The Samurai's Garden

Stephen marvels at the enormity, sights, and sounds of Tokyo. He and his father stay in a hotel near the Ginza, a flamboyant commercial street. The Japanese military is omnipresent. Stephen walks to the Imperial Palace, the home of the emperor for whom so many are willing to fight and die.

The men have dinner at a restaurant famous for its marinated eel. During the meal, Stephen’s father speaks Japanese: the other patrons, local, are discussing the war, and Chinese would turn heads. Ba-Ba suggests that Stephen return to Hong Kong before Christmas, and Stephen asks if it is safe. “’For now it is,’” answers Baba, “this time in Chinese” (201).

While Stephen and his father are at lunch, they learn that Canton has fallen the day before. Stephen imagines the people there, exhausted by the constant bombing, surprised by the Japanese army landing in Bias Bay. The Japanese in the restaurant cheer, and Ba-Ba says that it is time to go. On the way to the train station, Stephen feels that he is being watched.

Stephen stays the night at his father’s apartment in Kobe, then returns to Tarumi by train.