and asks Marty what is bothering him, and Marty clams up. Henry reflects that he never could talk to his own father and now he seems unable to talk to his own son. This was Ethel’s wish when she learned that she was dying: that somehow her passing would bring father and son closer together.

Henry visits Ethel’s grave—something he promised to do weekly and is now doing for only the second time. He talks to her about Marty and leaves behind flowers and a quarter, one of the quarters passed out with a piece of candy as part of a Chinese burial tradition at her funeral. On his way out of the cemetery, Henry tips his hat at a war memorial for Japanese Americans.

Back in 1942, Henry has breakfast with his parents before school on a Monday morning. He is not filled with the familiar dread of school that he has experienced since he was enrolled in Rainier Elementary, since now he looks forward to working with Keiko during lunch. He has not told his parents of the insults and bullying he endures at the hands of his Caucasian classmates or about meeting Keiko.

As he and Keiko walk home from school, she tells him that she asked her mother the meaning of the Japanese phrase he said to her over the weekend and smiles at him. They look for Sheldon at his regular corner and, when he isn’t there, they make plans to visit the Black Elks Club to hear him play. Henry isn’t sure how they’ll get into the club; they aren’t African American, and besides, they are too young. He walks Keiko to her apartment building, wondering at the close relationship between some Japanese family members, since he can’t imagine being close to his own parents.

When Henry sees Keiko that night at the Black Elks Club, he tells her in English that she looks beautiful. Because a sign warns them that minors are not allowed after six, they sneak around to the back entrance and listen outside the door. An older black man appears, but instead of chasing them off, he makes a deal: If they go to a pharmacy to pick up an order for him, they can come into the club. Keiko and Henry feel important picking up the alcohol and hand-delivering it for him, and they are shocked when they later see the same man take the stage. They’ve been talking to the great Oscar Holden all along.

Henry, transported by the music, notices that he is the only Chinese boy in a crowd of mostly black patrons, interspersed with a few Japanese faces, including Keiko’s former English teacher. They see Sheldon before he is about to play the next set, but Henry and Keiko have to leave. Their exit from the club, however, coincides with the arrival of the FBI. Henry is terrified that his small part in an illegal bootlegging enterprise might be discovered, but the FBI agents don’t seem to care about the alcohol. Instead, they round up the Japanese patrons and arrest them. Henry and Keiko themselves are almost arrested, but Henry shows his “I am Chinese” button and Oscar vouches for them. The Japanese patrons have been arrested for collaboration with the enemy. Keiko, disappointed in Henry, reminds him that he is Chinese, but she is an American.