February 14, 2015
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Massan Plot Summary - Week 20
#115 Ellie's family is very worried and wants her to come back to Scotland. Ellie says things will surely get better, but Japan is now fighting against Great Britain, Ellie's homeland. Much of Massan's male staff has been drafted, so women are doing the heavy work. The Navy is still buying all Massan's whiskey. Kazuma is feeling useless and wonders if he should go to war, too. Massan says they are their country already. Ellie comes home with a bloody knee. Three boys were throwing stones at her. Everyone in the brewery community considers Ellie as Japanese, but think it best that Ellie not go out in public. At school someone has written something nasty about Ellie on Ema's notebook. The Japanese language is being purged of foreign words, and you can't even say curry rice anymore. Ellie tells outspoken Ema to watch what she says because she can get in trouble with the authorities. No one wants to give in to such pressure, but you have to do some things to survive. Ellie is proud of Ema's fighting spirit, but Massan tells Ema that if she loves her mother that she has to behave herself.
#116 Massan interviews new workers for the brewery. Nakamuru Miki and her daughter Hideko (Deko) come to apply for a job. Miki's husband has died in the war and she needs a job. She has experience working as a cook. Ellie is lonely, and takes an instant liking to Miki and Deko, but Massan warns her not to get too familiar. Miki seems to feel the same way, and scolds Deko for forgetting who is the boss and who is the employee. There are some lines better uncrossed. Massan finds it strange that he is serving his country by providing whiskey for the Navy while people throw stones at his wife. He decides to hire 12 of the applicants, Miki included, to help out those in need . Deko is going to work in the brewery. Ema and Deko have become great friends, and Deko wishes that she could go to school and have a lovely room full of books like Ema does.. Later that night, Everyone is overjoyed that Katherine has come from Osaka for a visit. But wait, someone is lurking in the bushes!
#117 Katherine has come from Osaka to tell Ellie that she and Charlie (her husband who has never made an appearance on the screen) are going to England because things have become very tough for foreigners in Osaka. People are being arrested, tortured and even killed. It is just too dangerous to stay. She urges Ellie to come with her on the last ship out for England, but Ellie has Japanese citizenship and would have to divorce Massan to get her British passport back. Ellie insists that she will stay in Japan, but Massan does not know if he will be able to protect her or not. He wonders tearfully aloud to Toshio about whether it was a mistake to bring Ellie to Japan in the first place, but Toshio assures him that all he has is thanks to Ellie, and that in the end it was she herself who chose to come. Ellie tearfully eavesdrops. Toshio has relegated his DOUKAH coat to mothballs since it is emblazoned with Roman lettering, a no-no in wartime Japan. Ema is having more trouble at school. The teacher asks the class if anyone is interested in studying English as an elective (This is silly. At that time studying English would not have been a possibility.) and Ema raises her hand. The teacher ignores her, announces no one is interested and continues a lecture on how young women can serve their country. Ema tearfully runs out of the classroom.
#118 The radios at home were not working well, so Kazuma puts up a new antenna. Ema and Deko are talking in Ema's room, and Deko again says that she wishes she could study at school, too. Ema gives her some pencils and notebooks. Some guy is hanging around to investigate the foreigner living on the premises. Hana is worried about Ellie and thinks that maybe Massan should send Ellie back to England. No matter how Japanese Ellie thinks she is, she is still a foreigner. Nothing is more important than life, and Ellie might loose hers if she remains in Japan. That guy is still hanging around outside. Ema is worried, too and wants Ellie on the ship. Massan is racking his brain for a good solution. He writes out a contract of divorce.
#119 Massan's hand shakes as he signs the divorce paper. Ellie comes in and asks what he is doing, and he tells her that it's only temporary and that this is better than risking her life. Suddenly the house is overrun by police whose suspicions have been aroused by Katherine's visit and the large antenna on the roof. (Why couldn't K have minded her own business for once?) Police: What did Katherine talk about? M: The last ship out of Japan, and Ellie will be on it. E: No I won't, and why are you in my house with your shoes on? The investigators turn the house upside down and find an English Japanese dictionary and Ellie's letters from home. That proves she is a spy. Ellie asks the investigators what they are afraid of: her blond hair, her Western clothes or her flowers. She says to go ahead and arrest her because they won't find anything. Massan says that if they arrest her they will have to arrest him, too, but only Ellie is to be taken away to the inquisitors. They escort her to the gate.
#120 Ellie was being escorted out the front gate yesterday, but today's show starts out back at the house. The Japanese navy officers appear out of nowhere to save the day! They tell the inquisitors that this brewery is under their jurisdiction and that they had better be sure of their evidence before making any arrests. The inquisitors crawl back into the woodwork. Massan tears up the divorce paper and utters his memorable phrase "never let go of my hand." Stay in Japan by my side always. Massan announces to staff that Ellie is staying because her heart has become Japanese. Miki suddenly jumps up and apologizes for telling the investigators where the letters were. (Miki only works in the factory kitchen. There is no way she could have known that.) Her husband was killed in Malay by the British. Everyone in Japan is suffering and striving to avoid any kind of extravagance, but Ellie is still living a lovely life in Hokkaido. Ellie apologizes to Miki for having no idea of how she felt, and Miki apologizes and leaves her work at the brewery, Deko in tow. Ellie writes a letter to Katherine saying that she has decided to stay in Japan. As today's installment ends, Ellie and her Japanese heart are checking on her pickled umeboshi plums and making a face. Nice ceramic jar, though! Could it be Korean style Karatsu ware? I really like that stuff.
A personal aside - To say that Ellie's heart is Japanese is meant as a compliment, but it's too simplistic a statement, and even a tad racist. Ellie has done her level best to adjust to Japan. She loves her family and the country in which she lives as dearly she loves as she does own family in Scotland. She may have a Japanese passport, but her heart is unique. One cannot just label a person's heart and cram it in a convenient compartment because that is the only compartment with which one is familiar. Who is to say that a Japanese heart is better than a Scottish heart? Rather than an issue of the heart, this is an issue of learning skills needed to manage amicably in a new culture. I once made some Christmas trees for a bazaar. I did not care for the original specifications, so I changed them to suit my own taste and made something that I personally liked better. I was "complimented" for the "American" style of the trees. Hey, that was my own unique idea and it had nothing to do with my passport. Perhaps I was nitpicking, but it made me feel like an outsider. I had been a member of that organization for almost 10 years, and I was still compartmentalized as someone different from the rest. Well, this from the same crowd that was surprised to see I was able to eat onigiri rice balls. Hey again, I have been here since 1975, and I think that I have learned to choke down a rice ball or two. Sorry for fitting into your Japanese compartment. Does this make any sense to anyone? The heart is a complicated matter.
