There, Masako meets a man named Joseph from Shanghai, who was adopted by English parents - and whose identity is equally torn as hers - and they marry and have a child. Because she is a woman, she works bowing and greeting customers, but is soon rewarded for her knowledge of English and promoted to a position of translating and helping foreign customers. Finally, when a matchmaker is hired to arrange a marriage for Masako, she becomes fed up and rebels against her undesired Japanese inculcation, putting on her flashiest American dress and heading for the city of Osaka to find a job. She is forced to wear kimonos and drink green tea straight, even though she prefers milk in her tea. She doesn’t fit in and is ridiculed and called "gaijin" ( foreigner). Masako is forced to retake high school in Japan so she will learn her own language, how to behave like a proper Japanese lady, write Japanese characters (calligraphy), perform a tea ceremony and arrange flowers. Even though her parents raised her on rice and miso soup, she doesn’t like rice paper windows and sitting on the floor. She misses her friends and American food. The main character, Masako, plans to go to college, but her parents become homesick and move the family back to Pre-WWII Japan. This story has many cultural markers both English (pancakes and red dresses) and Japanese.
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