January 27, 2015
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Massan Plot Summary - Week 17
#97 The year is 1933, and Massan goes out to the juice factory every morning to get there first and welcome everyone to work. Ema, who doesn't know that she is adopted, is now in 3rd grade and worries that her hair is not blonde like Ellie's. Her school assignment is to write about her family. Such an assignment can sometimes cause consternation, and should be given with care. Massan is having trouble finding buyers for his apple juice. He has to start selling some soon, or he is going to be in more trouble. If the juice doesn't start selling soon, the company will go under and leave nothing to invest in whiskey. Toshio is impatient to start doing what he really came to do. Massan gets a phone call from Nonomura in Osaka saying that moneylender Watari wants to meet with him. Ellie discovers that Ema has forgotten her lunch and creates a stir in the classroom when she delivers it to her at school. The little bumpkins (one named Takeshi) tease Ema about her foreign mother. Is this the first time that Ellie has shown her face at school? A foreign mother has to see things like this coming and stop them before they get started. Getting involved doing something at school helps. She also has to have a good relationship with the teacher, if possible (Even Jumbo, Smith and Sanoba), right, kiddos?
#98 Toshio showers praise on Hana's cooking as lunch is served in the company dining hall. Ellie seems disconcerted on coming home from being gawked at in school, and Hana tells her that the kids there have never seen a foreigner before. When Ema gets home she says that there was nothing special at school today. Massan tells Ellie not to worry so much and that he will talk to Ema. Meanwhile, Ema is working on her My Family assignment as she smiles at the pictures that she drew of her parents. She can hardly wait for her hair to turn blond like her Mommy's. It is hard to choose the proper time to tell her that she is adopted. Massan says that he will talk to her when he gets back for his business trip to Osaka. The next day at school Ema is teased again. The bumkins, one by the name of Takeshi, imitate Ellie's accent and tell Ema that she doesn't look at all like her mother. Where did her parents pick her up? Emma comes home and starts her homework - no snack! The father of one of the bumpkins comes over with his son in tow, complete with a bandage wrapped around his head. Ema pushed him down and he got hurt. (He is twice Ema's size.) Didn't your daughter tell you anything? Takeshi has actually been dragged over to apologize for saying that Ema is not really Ellie's child. He doesn't think he is incorrect and makes an escape. His father leaves a bag of potatoes and says this will never happen again. (What I want to know is where the teacher is. She knows nothing about this?)
#99 Ellie tells Ema that Takeshi was wrong, but that Ema was wrong, too. Emi says she got mad because Takeshi was making fun of her mother and she just couldn't stand it. She tells her Mommy not to worry. Next morning Hana tells Toshio not to give Ema funny ideas about her hair turning blond. Ema gets to school and Takeshi is absent. His mother is dead and he has to help with the family farm. Ema still hasn't finished her My Family homework. Why doesn't she look like her mother? Meanwhile in Osaka, moneylender Watari tries to give Massan advice about how to make his apple juice turn a profit. If he can't even sell the apple juice, how is he going to build up his whiskey business. As long as he is in Osaka, Massan stops in to be encouraged by the gang at the Only Restaurant in Town. Back in Hokkaido, Hana says that it is about time to tell Emma that she is adopted, because she is figuring it out anyway.
#100 Massan returns to Hokkaido from Osaka. He tells the factory workers that they should name the Apple Juice with a Japanese name that will be more customer friendly. He also needs to find a more suitable venue to sell the high class juice. Toshio and Kazuma tell Massan to hire some advertisers and financial managers to help out. But there is not money for such luxuries yet. Hana is helping Ema with her My Family homework. Ema asks Hana about how she felt when her mother died, and asks which of her parents that she resembles. Hana answers with favorable personality traits, but can see that Hana needs to know the truth. Massan and Ellie decide to tell her why her hair isn't blond. Her real parents died in an epidemic soon after she was born, but Massan and Ellie have loved her and raised her as their own even if they are not related by blood. Her name is the E of Ellie and the Ma of Massan. Ema seems to understand and they share a group hand clench. This is going to take some time for Ema to get used to. She scratches out her homework because the story has changed.
#101 Ema has still not finished her My Family homework. She has just found out that her real parents are dead and that she is adopted. Massan is attempting to sell his stock of apple juice and the workers are starting to worry about the company. Ema comes home from school. She goes straight to her room with no snack to mull over the homework. She seems to be rejecting her foreign mother in an attempt to connect with her dead Japanese parents. Her morning greeting has changed from "good morning" to "ohayo gozaimasu." She is doing everything right, and Ellie worries that she is being too good. Ellie goes up to her room to check on her and finds out she has a high fever. Ema seems to have worried herself sick over the My Family homework. She calls for her mother, but Ellie wonders which mother she is calling. The fever goes down, but Ema does not want to eat what Ellie is trying to feed her. Ema's friend from school comes to visit along with Takeshi. Takeshi is worried because he thinks that he might have caused Ema to have a fever because he bedeviled her about Ellie. He tells Ema that he was teasing her because he was jealous. His mother is dead, but Ema has a pretty mother who loves and takes good care of her. He wishes he had a mother like that. The friend suggests that maybe Takeshi is sweet on Ema. Ellie brings in some cookies and all is well.
#102 Ema has recovered from her fever and thanks Ellie for being there with her all night. She tells Massan and Ellie to promise not to die before her like her other parents did. Ellie makes matching pajamas for everybody. take a walk by the river, sleep like the kanji for river, three lines in a row. The next day Ema finishes her My Family homework. It is also Parents' Visitation Day at school. Ellie consults Toshio and Hana about what to wear and the couple has a fight. (Toshio is being bossy.) Massan considers taking apple juice to school to pass out to everyone, but Kazuma says that is strange. It would be a good present for a sick person, but it would be strange to take it to school. Massan says that is a great idea, why don't we take some samples Apple Juice to hospitals to present a healthy image. Massan and Ellie go to school and all of the children read their My Family compositions. Ema reads hers. "My real parents died soon after I was born, but I am not sad. I have the best mom and dad in the world. My mom is funny and good at cooking and singing. She always stays by my side if I am sick scary. She is scary when angry. My dad thinks about whiskey all the time and it is his dream to make whiskey here in Hokkaido. My dream is to grow up to be just like my mother. I want to marry a man just like my dad. Everybody fights tears. Back at factory everyone is busy putting new labels on the Apple Juice. Samples are placed at local hospitals and the apple juice starts selling well. Perhaps now attention can be given to producing whiskey. Ellie has a bunch of kids over singing the alphabet song. Ema sings with a big smile. Everyone is happy in Hokkaido.
