November 24, 2014
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Massan Plot Summary - Week 9
#49 Massan finally decides to ask Kamoi for a job, but when he goes to the office, he finds that things have changed. The Taiyo Wine nude poster has attracted attention and the product is selling well. Kamoi tells Massan to sample the newest drink in the product lineup, "Wikky." Massan is horrified to taste whiskey diluted with fizzy water. Sacrilege! You just don't do that! No way he is going to work for that heretic Kamoi. Ellie tells Massan that he has the skill and Kamoi has the money. There is no where else he can get a decent job with any hope of making whiskey. He declares that he doesn't want to hear any more about it, so Ellie shares her concerns with the derision heaping neighborhood as Massan slinks out the door to his dish washing job at the only restaurant in town. (I don't even want to think about what would happen if DH caught me gossiping with the neighbors about his business. That is also one of those things you just don't do!)
#50 Ellie thinks of ways to get Massan and Kamoi together. Massan is peeling potatoes at the Only Restaurant in Town to the tune of the Sumiyoshi Brewery folks singing the praises of the ever popular Taiyo Wine. Times are tough at Sumiyoshi, and they would certainly jump at a chance to work for Kamoi. Ellie is summoned by Kamoi to interpret at a meeting with a Mr. Andrews, who has been scouring the Scottish countryside for anyone willing to come to Japan to make whiskey, but to no avail. It is absurd to even consider making decent whiskey in Japan, because Japan is so far behind the West. Ellie becomes angry that Andrews disses Japan, and Kanoi throws in his two yen and says that Andrews certainly knows very little about Japanese culture. Goodbye, Mr. Andrews, we have no further need of your assistance. On his way out, Andrews says that he remembers a Japanese who came to Scotland and poured his heart and soul into learning about whiskey, if Kamoi is serious, that is the man he should look for, because he is the only one who could do it. Hmmmm... and that would be? Andrews departs and Ellie asks Kamoi to give Massan another chance. She tells Massan to go see Kamoi again, but Massan is not interested in joining forces with a brewer of blasphemous Wikki. Ellie insists that he and Kamoi really need each other. You can do it, Massan! ...OK, he'll give it another try.
#51 Nothing happened today. Kamoi wants to make whiskey. Massan wants to make whiskey, but (just like the plot of this story) continues to stall and go nowhere fast. Wonder woman Ellie talks both of them into meeting at a fancy restaurant. She has paid for the dinner with her money earned working as a maid in MIL's place in Hiroshima. Massan starts talking to Kamoi about the weather. All Japanese conversations begin with a comment on atmospheric conditions, but please, can't we just get these two guys together and get on with the story already? I hear that this drama has fallen in the ratings.
#52 For Pete's sake, there was plenty of action today, but it doesn't get much dumber. Massan gets past the weather report and asks Kamoi why he is making carbonated Wikki. Kamoi wants to break in the Japanese tastebuds a bit at a time since they may not be ready for the real MacCoy. He also wants to sell enough Wikki to invest the earnings into making real whiskey. Kamoi has been in the potables business since he was put out to work at fourteen, and his mother always encouraged him to try out new ideas. He is now seriously ready to surprise the world by making Japanese whiskey, and they say, "Cheers!" over a cup from the bottle of spirits that Massan tenderly brought back from Scotland. Yes, it is the miracle bottle that never empties. Ah, an inspiring soundtrack plays and all of the neighbors (WHY??) join Ellie in eavesdropping on the other side of the paper fusuma door. By the way, says businessman Kamoi, the peat flavor of authentic Scotch whiskey is too strong for the Japanese palate. Would Massan mind toning it down a bit? Blasphemy and sacrilege, says artist Massan. Oil and water just don't mix. Ellie and the nosy neighbors are listening so hard that the paper door falls over and dumps them all into the midst of the heated discussion. (I have been told that this is typical Osaka humor.) Kamoi goes away mad. Cut to the Only Restaurant in Town where everyone is gossiping about the failed negotiations. They are also admiring the nude Taiyo Wine poster on the wall, and the heretofore unnoticed actual model who has just happened to stop in for lunch gets up and on her way out casts her spell over all the male members of the gossip brigade. (More comic relief?) Later, Ellie and Massan sit down glumly to a doggy bag of uneaten delicacies from the failed dinner. Massan is disgusted because Kamoi doesn't get it. Ellie is disgusted because Massan doesn't get it. The rent lady is disgusted because she doesn't get the money. Now the landlord Nonomura wants to see them. Will they be out on the street tomorrow? No, Massan is offered a job teaching science for a very nice salary.
#53 So Massan has been offered a dream job as a teacher. Everyone thinks that he should just take the job so he can support his household in style. Life is all about money! You can't eat dreams! Take the job already!! (But what about whiskey?) Cut to Kamoi's office. He is still looking for someone who knows the science of whiskey, and yet another person recommends "that fellow who went to Scotland." Now he is your man! Masaharu Kaneyama is his name! Kamoi contemplates hiring Massan. Massan contemplates taking the dream job. Ellie contemplates who knows what. Massan comes home and announces that he will teach science. Ellie, rather than being happy that there will be a roof over her head, food on the table and an occasional frock to don, has a hissy fit. What about whiskey? Ellie is furious that he is giving up. Kamoi shows up just in time with a humongous pile of money, and says that he was going to pay it to a Scotsman, but he will give it to Massan instead. "You are the only one who can do it! I need you!" Leaving the pile of money on the table, (Is this wise in this nosy neighborhood?) Kamoi takes the couple to a secret laboratory where he has been trying to make whiskey himself. This is where the stuff for the Wikki has been produced. Massan is so inspired that he and Kamoi FINALLY shake hands.
The real Massan actually did work a few years as a teacher to put a cushion of time between quitting his original brewery and working for the Torii Brewery to avoid the appearance of having been head hunted by Torii. He had an honorable sense of obligation to his first brewery and did not want to appear ungentlemanly by going to work for Torii immediately. Rita also worked teaching English at the same school. I hope that these two fine folks are not turning over in their graves.
#54 Massan and Ellie catch a train for Hiroshima to make an announcement. MIL assumes that the big news is that they have finally seen the light, and that Ellie is returning to Scotland and Massan is coming back to take over the family business. MIL is so overjoyed that she even has Ellie's tea served first, as to an honored guest (not family). No, Ellie is staying and Massan has a JOB making whiskey at Kamoi's company. Enter ten boxes of fancy oranges and a message of greeting from Kamoi to Massan's family. Massan tells MIL how hard Ellie worked to get him hired by Kamoi and how important his Dream of Whiskey is. MIL remains entrenched in her resolve not to recognize Ellie as Massan's wife, but sorrows over the fact that Ellie was not born in Japan, which is a backhanded compliment, I suppose. It is MIL's loss. Why do some people have to tear their family apart with their own hands? On their way out, Massan tells MIL that Ellie is the best wife that a man could ever hope for, and MIL smacks him lightly on the head like she probably did when he was small. Toshio gives Ellie a bottle of sake, telling her to get acquainted with the subtleties of the brew. He gets a mortifying hug. Ellie and Massan head back to Hiroshima singing.
The Water is Wide
I Cannot get over
Nor have I Wings
With which too fly
O-o-h give me a boat
That can carry Two
We both shall Row
My friend and I
